Best Glamping near Canyon Ferry Lake

If you’ve ever wondered what it’d be like to vacation in a post-apocalyptic landfill run by people who watched Green Acres and said,“Hold my beer,” then Kim’s Marina& RV Resort is the place for you.

We pulled in at 1:30PM—our assigned site already occupied by another camper who kindly apologized. The staff, however, offered nothing. No sorry, no heads-up, no water, no shade. Just a“shrug emoji” in human form. Their own check-in pamphlet said checkout was at 2PM—so why hand us a site that still had a family fully plugged in and grilling hot dogs?

Meanwhile, my 76-year-old mother (who confirmed the day before that her cabin would be ready at 1:30) was treated like a burden every time she asked if her room was ready. FIVE times she asked. They didn’t even start cleaning it until 2:40. It was 100 degrees. She waited in that heat like a forgotten prop in a bad country western, and when they finally let her in, the bed was bare and they told her,“Oh—you still need bedding.” Like it was a lemonade stand, not a paid rental cabin.

The grounds? Picture a campground that moonlights as a junkyard. Dog poop was everywhere. It was like a minefield from the moment you stepped out of your camper to the joke they call a“beach.” And the dogs? Off-leash, wild, and no one batted an eye.

The plumbing situation? Grab your hazmat suit. The water spigots looked like they were salvaged from a scrapyard, half-stripped, leaking like crazy, and—you guessed it—pooling water under the electric hookups. One sewer cap shot off like a geyser when I touched it. I wouldn’t wash a lawnmower with this setup, let alone plug in my rig.

The roads were a combo of gravel, pothole dirt, and vague paved patches—but folks sped through it like NASCAR tryouts. No speed limit signs. No enforcement. Just kids on bikes diving for cover.

The “beach” for kids? There were broken signs with rusted nails still sticking out of them. Nothing says “family memories” like a tetanus shot.

Bathrooms? Closed when we arrived. When they did open, it smelled like something had crawled into the plumbing and lost its will to live. Didn’t even risk a shower—especially since you have to PAY for one on top of your already steep site fee. Pay to shower in your own stink? Pass.

Now let’s talk about the nightmare fuel they call a laundry room. Clean and dirty laundry were stacked everywhere like someone gave up mid-fold. It looked like a middle school lost-and-found exploded. Vomit in the utility sink. I wish I was kidding. ONE washer worked, and TWO dryers were broken. Not that it mattered—the pile of abandoned linens made it impossible to find space anyway.

Oh, and the staff? If the dress code was“backwoods buffet with a side of resentment,” they nailed it. Rude, grunting, eye-rolling, dismissive. One guy looked like he’d used his shirt as a napkin from breakfast through dinner and capped it off with ripped jean shorts straight outta 1987. Customer service was nonexistent, but judgment? Flowing like that busted water spigot.

Trash? Overflowed all weekend. Piled up 15 feet high and smelled like the opening scene of a horror movie. At night, I wasn’t sure if I heard raccoons or zombies.

We booked 5 nights. We stayed 5 nights. But if we didn’t have family with us, we would’ve packed up and peeled out of there after night one.

Bottom line: Kim’s is not a“resort.” It’s a rotting relic held together by duct tape, fumes, and apathy. The only thing elite here is how fast you’ll want to burn your shoes when you leave.

Never again. Not if it was free. Not if you paid me. Absolute disgrace.

This campground was a pleasant surprise. We had initially planned to camp at Glacier but were thwarted by fire and smoke. We booked this campground when we arrived at the State Park, no problem. The road circles the campground. There are five loops inside the outer road, with about 7 campsites per loop, and the playground and bathrooms in the center. The sites have electric hookups. We were able to fill our water tanks with spigots centrally located throughout the campground, but could not keep it connected. No sewer, but the bathroom is very convenient. The site was level with a fire pit and very spacious. The State Park was awesome. We went hiking and the cave tour was great. They have two souvenir stores and one cafe near the cave. We stayed there for 4 nights which was perfect for what we had planned. Would highly recommend.

Review of Duck Creek camping area

This was our second camp at Duck Creek this year with our Venturing Crew. This time we conducted a wilderness survival camp at the far opposite end of the camping area from our last camp. We constructed our survival shelters on the sand and gravel shore of Canyon Ferry Lake. We picked the shore in order to get away from the bugs. The cottonwoods and willows held plenty of little vampires looking for blood, the grassy areas had fewer mosquitoes but a recent hatch had occurred and although they didn't bite all those bugs made you thing you were being attacked. So the beach it was, it was amazing that you could walk out on the beach and not have any bugs, what a slight breeze will do. After setting up our shelters it was time to build a fire and cook dinner. Our site had a rock ring built into the sand, but we found this to be to close to the trees for our liking as the wind would blow embers into the vegetation. We built a new ring next to the water for the nigh. You will be unable to find our fire ring as any evidence of our visit was removed the next morning...Leave no trace. Their is no problem finding fire wood at duck creek drift wood is everywhere. If you want to stay at Duck Creek be prepared, this is primitive camping. No vault toilets, no water, no trash service, no metal fire rings, but you do have cell service.

Ranger review of the Firebiner from Outdoor Element.

Gave the firebinder to one of our Scouts to get a fire started, sparks up really well, she had a little problem due to how windy was, but a second try with a cotton ball covered in petroleum jelly had a fire going after three strikes. Our Scouts gave the striker five stars. The cutting blade worked well on string and fishing line, how ever we could not get through 550 para cord, and with such a small opening you are really limited on what you can cut with it. Over all everyone likes the look of the firebiner, and it held up to a weekend of use, is small and light weight and has worked well for clipping items on to packs.

For scouts we had a huge campout here (like we do every year) and it still is one of my most memorable campground. The area is super clean, with the only trash I find way out in the mountain. Talking about that, there are cool “mountains” (basically steep hills with some rocks) you can climb or hike, that give you a great view of the area. The bathrooms are pretty clean and not too smelly as well. If you just want to go camping there are amazing places to pitch a tent and in ground fire pits. Also, if you happen to have a boat, you can park it next to your campsite and take it onto the lake during the day.

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.

Ranger Review of Duck Creek Primitive Campground

We had a weekend district Scouting camporee at Duck Creek campground and really enjoyed our time. Even with several hundred Scouts attending we had plenty of room to spread out and have a large area to our selves.

Duck Creek Primitive campground is located along the shore of Canyon Ferry Lake at the end of Lower Duck Creek Road. Duck Creek primitive campground is a large open area along the lake allowing camping on Bureau of Reclamation land. This is primitive camping, all you are going to find here is a flat grassy area to camp with rock fire rings. No p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115%; }facilities, no water, no trash, no outhouse so come prepared. A lot of the area is in the open with out trees and windy. You can find trees for a wind break in several spots in the camping area. Firewood was not a problem when we visited due to all the available driftwood. Their is no cost to camp at Duck Creek, however there is a 14 day stay limit and all Bureau of Reclamation camping rules apply.

Ranger Review of Mountain House's Chicken & Dumplings

Our new Scout BSA Girls Troop/Venturing Crew gave Mountain House's Chicken & Dumplings a try during camp. I think their was a problem, after taking a taste I handed it to the two girls in camp to try and next they I know they are handing me back an empty bag and they wanted more, this after already eating a full meal before hand. This is the real thing, it would hard to make one at home that taste better than this did. How good, one of our adults in camp asked how much they cost as she would consider serving this at home. I definitely know what one of the meal choices for our backing trips this summer are going to be. This is by far the best Mountain House meal we have tried so far, and that Biscuits and Gravy was hard to beat. Scouts gave it a 6 out of 5 starts.