Best Tent Camping near Canyon Ferry Lake, MT

Nice standard campground around Canyon Ferry Lake, but you do have to pay for sites during certain times. Standard single unit is $15.

$14/night tent camping. Spent two nights. Thursday night was great. Plenty of site for everybody to spread out. Friday night was much more crowded. Sites are all nice and flat and level for tent camping. Vault toilets are very clean. There is a playground if you have kids. Decent hiking, unfortunately the caves themselves were closed during our stay. Easy access from I-90. Would stay again mid-week or off season, but during prime time I'd prefer a bit more seclusion.

If you are in a tent they will gouge you for $40 per tent for a crappy tent site with no services, no grass, and uneven ground. Also they will refuse to give you a receipt if you pay cash. Our group had 4 tents so we spent $160 on a poorly maintained tent site. It was an outrageous amount. A large RV and pickup truck pulled in to a site right after us and they paid $40 for that whole site. One good note is that the showers were clean and nicely done.

We stayed the first and last nights in the free sites above the marina/campground. It’s quite pretty around Canyon Ferry Lake, and being able to stay for free is great.

We stayed a night in the main campground to dump, charge, and fill. Strong power, good water, and quiet. It’s a good spot. No frills, especially post-Labor Day, but it works.

Confederate Campground is a Bureau of Reclamation campground on the shore of Canyon Ferry Lake. This small free campground does not have developed campsites with the exception of the one ADA available campsite. Their appears to be six camping spots, five that have rock made fire rings, the only developed site is the ADA site which has a concrete parking pad and metal fire pit. No picnic tables are available at this campground. The campground does have a ADA accessible vault toilet directly across from the ADA campsite. Two of the campsites sit along the lakes beach. Don't be expecting a nice sandy beach however, this is a gravel beach, but still nice. Two sites are near the vault toilet and ADA site, these sites sit on the edge of the lake among cotton wood trees and willows. The final location is away from the other sites in a grassy area near large cotton woods. Camping at Confederate campground is limited to 14 days. There is no water, trash service or picnic tables so come prepared. Their is not a boat launch at this campground, but boats can easily be launched from the rocky beach area. All water craft regardless of size must be inspected prior to launching at Canyon Ferry Lake.

This is a nice campground on Canyon Ferry Lake. Camp ground has tables and fire rings at all the sites except for one ADA site for some reason. Two vault toilets. Large boat ramp. Many large trees provide shade for most sites. Almost gave this 3 starts as the main drawback is all the houses around the campground. This is a lightly used campground, I have only ever seen a few people camping here the several times I have visited the campground.

Gorgeous spot! Free dispersed camping, first come basis, 14 day stay limit. Lots of spots to choose from in the area. Beautiful vies of Canyon Ferry Lake. Most spots have a picnic table and a camp fire ring. Some spots are close to each other so in the summer I bet it’s packed. The lakes beach is full of rocks. Please make sure to leave no trace if you come to this spot! Pack it in, pack it out. There are vault toilets around the area if needed. No dumping.

Was a pretty decent campground to camp at. It was mostly TT staying there at the time we went and seen wildlife within the first 30 min of setting up. Swimming area is nice and water was warm however it may have been too hot to tent camp. There was only a few places to find shade to set up a tent but we were unable to fine a shady spot for throughout the day that's the only reason for the 4 and not 5 stars.

Near the town of Three Forks, to which there are both short/scenic bike trails and an 18-miler. 6 of the 17 tent sites are 1st-come, 1st-serve. With a ton of historical displays, friendly park rangers, an open-air, welcoming vibe and a sprawling variety of other things to explore, staying here will put a smile on your face.  There's decent distance between some of the sites, but some of them aren't very large.

I rolled into this place because White Sandy BLM was closed on Nov 1. This CG looks to stay open year round because it has a boat launch. The water was turned off and the main bathhouse was closed for the season. Two pit toilets remain open. The electric service was still on for the sites. The tent only sites were not suitable for van camping and require a walk to the tent site. I used the RV site and about half of them a siamese type sites with gravel pads. I was the only one here so this didn’t matter. Cell service on Verizon is one bar 3G so I set up my starlink.

