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A campground by Hebgen Lake on the Hebgen Lake District.
Camp sites: 7 sites
Accessible Facilities: None Trash Pickup: No Firewood: No No Reservations: This campground does not use a reservation system, it is managed on a first-come, first-served basis. Be aware the campground may fill up on weekends and holidays during the summer months and you should arrive in the early afternoon to ensure there is a space available for the night. Information: Hebgen Lake Office P.O. Box 520 West Yellowstone, MT 59758 (406) 823-6961
Hikers and non-motorized boats are allowed access to Shoshone Lake. Permits for those traveling by boat are only available at the South Entrance, Grant Village, or the Bridge Bay backcountry offices. Advanced reservations for all Shoshone Lake campsites cannot be made before June 15. Sites 8Q6, 8Q7, 8T3, and 8T5 may not be reserved before July 15.
Note that there are NO WOOD FIRES in this region. Campers must use either propane or white gas stoves.
Because this area is so popular, and to help maintain sanitation, primitive toilets have been installed at all of the backcountry campsites around Shoshone Lake.
Pole Bridge campground is an undeveloped campground with scattered tables and fire rings. There is a vault toilet and is situated in a lightly wooded area. Warm River goes through the campground but is a small creek at this site.
Legend
This review is specific to tent camping which I don’t think is the focus of KOA locations.
For the good, the facilities we super clean and there were personal shower/bathroom rooms for use. The shower was great after a week of car camping.
The camp store had the basic and was convenient.
The location was very close to West Yellowstone and the west part of the park.
However, the tent camping left something to be desired. Our loop was around the back of the campground, with the basics of a fire ring and picnic table, it there was no tent pad and the ground was generally pretty sloped.
The tent sites overall were sort of fit into extra spaces and had little privacy.
Guide
LOUD campground with no help to quiet folks down. This is a largely tent campground and drunks until 2am can really mess up a trip. The tent site we had was right out in the hot sun with no shade or privacy. Ask for the wooded areas! It was a wonderful location with lots of wildlife and very clean! A bull elk tried to eat our clothes which was funny. A Bison stayed behind our tent the entire time too. The showers are not too far and very clean.
Legend
Camping on the banks on the banks of the Warm River, which actually is quite cold, can’t get much better than this! There are several options here- tent camping in a tent only walk in area along the river banks and under some pretty good hammocking trees (best sites are #12, 13, 16, and 8 because they have some space from neighbors and are right on the river); RV sites with what looks like at least electric hook ups (best sites for river views and/or privacy are #2, 4, 6, 19); from what neighbors say is pretty good fishing; and an awesome alternative to camping at Mesa Falls if that campground is full. Walk down the road and cross the river to check out a protected area of the river where the fish are HUGE and you can stand with your toes in the river while you feed them bits of bread. The sites all have the usual picnic tables and firepits, with nice level tent pads, clean vault toilets, and firewood for sale from the campground host. The only two downsides are no showers and the campground is wedged between the road and the river, so there is quite a bit of road noise in the day which fortunately dies down once dark sets in. At that point the river covers the road noise (also helpful in the morning). The campground is close to a lot of hiking trails, but there are no trailheads in the campground (so I guess that makes three bummers). All in all, a cool place to camp.
GuideVisited here June of 2019. It was first time in Yellowstone, so we didn’t know what to expect. This campsite has mixed RV and tent camping. The only downside is that campsites are very close together and some of the tent camp sites do flood (1”-4” of water) during rain as we saw during our visit. So if you are tent camping, check out your site carefully. Camp office staff was very friendly. The camp office sells firewood. There is a RV dump station at the marina across the street. The marina also sells fishing licenses and does kayak inspections (you have to have a sticker to use kayaks in Yellowstone waters). Big bison roam the campground as do an occasional bear, so use of the provided bear boxes and keeping your camp clean is highly recommended. Nice campground. Very crowded during summer.
