Are you in need of a campground near Fishtail, MT? Fishtail is filled with the activities, sights, and experiences to make everyone in your crew a happy camper. Find the best campgrounds near Fishtail, MT. Read helpful reviews and tips to find the perfect camping option for you and your crew.
Basin Campground is located 7 miles west of Red Lodge, Montana, along Forest Road 2071, which is paved all the way to the campground. The area is a popular location for hiking, backpacking and fishing.
Fishing is a popular activity along the West Fork of Rock Creek and at nearby Wild Bill Lake. The small lake is open to kayaking and canoeing, and an accessible fishing dock is located on the shore. The Basin Lakes Trailhead is just across the road. Silver Run Plateau, West Fork and Timberline Lakes Trails offer access to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Mountain bikers enjoy the Ingles Creek Trail and a variety of loop trails at Silver Run. Biking is also allowed on the Basin Lakes Trail.
The campground is situated on the banks of the West Fork of Rock Creek. The campground and the area surrounding the campground were burned by the Cascade Fire in 2008, leaving an open landscape abounding with wildflowers.
The charming town of Red Lodge, Montana offers a variety of dining and lodging options, galleries, shops and summer events. The Home of Champions Rodeo is held on Fourth of July weekend, Beartooth Bike Rally and Iron Horse Rodeo in mid-July, Mountain Man Rendezvous in late July and the Festival of Nations in early August. The Beartooth Highway was deemed "the most beautiful drive in America" by the late Charles Kuralt. It snakes across the rugged Beartooth Mountains from Red Lodge to Cooke City, Montana, and is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies. Along the way, visitors are treated to sweeping views and plentiful outdoor recreation opportunities.
For facility specific information, please call (928) 537-8888.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This cancellation processing fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
$20 - $34 / night
$25 - $55 / night
Our KOA is located just 4 miles north of Red Lodge. We offer KOA Patio Sites, RV Sites, Tent Sites, and Kamping Kabins. Amenities include a heated pool, new playground, new gem mining sluice (which is open to the public), outdoor activities, and access to Rock Creek. We are the perfect basecamp while exploring Red Lodge, the Beartooth Scenic Hwy, Yellowstone NP, or numerous other breathtaking sites around our area. Happy Kamping, The Tubb's
$40 / night
Basin Campground is located 7 miles west of Red Lodge, Montana, along Forest Road 2071, which is paved all the way to the campground. The area is a popular location for hiking, backpacking and fishing.
Fishing is a popular activity along the West Fork of Rock Creek and at nearby Wild Bill Lake. The small lake is open to kayaking and canoeing, and an accessible fishing dock is located on the shore. The Basin Lakes Trailhead is just across the road. Silver Run Plateau, West Fork and Timberline Lakes Trails offer access to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Mountain bikers enjoy the Ingles Creek Trail and a variety of loop trails at Silver Run. Biking is also allowed on the Basin Lakes Trail.
The campground is situated on the banks of the West Fork of Rock Creek. The campground and the area surrounding the campground were burned by the Cascade Fire in 2008, leaving an open landscape abounding with wildflowers.
The charming town of Red Lodge, Montana offers a variety of dining and lodging options, galleries, shops and summer events. The Home of Champions Rodeo is held on Fourth of July weekend, Beartooth Bike Rally and Iron Horse Rodeo in mid-July, Mountain Man Rendezvous in late July and the Festival of Nations in early August. The Beartooth Highway was deemed "the most beautiful drive in America" by the late Charles Kuralt. It snakes across the rugged Beartooth Mountains from Red Lodge to Cooke City, Montana, and is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies. Along the way, visitors are treated to sweeping views and plentiful outdoor recreation opportunities.
For facility specific information, please call (928) 537-8888.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This cancellation processing fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
$20 - $34 / night
$25 - $55 / night
Our KOA is located just 4 miles north of Red Lodge. We offer KOA Patio Sites, RV Sites, Tent Sites, and Kamping Kabins. Amenities include a heated pool, new playground, new gem mining sluice (which is open to the public), outdoor activities, and access to Rock Creek. We are the perfect basecamp while exploring Red Lodge, the Beartooth Scenic Hwy, Yellowstone NP, or numerous other breathtaking sites around our area. Happy Kamping, The Tubb's
Scout
Office staff and owners are great! Areas are clean and neat.
