West Glacier KOA named best in nation

A longtime campground in West Glacier has been named the best in the nation by its peers.

The West Glacier Kampground of America has been named the KOA Campground of The Year for 2017. Owned by Greg and Theresa (Bengtson) McClure, the campground was recently recognized for 40 years of service to the Kampgrounds of America System, a franchise with 490 campgrounds nationwide.

The campground was started in 1974 and bought by Bud and Norma McClure in 1976, when it became part of the KOA franchise. It’s been a family affair ever since, said manager Lynn Bengtson and assistant manager Erika Drollinger. Nearly every member of the Bengtson and McClure families has worked there at some point or another in their careers. Greg and Theresa bought the business in 1990.

Lynn’s brothers, Bill and Luke, do the landscaping at the 30-acre camp.

In the summer months, it employs close to 40 people to keep the 30-acre site in tip-top shape. Some seasonals have come back for decades, including Sue Hascall, who gives a Sunday morning church service and Linda Hopkins. Cook Gene Terheggen does a barbecue every night in the summer months and has been a longtime employee as well.

In addition to a host of campsites, it has 29 camping cabins, 22 “deluxe” cabins, 16 “super landscaped” sites and a host of other amenities, including a pavilion and the Tucker Lodge — a year round lodge that was owned by Greg’s grandparents.

They’ve recently added eight new deluxe cabins and 61 new RV sites. All of the sites have 50-amp electrical service. All told, it has 225 campsites.

Campers like to get out in the woods, but they still expect to have Internet and other services, Lynn noted in an interview last week.

The campground is inspected on an annual basis by the KOA franchise and consistently scores in the 90s — the highest score possible.

“We go above and beyond what’s expected,” Lynn said. “Our campground is immaculate.”

While the camp is in bear country, they’ve never had a bear in camp, Lynn noted. The garbage is hauled away twice a day and the staff take pains to educate their guests about food storage while in camp.

The campground opens May 1 and closes Sept. 30. Like Glacier National Park, they had record visitation in 2016, Lynn said.