Best Tent Camping near Belgrade, MT

Red Cliff is a large comfortable campground with a few electric sites; water is onsite at a well so fill bottles or onboard tanks to take to your site.  Sites are reservable through recreation.gov.  Many sites have shade most or all of the day, and they are not too close together.  Many sites are on the Gallatin River, an excellent fishery and pleasant location.  Many sites will accommodate large rigs, but small to medium trailers and RVs/camper vans are the norm. No cell service.

Vault toilets are well spaced and clean, no plumbed bathhouses.  Many recreation sites and opportunities are nearby and this is the closest campground to Big Sky Town and Resort which has grocers, breweries, shopping, restaurants, and a hospital.  It is still amidst wilderness, though adjacent to Hwy 191.  BEAR SAFE FOOD STORAGE IS REQUIRED BY LAW.  Bear boxes are provided at many sites, or lock up your stuff in a hard-sided vehicle.  You may see elk, deer and bear.

There is a great onsite trailhead for hiking and horseback riding.  The Cliffs themselves are developed for rock climbing with bolted sport routes from 5.6 up to 5.11 and 5.12.

This is a clean well-kept FS campground.

About 20 minutes south of Bozeman, MT on scenic Hyalite Canyon Road sits Langohr Campground. There are 19 spacious single sites and the 20th site is a group picnic site for day use. Langohr Campground runs along Hyalite Creek and is tucked inside Custer Gallatin National Forest in a small open meadow with Douglas fir, Lodgepole pine, and Englemann Spruce. 

I was fortunate to find a campsite as a walk-in even after arriving mid-afternoon at the beginning of June 2019 because it was too late to reserve online. Each site does have a picnic table and fire ring, and electrical sites are available. Some are drive-in or back into sites, and a few are literally next to Hyalite Creek which is an added bonus. A heavy snowfall occurred a week before and remnants of it were scattered along the campground. Good thing I brought a snow scraper to clear the picnic table of snow. The fee is $20.00 per campsite for two vehicles and $8.00 for any additional vehicles. The group picnic site is $45.00 for day use. I paid cash for the site, but I believe you may also pay by credit card.

Many of the campers were settling in and had parked RVs and pop-ups. Pets are allowed but must be on a leash as wildlife such as bears, deers, moose, and elk frequent the area. Bear lockers should be used for food storage or properly stored in vehicles. There are huge bear safe trash and recycling containers near the entrance for campers to use. The bathroom is clean, free of odor and bugs, and it is a vault toilet. There are no showers, dump station, or camp store, but you are close to Bozeman.  The camp host was settled on site 11 and sells firewood for $6.00. You can take a walk along the Hyalite Creek or drive 3.5 miles south down to Hyalite Reservoir for other activities such as fishing, kayaking, canoeing, climbing, hiking, and boating. The night sky was pretty spectacular especially with the trees around on a clear day.

Red Cliff Campground is a large Forest Service campground in the Gallatin River canyon. The campground has 63 campsites which can be reserved. This nice campground is set among pine and spruce trees. Their are two sections to the campground, the south section is more heavily wooded and has electric sites for$28 a night. The north section is more open, especially at the uphill portion of the loop with sites for$20. Several campsites have steps leading up to the campsite. The entire area was very green, with nice tall grass cover through out the campground. The Campground is set across the Gallatin river from Hwy 191, allowing the river to slightly muffle the sound of the constant truck travel on the highway, still the road noise is the big downfall for this campground. Each site is equipped with a large picnic table and metal fire ring. Bear lockers for food storage are located though out the campground, but you might need to share space with others as one lockers serves multiple sites. Vault toilets are located through out the campground. Water is available as well as trash and recycling. If you need firewood it is available from the camp host. It appears that about 1/3 of the sites are located along the river. If you like to hike there is the Elkhorn trail head at the south end of the campground, and of coarse don't forget to bring that fishing pole.

Canyon campground located in a canyon just across the highway from the Yellowstone River is a pleasant campground with plenty of boulders for kids and adults to climb. The boulders are what really make this campground interesting, many of the campsites are tucked in between these large boulders. Canyon is a good jumping off point for the north end of Yellowstone National Park, located 16 miles from the north entrance town of Gardiner. This is a cheep campground at only$7 per night,$3 more for a 2nd vehicle, but you trade a low cost campground for lack of water. You will need to bring your own water for your stay so come prepared, this is also a trash-in trash-out campground. Bear food storage rules are in affect so leave the food in your car or use the bear lockers. Campground has vault toilets and each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring. The one negative about this campground is the proximity to the highway, lots of road noise during the day, a little quieter during the night but for some reason a lot of drivers seen to hit the rumble strip as they drive by making things a little loud at night. Our Scouts used this campground as a jumping off point for a multi day backpacking trip, close to the park so we could get to the back country office early to get a permit before sites filled up.

