First time to Glaciar with Family!

Let everyone know about your camping experience in the park.

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leahc
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First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by leahc »

Hello! I just booked 7 nights of camping (tent) in the Fish Creek area (3 nights in B loop and 4 nights in A loop) for mid august. Everything seemed to go so quickly and I just wanted to make sure I had something! I can always change to a day of site I guess when we get there if this doesn't seem like a good idea. We'll be coming with our three kids (7, 5, 2). We aren't the most experienced campers, but went on a trip through Michigan last summer and are hooked. We are going to take a week to get there (coming from Chicago) camping along the way.

Anyways. Just wondering if that's too long to be in fish creek area? Kids just like to be in the woods, and throw rocks in the water and go on short hikes. So some chill time with family seems perfect. Can you swim in that lake during that time of the year? Kids are Chicago kids so used to cold lake water :). Anything else you'd recommend? Should we look for another camp site day of instead of 7 days in Fish Creek? Are there bear boxes for food there? Or can we just store stuff in our car?

If anything we are super excited for a totally different couple of weeks outside of our Urban Chicago bubble :).

Thanks!
Jen

Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by Jen »

Hello fellow Chicagoan/Flatlander and WELCOME to the chat!

Fish creek is perfect for all the activities you've listed (woods, rocks, hikes, swimming). Lake McDonald is pretty much the same temp as swimming in Lake Michigan. (Less waves though).

Take a drive up to the Polebridge Mercantile for some pastries!
http://polebridgemerc.com/

I am sure others will chime in here but I just wanted to say Welcome!.
PeteE
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by PeteE »

Yes indeed. Welcome to the GNP chat. :)
I agree with Jen. Fish Creek is a good choice. It's a very nice camp ground.

One thing I would suggest/recommend, especially given what you said about playing in the lake, etc.
See if you can get a spot in Loop C .
I'm assuming you aren't hauling a portable generator out here from Chicago? 8)
No generators in Loop C.
And Loop C has some camping spaces with direct access to Lake McDonald---a matter of few yards.

If I were you I would stay put at Fish Creek UNLESS...
You secure reservations at another camp ground in advance.
The park has been experiencing record crowds the last few years.
So if along the way you decide you want to camp elsewhere in the park, or near it...
You must get reservations, in advance, imo.
You don't want to get stuck with small children and no place to stay.

Here's an old "lame video" of mine from 2010 that shows Loop A and Loop C.
I might need to update it one day 8)

About 9 minutes


pete :wink:
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

George Carlin
leahc
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by leahc »

Jen wrote:Hello fellow Chicagoan/Flatlander and WELCOME to the chat!

Fish creek is perfect for all the activities you've listed (woods, rocks, hikes, swimming). Lake McDonald is pretty much the same temp as swimming in Lake Michigan. (Less waves though).

Take a drive up to the Polebridge Mercantile for some pastries!
http://polebridgemerc.com/

I am sure others will chime in here but I just wanted to say Welcome!.
Thank you! I had read about Polebridge and it sounded like something we should do for sure! Thanks!
leahc
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by leahc »

PeteE wrote:Yes indeed. Welcome to the GNP chat. :)
I agree with Jen. Fish Creek is a good choice. It's a very nice camp ground.

One thing I would suggest/recommend, especially given what you said about playing in the lake, etc.
See if you can get a spot in Loop C .
I'm assuming you aren't hauling a portable generator out here from Chicago? 8)
No generators in Loop C.
And Loop C has some camping spaces with direct access to Lake McDonald---a matter of few yards.

If I were you I would stay put at Fish Creek UNLESS...
You secure reservations at another camp ground in advance.
The park has been experiencing record crowds the last few years.
So if along the way you decide you want to camp elsewhere in the park, or near it...
You must get reservations, in advance, imo.
You don't want to get stuck with small children and no place to stay.

Here's an old "lame video" of mine from 2010 that shows Loop A and Loop C.
I might need to update it one day 8)

About 9 minutes


pete :wink:
Awesome! Yes after I grabbed the two sites I did, I read about C-loop. I'm going to keep my eye open and see if I can shift one of my other sites to that loop, or move a third time :). If you aren't staying in C-loop can you still get to the water though? Or can you only access it if you are staying in that loop. Is there any kind of "beach". I know it's probably just a rocky edge, but accessible for anyone?

And yeah with the three littles I wanted to make sure we had *something* booked because I didn't want to get there after driving for a week and have to say, "sorry kids, looks like we are sleeping in the car tonight" :).

Thank you!
leahc
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by leahc »

dpratt wrote:Welcome from an ex-Chicagoland chatter!

Fish Creek is a nice campground, although I've only explored it, never camped there. Lots of great info on this site, along with lots of great people willing to share their experiences.
I'm happy to have found this site! Thanks!
PeteE
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by PeteE »

Awesome! Yes after I grabbed the two sites I did, I read about C-loop. I'm going to keep my eye open and see if I can shift one of my other sites to that loop, or move a third time :). If you aren't staying in C-loop can you still get to the water though? Or can you only access it if you are staying in that loop. Is there any kind of "beach". I know it's probably just a rocky edge, but accessible for anyone?
I haven't walked down to the lake from the camp ground but I believe the "beach" at Fish Creek is similar to the beach at Apgar which is gravel.
The drop off at Apgar is modest so it's safe for small children imo.
I'll see if I can get some pics and video as soon as it melts out enough to get back there.