Guide
The first clue of how large this campground is, is during check in. A whole row of agent's are checking campers in. Once you enter your loop however things become quiet. I stayed in a tent camping loop, where almost all campers were sleeping in their vehicles like me. The problem is, tent sites have on-loop parking, there is no driveway, so it was literally a string of parallel parked rigs on both sides of the road, and the road was sloped. Each site had a private bear locker for personal storage. Bathrooms have nice, enclosed large kitchen sink for meal clean up to prevent bear attracting smells at your site. This is a high altitude camp and was very cold (high 20s) at night. Great base for explaining Canyon country and Hayden Valley. Nearby lodge, shopping and groceries.
GuideI stumbled across this campground while driving Mesa Falls scenic by-way. This campground has 27 sites, both tent, RV and a group site right along the Warm River. It also has a day use area. This campground had new vaulted toilets but no showers. Within the campground was the trailhead for The railroad grade trail (great for mountain biking) which I was told use to take train passenger to Yellowstone’s old faithful. Tubing was very popular and the campers next to us insisted that we borrow their tubes so we could try it out for ourselves, very refreshing during our hot August stay.
I snagged the last tent site #21 across the bridge in the northern half of the campground. This large secluded tent site up on the hill had a very small tent pad, fire pit and picnic table and enough room to put up my hammock. This site is next to two double sites. Unfortunately during the 5 nights I stayed some of the RVers close to us ran their generators beyond the 10pm curfew and one RVer felt the need to pull out his noisy leaf blower and blow leafs and dirt everywhere.
There is tons of things to see and do in the area, Mesa Falls, Island Park… but the hidden gem is the close proximity (less than 25 miles) to Yellowstone National Park - Bechler Ranger Station. Bechler Ranger Station is in the far SW corner of Yellowstone National Park. This area has more streams, creeks, lakes and waterfalls than any other area in Yellowstone. There is a historic Soldier Station there that is about 100 years old and there are lots of hiking trails to beautiful waterfalls. You can see cave falls right from the parking lots. I would definitely return to this campground next time I am in the area.
Scout
We just returned from a stay at Madison Arm resort on Hebgen and I was very impressed. They had showers, a small store, fish cleaning station and plenty of bear proof garbages. They offer cabin, RV rentals, Rv and tent sites. We enjoyed our stay and the view from our tent site.
Traveler
Plenty of space here with a beautiful lake view. Mountains on all sides of you. Very little tree coverage. Some rodent holes surrounding the tent site. Tent faired well and wind was not a serious issue by any means. There was fire ring already made at the tent site we chose. Few others camping in RVs but plenty of space/privacy between them. 45 minutes from Old Faithful and Yellowstone
Guide
I don’t like to leave bad reviews where I have not stayed. But, any review of a place should start with customer service.
I emailed this KOA requesting a tent say. I half-hour later I received an email back saying there were two sites but that I needed to call to reserve. I called promptly spoke to a person named Judy, her demeanor was less than encouraging. I relayed to her what the email had said and she barked at me and said we don’t send emails concerning availability. I said but I have one right here saying that you do have two tent sites. She said maybe we do have two tent sites but we don’t take emails, then she promptly slam the phone down and hung up on me. I emailed back and explain the situation at which point I was told sorry all tent sites are now unavailable.
Times like this I wonder, was it me? But I also realize that the year 2020, social distancing, pandemic, is also causing a rush on outdoor tent sites. There is stress all around. But, common courtesy should always prevail when you are customer facing.
Guide
A private campground just north of Yellowstone national park which offers for hook ups for larger rakes as well as tent sites along the Yellowstone River. A little pricey but very convenient. We took a tent site for $30 a night for our VW van. I can’t post was nice enough to allow us to recharge our house battery in the morning while we took showers.
RangerTent camping in yellowstone was great. Loved seeing the mountains, geysers, bison, hot springs, sunsets, and waterfalls.
Guide
We were there in early June and they had a cold front coming in with snow! Campground was for tent camping, no hookups.
Guide
Nice roads and huge beautiful sites. Being a small female solo tent camping I felt safe. There are lots of elk and rabbits.
Traveler
State run Site. Save money with the Idaho State Parks Pass.
