Best RV Parks & Resorts near Fishtail, MT

We spent 9 days here (8/25-9/2) to work in nearby Billings (40 miles east) before heading to Washington State. The park was quiet and clean and we had no issues with neighbors at all. This is a city park that runs on donations. A nice guy from the local government stopped by once to give us a sheet with the rules and city ordinances.

Completely dry camping, although we were able to fill our tank at the spigot on the side of the restroom building. Grass or gravel sites with fire rings and picnic tables, with a mix of back in and pull-through spaces. A lot of space for big rigs and tenters alike. Firewood was available near the dumpsters in the middle of the park.

The nearest grocery store is a few miles away in town and the laundromat was small but clean. A farmer’s market was set up in the park by the railroad tracks on Thursdays (4:00-6:30) that had everything from fresh veggies and homemade goodies, as well as blankets and jewelry and a couple food trucks.

There is no dump station in the park, but there is one at the nearby Cenex station for a $5 charge during business hours. Otherwise the folks at Mountain View RV Park on the other side of the interstate will let you dump and fill water for $5.

Full Verizon signal allowed me to work from our rig for a couple days when I didn’t need to be in Billings.

We followed our RV GPS right to the campground (CG), which is a favorite of ours for a two-night stay. Check-in was quick and easy. We proceeded to Deluxe River site 18 with 30 AMP and water. You can angle the rig in as you want to get set up on the wide pad area. The utilities were in the middle of the gravel pad, and we could park where our 9’ patio could come out to enjoy the gorgeous view of the river. They have free WiFi, but it was not very fast, and we used our Starlink. There are mature trees here, but we got a clear shot north for Starlink. We got 3 bars on Verizon. The water pressure was okay. Talking to our next-door neighbors, who have stayed here over the years, this CG is under new management by a couple who also owned a KOA in Billings. There are already changes, such as getting rid of the cabins and putting in some new FHU sites. There may be plans for new cabins in the future. We also noticed that from staying here in September 2019, the ponds are now state-stocked, and you need a Montana fishing license following regular fishing regulations versus no-license pay for the trout you catch. They also have a military and senior discount, but this wasn't mentioned/given when we made our reservations online. We mentioned it to the lady who checked us in, but she didn't offer to refund us the discount like other CG's have done in the past. There is no dog park, but there’s plenty of area to walk your dog. Someday we are going to plan a longer than two-day stay so we can further explore the area and fly fish the river.

Full hookups (30/20A electrical, water and sewer) for $20/night, what more could you ask for? This is a terrific campground in Bridger's town park, where they've set up 6 pull-through campsites on grass pads with partial shade. There's a swimming pool in the park, and within walking distance of a few blocks you'll find the small but surprisingly complete Valley Foods with excellent meat, a pizza joint, inexpensive gas/diesel/propane at the local ranch store, auto service, auto parts, around a half dozen friendly taverns, and more. If you need more, Billings is around 45 minutes and there's a Walmart in Laurel, about a half hour away.

Without exception we've found the townspeople to be very warm and welcoming, too.

Sites are set up to oppose one another with a shared pedestal in between, so scout your site first to decide which way you're going to pull in. If you come in off of East Broadway, watch your overhead clearance on the trees. Drop your payment in a locked box along the East Broadway side of the campground.

Depending on where you're coming from and which gate you're heading to, this could well be right on your way to Yellowstone, and it's worthy of a stop for a night or even longer. It's within easy daytrip distance of Little Bighorn Battlefield, Red Lodge, the Beartooth Highway and more.

Snowbank is an excellent off-the-grid semi-developed and hosted FS campground.  Spacious and private sites better for small RVs, trailers, and all tents.  Clean vault toilets, bear-proof storage boxes, and plenty of community water spigots.  Decent picnic tables and fire rings at each site.  No hookups to my knowledge.  The campground is on recreation.gov and sites are reservable.  Access to a great trail and FS road from campground, other hiking nearby.  Also, a 20 minute drive to Chico Hot Springs Resort and Day Spa (food, bar, soaking).  Expect to see wildlife, and this is grizzly country so proper food storage and best practices are required by law.  No cell service.  Excellent spot before or after visiting Yellowstone.

Pebble Creek Campground in Yellowstone National Park is one of the most private options for camping in the park. The campground is smaller than most of the others, only about 30 sites, and not built for big RV rigs. This keeps out a lot of traffic, in addition to being a first-come-first-served campground. In order to secure a site at this campground, which is open from mid-May to mid-September, you need to arrive early, sometimes by 6:30 AM. The day we pulled in for a site, we were the first ones to arrive at 6:30 AM and the campground was full b 8:00 AM.

The sites are nestled among pine trees, most are level, and all have tent pads. Our site was NOT level, but with our small RV (17') trailer, we were able to find a spot that allowed us to level the rig. There are fire rings and picnic tables at all sites, as well as bear boxes for food storage (ours had two). There is no running water at this site (aside from a hand pump), or electricity, and generators are NOT allowed (to our relief!). There are a few outhouses that are well-maintained and clean. There is no dump station here, and the closest is quite a drive, so RV's need to be prepared to haul out black water. Propane can be filled in Cooke City, about a 15-minute drive to the east, out of the park.

Evenings get quite cold, as this campground sits just under 7000 feet in elevation, so plan your sleeping arrangements accordingly. In mid-June we woke one morning to frost, and most nights bottomed out in the 30's.

On our first evening at the site, a bull moose wandered through the field next to our campsite over the course of an hour or two. We were also able to use binoculars and a camera zoom lens to spot mountain goats on nearby Mount Norris, across the road from the campground (see photo). Bears and wolves are both visitors to this area, as well as coyotes and bison. Lamar Valley is just a couple of minutes away to the west. Wildlife lovers will find this campground to be in a fantastic location!

The camp hosts have been working in Yellowstone campgrounds for almost 20 years, and were extremely helpful and cordial. They are firm with following rules, so don't expect to pull over any tricks on these two. We enjoyed all of the campers we met, including some from Georgia, New Zealand, and Cody, Wyoming.