This is a typical KOA. First the good: Friendly helpful staff until their gone at closing time. Little mini store with a few essentials. Clean bathrooms and showers and clean laundry room with several washers/dryers.$2.00 per load to wash. Can't remember how much to dry. Very cool pinball machine that costs 25 cents per game. Fun fun fun! Another bathroom/shower in middle of park but I never looked inside that one. 65 sites that most have full hook-up and pull-through. A few cool tent sites with gas BBQs. Some cool looking cabins but I never looked inside one. I'm here on 8/24/2024 and RV park is sold out except 3 pull-through sites. All tent sites were full. I don't know about the cabins. Cool playground for kids and large mostly gravel dog run. Edit added: AT&T has 5G and three bars. KOA has wifi but slow slow slow I got 3MPS so instead of KOA wifi I used my iPhone Personal Hotspot that worked great. THE BAD(and reason for only 3 stars): All gravel roads and sites throughout the park. Very close together. Some sites have a very narrow strip of grass. Some of the picknick tables need to be re-painted. Unfortunately while eating breakfast you could be 2 feet away from the next RV dumping their sewer. P.U. The luxury sites don't have that problem. They are at the end of each row and only have a neighbor on the drivers side. I think well worth the extra 17 bucks. Not ADA friendly. Very hard for someone with a walker to get around because of gravel roads/sites. Someone with a wheel chair near impossible. Has a nice handicap shower in main office building. Only problem is that once I take my walker in with me it's very tight and no room to move around. Not EV car friendly. There is a$250 fine and eviction if you plug in your car. The person at the front desk told me the$250 fine and eviction is because EVs overload the outdated system and cause a fire. This KOA is an older one and was wired before EVs. Each individual site has its own 30 amp and 50 amp circuit breaker. Some trees but few and far between. No pool or hot tub. Final thoughts: Make reservations well in advance if you can. This KOA is the best game in town and is mostly sold out in summer. I think(sorry I don't know for sure) there is only one other RV park in town and from what I can tell, it is a much older one. I would proceed with caution before I booked it. Good traveling. See you on the road.

The campground at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park has all the amenities you would need. Power and water hook ups, bathrooms and showers, a nice big playground for the kids. But, it feels more like a big parking lot with little shade or privacy. Great if you are in a camper, but maybe less appealing if you are tent camping. The campground lies at the base of the mountain that the caverns are in--about 3 miles. Once you are up near the caverns there is plenty of parking for RVs or cars. There is also a shady area to kennel your dogs for a fee, as they are not allowed in the caverns. There is also a small deli and a gift shop.

The total hike to and through the caverns is about 2 miles and about 2 hours. The hike to the caverns is about half a mile, and was fine for our 4 year old. However, the two year old, we carried in a pack. Once inside the caverns, there are over 600 stairs and a lot of bending and stooping, so take that into consideration if anyone in your party has mobility issues. There are handrails throughout and no particularly dangerous areas, other than some slippery spots. As long as children are old enough to know to stay near, they should be fine walking and holding hands.

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.

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.

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.

Our goal is to leave an unbiased review for future campers. First, don’t check in until 2:00 PM. The billeting office is closed for lunch and doesn’t get back until 2:00. As you don’t have a site number and you’ll need a key for the utilities, it will not do you any good to arrive early. Using our RV GPS, we headed off I-90 onto US-12 into Helena. At West Helena we turned on Williams St., which brought us to the VA Medical Center, then less than a 1/4 mile further to the South Gate. The gate is locked. When we called 406-324-3970(main gate) prior to our arrival, we were told to park in front of the gate and call the number on the post to have security come and let us in. The private security guard checked our IDs, reservation confirmation email, and then called in our names and truck license plate number. We were then told to head to the three story building where the billeting office is located and park in front of the building near the stepped entrance. This is not a large base/post, so don’t worry about getting lost. A lot of reviews talked about going through the North Gate, but as of this writing, they are using the South Gate for arrivals and departures. The main gate barriers are too narrow for a large RV. The billeting office is on the first floor straight a few yards and to the right after you enter the building and also where the free laundry is located. The FamCamp campground (CG) was simple to find, and we went to pull through FHU site 7 with 50/30/20 AMP. Not all the sites in this small CG have 50 AMP. The pull through was easy enough to get into, but its narrow with 9” high cement curbs, which makes getting your sewer up and over a bit of a challenge. They placed a brick thing at each site to help level your sewer hose. Also, depending on how your stairs deploy, dealing with the curb can be a challenge. In our opinion, the cement curbs are a horrible design. This site’s gravel pad was not level, so we had to use our leveler blocks. Water pressure was good at about 50 psi. There’s no CG Wifi, but we had our Starlink, plus we got a 4 bar Verizon signal. There are 12 sites here with row 1-7 being FHUs with 50/30/20 AMP and the back row 8-12 are 30/20 AMP. The sites are close to each other. We had a large class A in the adjacent site and its slideout came to our large cement picnic table. There’s a small restroom building but no showers. There are 6 RV or Tent sites where you could dry camp. There’s no obvious water spigot, but there are grass watering spigots. We saw reviews about a camp host, but we did not notice one. We departed at 10:50 AM and billeting called wondering if we had departed. If you don't turn in your key by 11:00 AM, you are charged an extra day. We were not unsatisfied with our stay, especially the good service and free laundry. But for a three day stay, due to their check in/out procedures, and site challenges, we’ll pass on this CG in the future.