The "beach" is not restricted to "C" Loop campers. I haven't looked closely but I'm sure there is access to the lake between campsites.
We'll find out for certain. A number of members here have small children---or their children were small when they visited 8)

pete :wink:
"If you are not curious, you will learn nothing" -Goethe-

"When you're born in this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show.
And when you're born in America, you're given a front row seat."

George Carlin
leahc
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by leahc »

PeteE wrote:
Awesome! Yes after I grabbed the two sites I did, I read about C-loop. I'm going to keep my eye open and see if I can shift one of my other sites to that loop, or move a third time :). If you aren't staying in C-loop can you still get to the water though? Or can you only access it if you are staying in that loop. Is there any kind of "beach". I know it's probably just a rocky edge, but accessible for anyone?
I haven't walked down to the lake from the camp ground but I believe the "beach" at Fish Creek is similar to the beach at Apgar which is gravel.
The drop off at Apgar is modest so it's safe for small children imo.
I'll see if I can get some pics and video as soon as it melts out enough to get back there.

The "beach" is not restricted to "C" Loop campers. I haven't looked closely but I'm sure there is access to the lake between campsites.
We'll find out for certain. A number of members here have small children---or their children were small when they visited 8)

pete :wink:
Thank you for the information! I did get a site in C-loop for two of the nights. So right now it's looking like B loop for 3 nights, A loop for 2 nights and C loop for 2 nights. AND if on that first night in A loop we just don't want to pack up and move we can cancel. I feel like by this time (2 weeks of camping) we'll be pros at setting up so it won't be a big deal. That's good to know about the dropoff at Apgar. My kids like swimming in Lake Michigan and so are used to lake swimming :).

Thanks again!
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by MarxMN »

In your first post you asked if seven nights was too long to be at Fish Creek. While I would say no I would also ask if you think you want to spend much time on the east side of Glacier. If you do it is a long drive from Fish Creek to Many Glacier or Two Medicine and even to St. Mary. There are plenty of things to do on the west side. However, if you will want to explore the east side you might want to consider camping for a night or two on the east side.

Bill
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by toddnick »

Agree that the whole week on the West side isn't optimal...

I've been at Glacier for 150 nights since 2008 and I generally spend 70-80% of my time staying on the East side...

I'd recommend at least a few nights at Many Glacier or St. Mary or Rising Sun...even though you can't get advance reservations...
leahc
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by leahc »

Ah thanks. I was wondering about that. However with three little kids in tow, I didn't want to *not* have reservations and then get stuck with no where to stay. I'm guessing when we get there we can scout other places and see if we can grab a different campsite at one of the places that doesn't take reservations. There was nothing available at the other campsite on the east side that takes reservations, which is why I grabbed what I could. I'm guessing this trip will morph and change as we get on the road.

As an urban family we always have set plans, we'll see if we can get out of that mold for a few weeks!

Thanks!
llholmes1948
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by llholmes1948 »

We usually divide our time between the east side and the west side. Although the distances are not tremendous it is just much easier to do things on the east side while you are staying on the east side and vice versa. The Sun Road can be slow going so it can delay your arrival at a trailhead or other point of interest if you are staying on the opposite side. So while it is quite possible stay on one side and do things on the other side it is not preferable. I recall that during our family trip in 2001 we stayed at Whitefish and drove to Swiftcurrent/Many Glacier to hike to Iceberg Lake. We had a great time but it made for a pretty long and tiring day.

Hope you have a great trip and will post a report.

Lyman
leahc
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by leahc »

llholmes1948 wrote:We usually divide our time between the east side and the west side. Although the distances are not tremendous it is just much easier to do things on the east side while you are staying on the east side and vice versa. The Sun Road can be slow going so it can delay your arrival at a trailhead or other point of interest if you are staying on the opposite side. So while it is quite possible stay on one side and do things on the other side it is not preferable. I recall that during our family trip in 2001 we stayed at Whitefish and drove to Swiftcurrent/Many Glacier to hike to Iceberg Lake. We had a great time but it made for a pretty long and tiring day.

Hope you have a great trip and will post a report.

Lyman
Thanks! We'll see how much hiking we'll be able to do. My kids are pretty little, (the youngest is only 2) they might not realize if they go on the same path every day :)
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by llholmes1948 »

leahc wrote: Thanks! We'll see how much hiking we'll be able to do. My kids are pretty little, (the youngest is only 2) they might not realize if they go on the same path every day :)
They might actually enjoy going on the same path every day! It might be better than a long ride in the car.

Lyman
leahc
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Re: First time to Glaciar with Family!

Post by leahc »

llholmes1948 wrote:
leahc wrote: Thanks! We'll see how much hiking we'll be able to do. My kids are pretty little, (the youngest is only 2) they might not realize if they go on the same path every day :)
They might actually enjoy going on the same path every day! It might be better than a long ride in the car.

Lyman
Exactly! We are driving from Chicago so they'll probably will have had it with the car and be happy to dig in some dirt and ride their bikes. Mom and dad too! :)
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