Guide
Nice campground with clean bathrooms. Nice shady sites on rock creek but close together , also more open sites up higher near road.
Scout
Easy to find off of I90. Nice clean and safe place. Once the rafters and fisherman rolled out in the evening it was peaceful. Will return.
Ranger
Clean quiet at night. Family and pet friendly. Large campsites each with a picnic table and fire pit. Public toilets non-threaded water spigot near the entrance. Water quality is great. 64 outlets on four different light posts near communal bathroom and shelter area. With a long enough extension cord you might be able to get to your campsite but I doubt it. Close to the river. I feel safe here. I got here on August 30th and stay till September 3rd that's why I chose month of September.
Scout
Restrooms are clean. No running water. Must hick the water fall. It's so much fun.
ScoutIn short the campground had a bear owners knew about, but didn’t inform the people booking. 3 year old child gets attacked & all campers immediately evacuated. Campground doesn’t reimburse the patrons as promised. Greedy low life’s.
RangerRight on the river and lots of shade and roomy camp spots. AT&T cell service is good!
Guide
There are only 2 sites here. It’s a great place to fish, rock hound and there are some trails very close. The road in as well as the pit toilet are well maintained. One morning about 12 people showed up and just walked onto my site and went fishing despite my objections. They were really aggressive and they felt completely entitled to do whatever they wanted.
Traveler
About 7 miles west of Absarokee, 2.5 of them gravel. Sign said tent camping only but I stayed one night in my Sprinter van with no problem. Did not use vault toilet so cannot speak to its condition. Some algae near the shore of river but waded out deeper for refreshing dip.
Scout
Beautiful spot by the Yellowstone River. Train whistles woke us up four times.
Guide
We had site 1. The sites are close and not too big. Really the site is small. There is one bear locker, fire ring, and picnic table per site. The pit toilets were super clean and had a motion light inside them for night time. I loved hearing the rushing water all night long. The campground is very quiet. We walked the river a bit in the morning before leaving. We had no mosquitoes but when we arrived it was 46 degrees and when we left it was raining. Would stay here again. AT&T had one bar and our Verizon had no service.
Guide
Beautiful managed campsite right on the beartooth scenic byway in Montana. No cell service (at all, no matter your provider) but you’re a quick 15 minute drive to the town of Red Lodge with everything you could need.
Perfect amount of tree cover in these campsites with gorgeous views of the Beartooths and scenic hikes every direction. There are three campsites on this main road loop (Greenough, Parkside, and Limber Pine). All have a mix of first come first serve sites and pre-booked sites.
Scout
This camground was fairly quiet. Close to town. Only issue with this campground is how they have sites marked. Took a little bit to figure out the site markers for tent camping. They have little concrete circles on the ground with numbers. After we figured that out it was easy to get set up and paid.
TravelerLate night had to find something. Had open space, took it. Buggy, by a creek, decent amenities, pretty clean.
GuideAt first we were a little nervous about staying in a public campground, but we quickly felt safe and decided to stay an extra day. There was some trash around but overall it was clean. The city park staff had a strong presence during the day, taking care of the grounds. In the afternoon and evening, law enforcement made a few sweeps through the park. There was wood left by many of the fire pits and even a water fill station for our RV. Sites did not have hookups but we run on solar with generator backup so we survived the 100 degree heat just fine. The river was right there and while beautiful... too swift for us or our dogs to enter. We enjoyed walking there and felt very comfortable. The park manager came by to introduce himself also. This place was a gem. Please leave a donation if you stay and say thank you for such a wonderful resource.
ScoutNice and quiet, lots of room
Guide
We called last minute for an overnight and there was one spot left. We were welcomed and taken care of even arriving after hours. Nice pull through sites, clean bathrooms and showers, (laundry too, although we did not use this stop), and a nice area with horse shoes and another toss game. Trains can be heard occasionally while outside but inside with our fan running we never heard them.
