Campground strategy

[kklein]

So I'm wanting to camp in a regular front country CG for two nights before our backcountry trip. I am wondering what is the best strategy for getting a FC camp site.

Should I:

1. Reserve one of the sites at Fish Creek using the reservation system

2. Rely on the first-come first-served system to get a site at one of the better FC campgrounds.

The positive for option #1 is "no worries". The negative is that Fish Creek is not the most desirable CG for tent campers.

Positive for option #2 is better CG selection. Negative would be getting skunked and having nowhere to stay.

Thoughts?

[Heff936]

The biggest question I have is what time you expect to get to the park and from which side? If you do not expect to get into the park before the early afternoon, then securing a reserved spot is a good idea for the first night. Then you could probably pick up a spot in any of the other front country CGs the next morning. We are arriving by train and won't get in until the evening so we booked a hotel room for the first night. The GNP website provides average times when each campground fills based on dates. This should be a good planning tool. Here's the link

http://home.nps.gov/applications/glac/c ... status.cfm

Heff

[kklein]

We are driving from Spokane, so our arrival the first day will be in mid- to late-afternoon. I've already taken your strategy for the first night and booked a cabin at Apgar Village.

It sounds like you're saying that as long as I get to the CG early, it should be no problem getting a site.

[sj in cal]

On the west side, I've stayed at only Apgar and Fish Creek. Sprague and Avalanche are probably more desirable, but unless you leave Spokane at 4am you'll be hit or miss to get a site. Apgar has nothing on Fish Creek, except more generators and more excuses why its okay to run generator outide of the prescribed times. My recommendation would be leave Spokane at a reasonable hour, make a quick stop at Sprague Creek (might get lucky), go back to Apgar, if you don't like then go check out Fish Creek. I wouldn't even bother with a reservation unless I was arriving late or on a holiday weekend.

[daveparker]

I would suggest sprague, I like that campground over the rest of them in the park, and if you can hit there by about noon, you have a good chance at snagging a sight, if I remember correctly, the hold spots for bikers as well as hikers at that campground until about 9pm.

I didn't see what time frame are you coming over, when is your trip, this will make a big difference on your chances.

Dave

[kklein]

I didn't see what time frame are you coming over, when is your trip, this will make a big difference on your chances.

I need a campsite for Monday 8/18 and Tuesday 8/19.