St. Mary Campground is the main campground on the drier east side of Glacier National Park, set just half a mile from the St. Mary Entrance at the foot of St. Mary Lake, where the plains meet the mountains. As the eastern gateway campground it is a natural base for exploring the Going-to-the-Sun Road from the east, and it has the big-sky, wind-swept character that sets the east side apart from the lush west.

The campground has about 148 sites, roughly two dozen of which can take RVs up to 35 feet, with flush toilets and drinking water; coin-operated showers and a camp store are available nearby at St. Mary. Sites come with picnic tables, fire rings and bear-resistant food storage, and the campground is on the reservation system, so summer nights should be booked in advance. It sits at the transition zone between forest and prairie, so it can be notably breezy and open compared with the sheltered west-side campgrounds.

Just up the Going-to-the-Sun Road are some of the park's signature sights: the Wild Goose Island overlook on St. Mary Lake, the waterfalls of the St. Mary and Virginia Falls area, and the long climb to Logan Pass. Boat tours run on St. Mary Lake, and the campground is well placed for reaching the Many Glacier valley to the north. With its east-side scenery, full front-country facilities and prime position on the Sun Road, St. Mary is one of the park's most useful and scenic campgrounds.

Rising Sun Campground sits on the north shore of St. Mary Lake about six miles inside the St. Mary Entrance on the east side of Glacier National Park, part of the small Rising Sun hub along the Going-to-the-Sun Road. It is a mid-sized, first-come, first-served campground of about 83 sites, a handful of which can fit RVs up to 25 feet, with flush toilets and drinking water.

The setting is the draw: the campground looks out toward St. Mary Lake and the surrounding peaks, and the Rising Sun area has a camp store, a motor inn, a nearby restaurant and coin-operated showers, along with the boat dock where scenic cruises depart onto the lake. That makes it an unusually convenient primitive-fee campground, with services close at hand in an otherwise wild stretch of the east side.

Rising Sun is an excellent base for east-side hiking and sightseeing. The trail to St. Mary and Virginia Falls begins a short drive up the road, the Wild Goose Island overlook is nearby, and the full length of the Going-to-the-Sun Road climbs west from here toward Logan Pass. Being first-come, first-served, it requires an early arrival on busy summer days, but for campers who want lakeside scenery with a few creature comforts on the quieter east side of the park, Rising Sun is hard to beat.

Apgar Campground is the largest campground in Glacier National Park and, for many visitors, the most convenient, sitting just inside the West Entrance near Apgar Village at the foot of Lake McDonald. With about 194 sites, including roughly two dozen that can accommodate RVs up to 40 feet, it is the park's most developed front-country campground, with flush toilets, drinking water and an RV dump station.

Its appeal is location and ease of access. Apgar Village, a short walk away, has a visitor center, a camp store, boat and bike rentals, food and a beach on Lake McDonald, and the campground sits right at the western start of the Going-to-the-Sun Road and on the free park shuttle line, making it a practical base for exploring the whole west side without fighting for trailhead parking. Because it is large, it also tends to have availability when smaller campgrounds are full, though the best sites still go quickly and much of the campground is on the reservation system.

Lake McDonald, the largest lake in the park, is the centerpiece: its clear water and famous multicolored pebbles, the classic view up the lake toward the Continental Divide, and easy paddling and lakeshore strolling are all right at hand. Gentle trails wind through the forest around Apgar, and the village makes it easy to catch a ranger program or a boat tour. It is a comfortable, family-friendly introduction to the park rather than a wilderness experience, and that is exactly why it stays popular.

Kintla Lake Campground is the most remote drive-in campground in Glacier National Park, sitting at the foot of Kintla Lake at the literal end of the road in the far northwest corner of the North Fork region, hard against the Canadian border. Getting there means about 40 miles of slow travel north from the West Entrance on the unpaved North Fork Road and the rough road past Polebridge, a drive that is not suitable for RVs or trailers and that deters all but the most determined, which is exactly why the campground is so quiet and wild.

