When to book in park lodging for June 2018?

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spinnaker
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When to book in park lodging for June 2018?

Post by spinnaker »

I realize booking lodging earlier the better but what is the latest you would book in park lodging?

Some locations of interest are:

Lake McDonald Lodge
Rising Sun Motor Lodge
Many Glacier
rayeraye
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Re: When to book in park lodging for June 2018?

Post by rayeraye »

Book now! Lodging opened on june 1.
spinnaker
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Re: When to book in park lodging for June 2018?

Post by spinnaker »

rayeraye wrote:Book now! Lodging opened on june 1.

If I would I could but not possible. This is going to require planning with a few buddies. That does not happen over night, especially with that crowd. ;)
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paul46038
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Re: When to book in park lodging for June 2018?

Post by paul46038 »

We booked in late June 2016 for mid-late June 2017. We got lodging on both sides of the park but my recollection is that many options were fully booked before we decided where to go. You can check availability online without actually completing the transaction. You could do that and then decide on the appropriate level of panic.
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Re: When to book in park lodging for June 2018?

Post by toddnick »

I always overbook, sometimes with reservations the same night in different parts of the park until my plans become final. Then I cancel the ones that I don't want. It is a small fee to cancel, well worth it. You don't want reservations to be booked once you finalize a plan.

Also, June isn't the best time to visit if you are a hiker. Higher trails aren't open generally until mid July and GTTS road generally doesn't open over Logan Pass until sometime quite late in June.
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Re: When to book in park lodging for June 2018?

Post by llholmes1948 »

Spinnaker,

I agree with the comments made by others.  Places in the park might be getting booked up at this point.  If you find some accommodations around the time of your trip I would suggest that you reserve them now as Toddnick says and you can always cancel them later.  The last that I knew both Xanterra and GPi have very customer friendly cancellation policies.   I cancelled a reservation with Xanterra a month in advance of our trip to the Grand Canyon this year without any problem

However be sure to check the cancellation policies.  There is one place outside the Park which has a very harsh cancellation policy.  Even if you cancel well in advance they will keep your deposit but at least they disclose this on their website.  My understanding is that they refused to return deposits a few years back when the Park was hit with some major forest fires. 

You can periodically check back with Xanterra and GPI to see if they have any cancellations around your desired dates and I believe they often have cancellations.  I don't know if they keep a waiting list or not but you could inquire or maybe someone on the Chat knows.  

However keep in mind that it is not necessary, in my opinion, to stay in the Park in order to have a great trip to Glacier.  Aside from our stays at Sperry Chalet and Granite Park Chalet, our family has never stayed in the Park.  We normally stay just outside the Park at West Glacier, East Glacier, St. Mary or Babb and the distances just aren't that great.  We can never get our act together to get reservations in the Park months in advance and we usually make our reservations for places outside the Park around February to April prior to our visit and have not had trouble finding accommodations.  This was true for our last trip in 2014.

As others have said, June is not the best time to visit the Park for higher elevation hikes .  However it can be a wonderful time to visit the Park and the trip that my daughter and I had to the park in early June 2007 was one of the best trips I have ever had to the Park.  Wildlife sightings were great even along U.S. 2.  Creeks and waterfalls were blasting and the trails were uncrowded.  I usually prefer July for the hiking but I would jump at a chance to go in early June again. 

Lyman 
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