RV and tent camping fishing and boating. I have stayed here numerous times. Cell service spotty but can be achieved. Wildlife can be viewed from inside RV. As stated before can get windy at times.
Very close to other places to visit; Yellowstone NP, Mesa Falls, Harriman State Park, Earthquake Lake, Big Spring, really to many to list.
Scout
Lots of available sites. Not far from Yellowstone. Room for large tents. We had an 8 x 15 tent. Camp host was extremely helpful. You can buy wood from host. No showers. Toilets are vault toilets but extremely clean. Nice place to stay for $15 a night.
Traveler
Small quite park sites with electric, non electric, tent sites. Good first come first serve but also take reservations. Half an hour from west Yellowstone gate off hwy 20.
Guide
We drove back 10 miles but pretty sure it went back another 10-15. Great dispersed camping. Roads were well maintained. Drove the pickup back in for tent camping this August. Would recommend for a close spot by Yellowstone National Park.
Guide
Madison is a nice campground. Our tent site was kind of on an incline. Only downside is its fairly busy, however I don’t think there is really anyway around this in Yellowstone.
RangerTenting inside Yellowstone was a real treat. Facilities all top notch. Wished our tent site had more tree coverage with the heat, hopefully the conservation efforts including keeping hammock ropes off direct contact help to keep the trees healthy. Hope to return again in the future!
ScoutThis campground was cramped and all the tent sites are practically on top of each other. We also had a bad run (three days) of loud neighbors that made is unbearable and forced us to leave the campground.
GuideWe got a nice tent site in the park campground. Our site was small and there are many neighboring campsites. There was a nice bathroom with hot water and toilets. There was also water and dumpsters.
Scout
Spent 3 nights on 2 separate occasions here. Booked 2 nights at a tent site on the front end of the trip. Plenty of space in the tent area, nice grassy space and some trees for shade. Had a picnic table which was really nice to have a place to get up off the ground. Couldn't drink the tap water due to E. Coli issues. The bathrooms were decent but the showers could have been better. Kind of pricey and didn't realize it when I booked it. $82 for 2 nights at a camp site for 2 people. There was a grocery store across the way which was nice. On the back end of the trip we had to book an RV site since there were no tent sites. It was nice having access to power close by. The women's bathroom was out of toilet paper while I was there. Kind of a bummer.
TravelerJust outside the west entrance of Yellowstone, the campsite was pretty awesome with the walk in reservation we made. We wanted to snag a campsite inside the park but it was full. We came across a few tent sites just around West Yellowstone, with rain in the forecast and a long tiring drive, we drove past KOA and made a quick u-turn. They had tent availability, free showers and laundry facilities that we desperately needed.
The site itself was close to restrooms and was a small but cute layout, however, the dirt was too soft for gusty winds, we were right under a street lamp and we were so close to the entrance that we could hear all conversations and cars that drove in and out of the park.
The showers and restrooms were nice and clean. A little pricy for what we would usually pay for a no hookup tent site but at the end it gave us exactly what we needed.
TravelerVery clean campground, lots of amenities. Showers were very clean. Tent sites are a little bit cramped but it was okay. Felt safe from both people and animals.
I think the other KOA close by has more food options, but i liked this one just fine.
Ranger
We tent camped for a few nights over the summer with another couple. The sites were close together and we were right by the road, though it is super convenient to either Yellowstone or Grand Tetons. Also, having a little market onsite was nice to have.. Probably would give it 3 stars if it weren't for the convenience.
TravelerThis campground has a boat dock, cabins, boats for rent, paddle boards for rent, kayaks for rent, water/power sites, full hook up sites, rv and tent sites, bathrooms, showers, store, firepits, firewood for sale, friendly people, boat trailer parking, sells fishing licenses, atv trails nearby.
GuideStayed at RV site since the tent sites were full. Bathroom is clean and the dish washing section was a nice addition. Garbage disposal was in the loop, but the recycling was near the entrance. Shared bear proof food box close enough to you.
Tent camping near Island Park, Idaho offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in nature while enjoying the stunning landscapes and outdoor activities the area has to offer.
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