It is a tiny, primitive, first-come, first-served campground of only about 13 sites, with vault (pit) toilets and a hand pump for water; there are no hookups, no dump station and no other services, so visitors must be entirely self-sufficient. Sites have picnic tables, fire rings and bear-resistant food storage, and because there are so few of them, the campground can fill even in this hard-to-reach location.

Kintla Lake itself is a long, deep, exceptionally clear glacial lake reaching back toward the crest of the Livingston Range, and it is a legendary paddling destination: motorized boats are prohibited, so canoes and kayaks have the water to themselves, and paddlers can continue up-valley toward Upper Kintla Lake and deep backcountry. This is true grizzly country with no cell service and no crowds. For paddlers, backpackers and campers seeking Glacier at its most serene and undeveloped, Kintla is the end-of-the-road prize.

Avalanche Campground sits about 16 miles up the Going-to-the-Sun Road from the West Entrance, in a magnificent stand of old-growth western red cedar and hemlock along Avalanche Creek, roughly midway between Lake McDonald and Logan Pass. Its location makes it one of the most sought-after campgrounds in Glacier: it puts you right on the Sun Road corridor and steps from two of the park's best short hikes.

The campground has about 87 sites, some of which can take RVs up to 26 feet, with flush toilets and drinking water available. Sites include picnic tables, fire rings and bear-resistant food storage, and the campground is on the reservation system, so booking ahead is strongly advised in the busy summer season. It typically opens only once the Going-to-the-Sun Road has been plowed and cleared, usually not until June, and closes in early fall.

Right from the campground you can walk the Trail of the Cedars, a flat, wheelchair-accessible boardwalk loop through towering ancient cedars, and from it branch onto the Avalanche Lake Trail, a moderate two-mile climb to a stunning cirque lake ringed by waterfalls pouring off the Sperry Glacier basin. The area is thick, green and often cool and damp, a striking contrast to the park's alpine heights, and it is excellent for spotting wildlife. Being mid-corridor on the Sun Road, it is also a convenient base for riding the free park shuttle up to Logan Pass without dealing with the notorious parking crunch.

This free dispersed camping area sits on the cliffs above Wet Beaver Creek in the Coconino National Forest of central Arizona, in the red-rock and juniper country near Rimrock and Camp Verde, not far south of Sedona. Perched on the rim overlooking the creek, it offers exactly what desert dispersed camping should: a free, quiet, scenic spot to pitch a tent or park a rig under big Arizona skies, with one of the region's best swimming and hiking creeks right below.

The setting is the draw. The sites sit up on the cliffs and benches above Wet Beaver Creek, reached by the forest roads (the FR618 corridor) that thread this stretch of the Coconino, with sweeping views over the creek's green ribbon and the surrounding high desert. It's a popular free alternative to the developed campgrounds nearby, and it puts you within easy reach of the water and trails for the cost of nothing but a tank of gas.

Wet Beaver Creek itself is the reason many people come. The cool, clear waters are an excellent place to swim, wade, fish, hike and birdwatch, a genuine desert oasis, and the nearby Wet Beaver Wilderness and the famous swimming holes along the creek (including the well-known "Crack") give campers a real destination just below their tents. Cottonwoods and Arizona sycamores line the creek, a welcome contrast to the dry rim above.

This is undeveloped dispersed camping, so it's a fully self-supported outing: there is no water, no toilets and no trash service, and standard Coconino dispersed-camping rules apply, including stay limits and fire restrictions that are common and strictly enforced in this fire-prone country, so always check current fire status before lighting anything. The clifftop sites also mean watching footing and keeping an eye on kids and pets near the edges.

Fall through spring is the comfortable season here, since summer in the Verde Valley is genuinely hot, though the creek below offers relief; spring brings green and flowing water, and the shoulder seasons are ideal for both camping and the creek. Come with all your own water, a plan for packing out every bit of trash, a shovel and fire knowledge, sun protection, and sturdy footwear for the rimrock. For free, scenic, cliff-top dispersed camping above one of central Arizona's finest creeks, this is a rewarding spot.