Carbella Rec Site Camping

First come first serve, toilets, on the yellowstone river. BLM managed land. FREE.

The location and views were great and it’s hard to beat free. That said, this is not an ideal place for tent camping. The wind was brutal all night, one of the RVs ran their generator constantly so it was loud, and there were a lot of large rocks in the ground. It’s a great location in general, but just not ideal for a tent.

Fabulous free basic established BLM campground. There are individual sites all in a row along the water. Lots of people here for fishing and boating. There’s a designated area for tents only as well. 

Sites are flat and include a bear box, a fire pit, and a picnic table. 

14 day limit. 

Pit toilets here but no other amenities, not even trash bins, so please help keep the area clean. Host on site.

 We arrived late in the day on a weekday in July and got the last spot. The road in was gravel and not bad at all. A few mosquitoes but surprisingly not too many. Decent cell reception for Verizon and ATT.

Camp site was 20 feet away from the Beautiful Yellowstone River. The river was moving at a very good clip, as was the wind! Clean vault toilet, didn't see any water hook ups or pumps. Sites are spaced out enough that no one was on top of each other.

Free campsites on Yellowstone River. Why pay? Picnic tables, fire rings. Most sites spread out, but some close. Not crowded or busy, unsure of how many total sites, maybe 20. June 26-29, 2023. Mostly quiet, except for dummies who run generator all night.

Note - this visit and review was done before the Yellowstone River flooding.  Damages to the campground are unknown at this time and currently the site is listed as closed until water levels go down.

Carbella Recreation site was recently upgraded from a disperse camping area to a full fledged campground.  New gravel roads, parking pads for campsites, bear lockers, picnic tables and fire rings have all been added to make this a nice campground.  A large parking area as also been built for the boat ramp.  Several new vault toilets have been installed.  Campground is right on the Yellowstone River making this a great spot for fishing or floating the river.  Campground is a short drive to Yellowstone National Park.  Their is a walk-in tent only area as well.  Cost is currently FREE! with a 14 day stay limit.  I think the only thing that was not upgraded was the boat launch.

I stayed here for a night while visiting Yellowstone. It had a table for me to use, and I took a swim in the river. Be careful, as bears are common in the area.

This area has about 12 designated back in and pull thru sites. 14 day limit. Boat launch. Bear boxes and picnic tables at each site. Good Verizon signal and AT&T. Stayed here in a 36ft Class A.

This BLM recreation area on the Yellowstone River was a port in a storm. Yellowstone was crowded, as usual, and we needed a place to stay for the night. We were trying to outrun an impending snow dump so headed north toward Livingston. We stayed here September 9, 2019 for free.

No water. No electrical. Dry camping. Great views.