Best Tent Camping near Great Falls, MT

Holter Dam Campground Review

Holter Dam Campground at Holter Dam Recreation site is a BLM 15 site campground located just below Holter Dam. All 15 sites at the campground feature covered picnic tables with a fire ring. All the sites sit along the edge of a very large parking area. 13 of the sites have plenty of room for tents on a nice flat grassy area. Two sites are close together and have limited room for tents. The campground has a double vault toilet with numerous water faucets, and dumpsters. A second vault toilet can be found at the boat ramp area just a short distance from the campground. An ADA campsite sits right in front of the vault toilets. The concrete pad for the ADA site extends to and surrounds the fire ring allowing wheelchairs to get as close to the fire as they want. Campsites run $10 an night (½ price for senior and access pass holders). Keep an eye out on the surrounding hills around the campground for Big Horn Sheep. While staying at the campground we saw 5 sheep on the hill next to the campground entrance.

Ranger review of the Wenzel Windy Pass Mummy 0° Sleeping bag

I was quiet pleased with the Windy Pass 0° Mummy sleeping bag. The bag is roomy, giving you room to turn around in the bags with out needing to have to bag turn with you. On the bags stuff sack it says it is a cold weather bag 0-20 degrees. I slept warm all night with the temps dropping into the low 30's with it raining all night (snow was on the ground on the hills above us). I was quiet pleased with the amount of padding the bag provided during the night as my sleeping pad failed to hold air, but I was still able to sleep comfortably on the hard ground. I got up several times during the night and each time I was able to warm back up in just a few minutes after getting back in to the bag. It will be interesting to test it out next winter in colder weather to see if it meets its temperature claims. I weighted the bag, and at 4 pounds 10 ounces, you might not be taking this one out on a backpacking trip, but for the front country camping you can't go wrong with this warm bag, specially for the price of $45.

Departure Point campground is basically camping in a parking lot. Four "campsites" are lined parking spots in a large paved area with a picnic table and fire ring at the end of the parking spot. The four spots are right next to each other. If you want to set up a tent you will be setting it up on the pavement. The area has two vault toilets, running water and trash service. Down below the camping area is a nice day use area with four picnic tables three of which are covered and right on the edge of the lake. Camping is not allowed in the day use area along the lake. So if you want to tent camp you will want to head to one of the other BLM campgrounds on the lake.

Little Log campground is a small 10 site tent only campground in the Log Gulch Recreation Area on Holter Lake. Located just past the larger Log Gulch campground this small campground sites in a gully above the lake. Flat locations to put a tent are limited due to the slope of the ground in the campground, but each site does have a flat area for a tent, however it may be hard to find room for more than one tent. Most of the choices for tent placement are at the end of the parking pad next the the picnic table and fire ring. The campground cost $15 per night, has trash service, running water and a double vault toilet. Each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring. A short distance from the campground and across the street is the day use area for the recreation area, where fishing appears to be good as we saw several large fish taken out of the lake in a short period of time. Registration for campsites is located in the day use area on the side of the road as you enter the recreation area.

Ranger Review of Mountain House's Lasagna with meat sauce freeze dried meal.

Gave this Lasagna a tried and liked it. Did find that it seemed to need something to make it real good, and that would be a packet of Parmesan cheese, if they would include the Parmesan to put on the lasagna after cooking then this would be an awesome meal. Even with out the Parmesan this is a good meal. Following the instructions and stirring well resulted in a well hydrated hot meal. A little on the saucy side, but the texture of the noddles and meat are spot on. At 2.5 servings per bag this is perfect for two people, the meal was a little two much for just me to eat on my own. Can't wait to eat this again on my summer backpacking trips, but will be bringing a little Parmesan to put on it.

Log Gulch Recreation site has two campgrounds for a total of 72 campsites, Log Gulch and Little Log. The main campground Log Gulch Campground has 60 sites, plus two tent walk in sites. This is a paved campground with gravel parking pads. A large day use area with boat ramp, marina, fish cleaning site, Ramada and beach are below the campground across the road. The campground features a ranger station, two vault toilets (a third one can be found in the day use area), running water, trash service and a Ramada located at the top of the campground. Sites 1-13 are best suited for RV's. Two of the sites in Log Gulch are walk in tent only campsites. After sites 1-13 all the other sites are very nice large sites with plenty of room for tents, however finding a flat place may be challenging as the campground is built on a hill. Grassy sites can be found in the center of the main loop. All sites have picnic tables with fire rings. A small creeks runs along the edge of the campground. Two trail heads are at the campground, one at each end which connect to 4 miles of hiking trails. Fishing appears to very good at the marina as I watch two very large trout be pulled out of the water in a short period of time.

Ranger Review of the Wenzel' Boulderdasche 33 Backpack

I took this pack on a 7.5 mile hike and found it to be a comfortable pack that held everything I needed for a day hike. Like to retro look of the pack. One of its features is a padded internal laptop sleeve, which works well holding a hydration bag. Another feature I liked was that the clips were metal not plastic so I won't have to worry about cracking them when putting the pack down on the ground. Two side pockets and a top pocket have plenty of room to hold frequently used items so you won't have to open up the whole pack each time you want something. A chest strap would have been a nice feature to have. Loops on the back, bottom and top of the pack make it possible to strap additional items to the outside of the pack if needed, which could allow this pack to be used for an single overnight trip if you are a lightweight backpacker. A pretty nice pack for the price.

Dearborn Fishing access site has one campsite tucked away in the corner of the fishing access area next to the ADA Vault Toilet. Site has a picnic table and metal fire ring. The area has very little room to park so those camping their will likely have the site to them selves. The river access is a step set of stairs dropping down to the river so you not be having fishing boats or canoes using the site to access the river, but you can access the site from the river. A private residence is next to the fishing access site but the placement of the campsite does not make it feel like your in someones yard. The advantage of the one campsite is once you have your vehicle parked your site including the picnic table and fire ring can't be seen by others visiting the area. The site has no water or trash service.

Wolf Creek Bridge FAS got a big upgrade over the winter.  The fishing access site is now fully paved.  No more parking in the mud or dirt.  With the upgrade the old vault toilet is gone and two new vault toilets have replaced it.  The site still has five campsites but four of them have been relocated.  One site sits at the entrance to the FAS, one site sits in the same location near the highway, the other three sites have moved across the parking area and sit near the vault toilets.  All sites have picnic tables, the three near the vault toilet have metal fire rings.  I expect that the other two will have rings soon.  Site still has no water or trash service.  This is a great location to start a nice day long float down the Missouri River, even better now that it is paved.  Site gains a star.

Holter Lake Recreation Area campground is a very nice campground with 52 camp sites. The entire campground including parking pads is paved. The site also has a swimming beach, boat ramp, docks, fish cleaning station, and accessible fishing walkway. The site has several vault toilets as well as water faucets through out the campground. This is a very busy campground with sites filling up fast, especially on the weekends. All sites are first come first serve, no reservations. If you want to avoid the crowd bring a tent and camp in the tent only area, when we visited no one was using the eight tent only sites, yet all the other sites in the camp ground were full. Each campsite has a fire-pit and picnic table.