Visitation to the Flathead Valley and Glacier National Park has broken records by nearly every available metric this summer, and state officials say there’s been a corresponding uptick in long-distance bicyclists pedaling through the Crown of the Continent.

“Both Montana State Parks and the Department of Commerce are involved in state tourism and recreation, and we both observed the rising popularity in bicycle travel to Montana and within Montana,” regional state parks manager Dave Landstrom said.

In response, the state parks division last week unveiled a pair of first-in-Montana cyclist campgrounds at Whitefish Lake and Wayfarer’s state parks — two of its most popular stopovers for two-wheeled tourists visiting Glacier National Park.

“It’s already been very popular in Whitefish and Wayfarer’s. We had people actually camping out in them before they were finished,” Landstrom said. “We’ve had at least one bicycle camper in Wayfarers and Whitefish Lake on 75 percent of the available nights, and that’s without advertising.”

Both of the campsites contain a cluster of 10 small tent pads adjacent to bike racks, access to potable water and a covered picnic shelter that includes bike repair tools and electrical outlets for campers to recharge cell phones and GPS units.

Landstrom added that the reservation-free campsites include overflow areas to accommodate about a half-dozen additional cyclists on busier nights.

“They won’t be turned away, because if you come in the evening, off the highway on a bike, you don’t have a lot of options to go somewhere else,” he said.

The state commerce department partnered with Montana State Parks on the project, providing $200,000 in funding for the sites at Whitefish and Wayfarer’s — along with two additional state parks on Salmon Lake and Placid Lake state parks, at the southern end of the Swan Valley.

For the state’s chronically cash-strapped parks agency, Landstrom said the campsites will also offer some extra revenue, although the camping fees are slightly lower for the smaller bike sites.

Landstrom said the state’s first bike-centric campsites are patterned off similar initiatives in nearby states like Oregon. With the rise of distance cycling bringing a new type of national and international traveler to the area, Landstrom has high expectations for the pilot project.

“Next year we’ll advertise them on the parks’ webpage and I suspect we’ll fill those up quite frequently,” he said. “You might have it to yourself one night, but you might be sharing with seven, eight people another night, so you’ll hopefully have some new friends by the end of your stay.”

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.