This honestly was one of my favorite trips/camping experiences I have ever done! There really is nothing like it. The cabin is so cute, tucked away in a forest. It's pretty magically. The best part about this cabin is you can't reach it by car. You can take a 4 wheeler, ATV or you can hike 8 miles. My friends and I love hiking so we chose to hike the 8 miles to the cabin. I think this makes the experience that much better. We were able to take in the scenery as we hiked, and it made us appreciate staying in the cabin. The cabin contained all the basic necessities that you need, but obviously you have to bring your own food, sleeping bags and hygiene products. We also brought sleeping pads to put down on the beds provided. The restroom is outside (outhouse) and there is no water or electricity. We brought our own supply of water and brought lanterns, and a few other light sources. There is a fireplace in the cabin but they don't provide the wood. We were able to gather another wood and branches from outside to build us a fire. It comfortably sleeps 3, however we had 4 people and one person had to make their bed on the floor. There were great trails nearby, which I think most of them are used in the winter for snowmobiling. I would definitely recommend coming here, any time of the year!!

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.

The Silos Campground located on Canyon Ferry Lake is a Bureau of Reclamation campground with 77 dry sites, 4 gazebos, handicapped accessible restrooms and RV sites. The campground is run by Broadwater County. The 4 gazebos in the campground that can be reserved through the nearby KOA campground.

Silos campground is a large open and windy campground with no tree cover. All the trees are along the lake and provide little to no releaf from the sun or constant winds that blow through the area. The campground consist of 5 camping areas, four of which have boat ramps. One of the camping areas is for tent only camping. Sites are $10 for a single site and $20 for a double site, Stays are limited to 14 days. Golden Age pass holders are $5.00 a night. No Cost during the winter season. The only way to tell if you are in a single site or a double site is if the site number post tells you if it a double site. Each camping area has at least two vault toilets. Each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring. Almost all of the picnic tables are concrete tables.

The campground's four gazebos can be rented for the night for $30 by contacting the Silos KOA Campground which is located just before the Silos campground. The gazebos all have power and lights.

The campground has four small boat launches and one large launch with a marina (Broadwater Bay) for docking your boat. The marina is managed by Silos KOA. If you need more information on either the campground or the marina facilities call 406-266-3100.

On our visit we only found one site that had any protection from the winds, that was site #1.

The campground does not have a store, but the KOA does have one. If you don't fell like cooking you have two options just outside of the campground. Between the KOA and Silo Campground is the Flamingo Grill which is open seasonally. At the turn on Hwy 12/287 is the Silos Junction Bar and Grill which is open year round. The town of Townsend is less than 10 minutes from the campground is you need more supplies.

Ranger Review of Midland Radios X-TALKER T10X3 Walkie Talkie

The X-Talker T10X3 Walkie talkie has a reported range of up to 20 miles and has 22 available channels. These walkie talkies take three AAA batteries. We gave these radios a test shortly after receiving them. Took one for a hike and left another at home. The trail-head for my hike was 16 miles from home and I had a clear crisp signal at the start. While on the hike I added a few more miles to that distance and was still able to communicate without any problems, even while in heavy timber. It wasn't until I started rounding the back of the mountain and lost line of site that the signal was lost, just like all walkie talkies do. We are quiet please with how these radios have been holding up, our Scouts have used them several times and are no worse for wear. Great to use with out Scout group as we can stay in better communication during our activities and trips, especially in those areas with out cell phone signal, which is the location of most of our activities.

A very good quality 2 way radio at a low cost. We have another set of Midland Radios that these work just as well with.

Absolutely breathtaking views with a long, beautiful dirt road in to the campsite. The campground is rural but perfectly well equipped with vault toilets (which needed tending to when we were there TBH), rock fire rings and picnic tables. We were looking forward to exploring this gorgeous area, but Mother Nature had other plans for us. We were able to easily find a private site and set up camp and have a peaceful evening under the stars, looking forward to our hike in the morning. We went to sleep all happy and cozy. We woke up to the craziest wind storm around 1am!!! Our tent took quite a beating, we are estimating that winds were above 50mph!!! Needless to say, we were exhausted in the morning and packed up promptly and promised ourselves we would return!

Great park and campground popular with locals for a quick getaway, and ideal for travelers between Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.  Yes, it is on a bench above a river valley and below higher sage and juniper covered foothills.  It can be windy, and it can be hot and sunny in the summer.  Locals find it a great early and late season destination for these reasons.  The trails also dry out/stay dry early and late making it a hiking and mountain biking destination when the higher mountains are snowy or muddy.

The campground itself has great facilities, and manicured lawns (good since this is rattlesnake country), but little to no natural shade.  Clean restrooms and clean vault toilets.  Small visitor center at the highway entrance and second visitor center for the cave entrance at the top of the mountain (foothill).  Summer brings intermittent ranger programs. I reserved a star for wind and lack of shade, otherwise it’s great camping.

P.S. spotty cell coverage!