Guide
We had our itinerary set to stay at this site and then the weather turned terrible and it started snowing. We only had a tent with us and the wind was whipping so we had to pack up and head to Red Lodge. I was SOO disappointed because I had been so excited to spend the night here. Unfortunately I couldn’t convince nature to cooperate. We already have plans to buy a camper van and return to this site next year because the view is worth the trip!
Traveler
5 sites. This is a first come first serve camping area. There is no concrete pads as mentioned in another review. Fire pits and picnic tables at 4 sites. They say it’s a fishing access but unless you have waders there is little access to rock creek on the bank due to thick brush. It is a decent place to stay overnight. No hookups.
RangerBeautiful location with several spots. All have fire pits but picnic tables are in bad shape. Going to sleep with sound of Rushing Water 20 ft away from me. Good cell reception on T-Mobile but no trash, water or power hookups. However, only 3 mi from Big Timber and very easy to get here. Beautiful, almost unbeatable spot.
Guide
Campsite has plenty of spots and decent amenities. Some of the spots have lake access where we saw other campers with their boats tied up to shore. The spots were way too close together for my liking. There were almost no trees, which meant no privacy from other campers. The campsite was EXTREMELY overpriced. We paid $36 for one night of tent camping ($8 vehicle fee and $26 tenters fee). This might be a reasonable price for RVs hooked up to electricity and water, but this was a ripoff for tenters that used only the pit toilet amenity. The lake was pretty, but I will absolutely continue on and camp in the Beartooth Mtns next time around.
LegendPlenty of room. A few special spots. Beautiful views on the river.
TravelerCampground is what is described; a field where you can choose where you want to set up. Nice and clean pit toilet and looks like a good boat launch. Beware if you are close to the eastern (close to the double-barbed wires fence), the irrigation sprinklers turned on around 1030pm…would have been unfortunate if I was tenting.
ScoutNice place allowing upto 7 days of free camping. Donations suggested. This is a city park just outside of town, so water and rv dump are nearby. Laundromat also nearby. Toilets and potable water are in the park. You can fill your fresh water tank.
TravelerFree campground run by the city of Columbus. They do accept donations. Only a 5 min drive off the highway so it’s very convenient as a road trip stop.
It has lots of shade and is located right next to the Yellowstone River.
In a Monday night in June, the campground was mostly full.
Traveler
Other than BNSF it’s a real cool stop over spot for a day or two
Guide
There’s only about 7 sites with the ability to stay for 14 days in a 28 day cycle. It’s a first come first serve basis. One vault toilet, rules board and a check in box.
I absolutely enjoyed my 4 day stay. It was still pretty early in the season so it wasn’t too crowded. Beautiful views with no heavy traffic.
Each camping site has a picnic table and a fire pit. Each site has wooden outlines of each spot; making it easy to park in your spot and setup camp.
ONLY WARNING! IT CAN GET VERY VERY WINDY UP HERE! I HAVE A PICKUP BOX CAMP BUT I SEEN A TENT TURN INSIDE OUT AND DISAPPEAR.
Camping near Fishtail, Montana, offers a mix of beautiful scenery and outdoor activities. Whether you're looking for a peaceful retreat or an adventure-filled getaway, there are plenty of campgrounds to choose from.
Camping near Fishtail, Montana, has its perks and quirks. With the right preparation, you can enjoy a memorable outdoor experience!
Frequently Asked Questions
What camping is available near Fishtail, MT?
According to TheDyrt.com, Fishtail, MT offers a wide range of camping options, with 93 campgrounds and RV parks near Fishtail, MT and 17 free dispersed camping spots.
Which is the most popular campground near Fishtail, MT?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular campground near Fishtail, MT is Itch-Kep-Pe Park with a 4-star rating from 38 reviews.
Where can I find free dispersed camping near Fishtail, MT?
According to TheDyrt.com, there are 17 free dispersed camping spots near Fishtail, MT.
What parks are near Fishtail, MT?
According to TheDyrt.com, there are 10 parks near Fishtail, MT that allow camping, notably Yellowstone National Park and Custer Gallatin National Forest.
