Overnight at St. Mary puts you on the aspen shore of the lake, with Wild Goose Island in the water and Logan Pass above the valley. The next drainage over is Many Glacier, Swiftcurrent's glacially carved cirque, bighorn sheep on the slopes and grizzly range in the timber.
St. Mary Campground is the first night off US-89, the largest developed campground on Glacier's east side, open year-round with no hookups. The pad is the booking to lock first, and the van comes second. Reservations cover the warm season as of September 2026, then it goes primitive with no reservation in winter.
Rising Sun Campground is the short-season shore, typically early June through early September. Many Glacier is the valley behind the next set of peaks, typically early June through mid-September, with primitive camping into mid-October when weather allows. Only 13 sites take vehicles up to 35 feet, so if you need the extra sleeping space or length, look at Montana RV rentals.
As of September 2026, Two Medicine Campground is closed for the entire season for a water-distribution project and road work. Two Medicine Road closes at the Running Eagle Falls Trailhead beginning September 8, then the closure moves to the Highway 49 intersection later in September.
When the park campgrounds are full, the Blackfeet Nation's tribal campgrounds are the overflow. Chewing Black Bones is on the eastern shore of St. Mary Lake, and Buffalo Calf near East Glacier advertises full RV hookups. The Blackfeet reservation and US-89 keep running north toward the Canadian line, and the next overnight country is Alberta.
Makoshika and the eastern plains
You pull into Makoshika for the badland spires and hoodoos, and the visitor center holds a Triceratops and T. rex fossil display. The park at Glendive is Montana's largest state park, with a year-round campground that takes RVs. Nonresident vehicles pay an entrance fee at Montana state parks as of September 2026.
Medicine Rocks is the smaller stop, first-come campsites and one group site you can reserve, open year-round. You take what is open when you arrive.
Fort Peck Lake is cottonwood shade along the shoreline, below the largest embankment dam in the United States. Downstream Campground is the developed night, electrical hookups on most family sites and a dump station by the dam. Farther out, the pads go primitive on gravel roads.
Glendive is the last Montana night before the map tips into North Dakota, with Miles City, Havre, and Lewistown on the Hi-Line and the eastern highways.
Bannack and the southwest corner
Bannack's Main Street is still the gold-rush town, more than 50 weathered log-and-frame buildings standing empty. It was Montana's first territorial capital, and the campground has 28 sites in the summer season. The Big Hole is the day stop in the same corner, a battlefield you walk and leave. Dillon is the town name on the way.
From Kalispell to Billings
Kalispell has Glacier's west side and Flathead Lake, and Whitefish has the North Fork. Missoula takes the Seeley-Swan and the Bitterroot, Helena is Canyon Ferry, and Great Falls covers the Rocky Mountain Front and the Missouri Breaks. Bozeman is Yellowstone's north entrance, Big Sky has the Gallatin Canyon and the west entrance, and Billings runs the Beartooth Highway and Bighorn Canyon. The campgrounds inside Yellowstone beyond those gates belong on the Yellowstone loop.