Flathead Forest moves to campground reservation system

The days of driving to a Flathead National Forest campground and just finding a spot to spend the night are slowly coming to a close.

Several popular campgrounds have changed to a reservation system, where campers must reserve a site and pay for it online. Those campgrounds are operated by the concessionaire Barta Enterprises, which operates locally as Flathead Valley Campgrounds.

Flathead Valley Campgrounds runs 14 of the 31 campgrounds on the Flathead Forest. Big Creek, Devil Creek, Doris Creek, Emery Bay, Lid Creek, Lost Johnny Point, Tally Lake and Swan Lake campgrounds are all on the reservation system.

Forest officials decided to go to the reservation system so travelers would be assured a spot, Flathead Forest spokesman Wade Muehlhof said. The goal is to have 60 percent of the camping sites available by reservation and 40 percent available for drive-ins. The Web site for reservations, however, doesn’t show the drive-in availability.

There have been complaints from people who are accustomed to the first-come first-serve days of the past, especially if they drive in, set up camp and then must move a day or two later because the site was reserved by someone else.

The campground reservation system uses the same online service that the Flathead Forest uses for its cabin rental program. To reserve a camp site, visit online at www.recreation.gov.