Best Tent Camping near Harrison, MT

Arrived on a Saturday afternoon and there were 3 spots open (only 6 sites). My site had a bear box, nice picnic table and fire ring (fire ban currently). There’s two clean vault toilets. It’s just 10 minutes to red lodge but you feel very remote. There’s a creek running through some campsites which drowns out any neighbor noise. There’s a nice trail that starts in the campground (willow creek) and it’s about 4 mi RT with 900 feet elevation gain. Super peaceful trail and wasn’t very busy for a Saturday. There’s plenty of trees around for shade. I had 2 bars of LTE so could work remotely. And it’s free!

Palisades campground is a small 11 site campground on the shore of the Madison River.  This campground is in the open as it has no trees in the campground, so you will have no protection from the wind or sun, and minimal privacy.  The sites are nicely spread apart.  While at first glance it does not look like the greatest area for a tent due to the small boulders in the area, on closer look I found plenty of good spots to set up a tent, this is due to the large amount of room either between sites or behind each site.  Two accessible vault toilets serve the campground.  Each site has a picnic table and a metal fire ring,  most sites also have a bear locker for food storage, but some sites will need to share.  Water is available in the summer season.  Nearby day use area has a boat launch.  No trash service is available so be ready to haul out your trash. Cost is $12 a night.

Red Cliff is a large comfortable campground with a few electric sites; water is onsite at a well so fill bottles or onboard tanks to take to your site.  Sites are reservable through recreation.gov.  Many sites have shade most or all of the day, and they are not too close together.  Many sites are on the Gallatin River, an excellent fishery and pleasant location.  Many sites will accommodate large rigs, but small to medium trailers and RVs/camper vans are the norm. No cell service.

Vault toilets are well spaced and clean, no plumbed bathhouses.  Many recreation sites and opportunities are nearby and this is the closest campground to Big Sky Town and Resort which has grocers, breweries, shopping, restaurants, and a hospital.  It is still amidst wilderness, though adjacent to Hwy 191.  BEAR SAFE FOOD STORAGE IS REQUIRED BY LAW.  Bear boxes are provided at many sites, or lock up your stuff in a hard-sided vehicle.  You may see elk, deer and bear.

There is a great onsite trailhead for hiking and horseback riding.  The Cliffs themselves are developed for rock climbing with bolted sport routes from 5.6 up to 5.11 and 5.12.

This is a clean well-kept FS campground.

About 20 minutes south of Bozeman, MT on scenic Hyalite Canyon Road sits Langohr Campground. There are 19 spacious single sites and the 20th site is a group picnic site for day use. Langohr Campground runs along Hyalite Creek and is tucked inside Custer Gallatin National Forest in a small open meadow with Douglas fir, Lodgepole pine, and Englemann Spruce. 

I was fortunate to find a campsite as a walk-in even after arriving mid-afternoon at the beginning of June 2019 because it was too late to reserve online. Each site does have a picnic table and fire ring, and electrical sites are available. Some are drive-in or back into sites, and a few are literally next to Hyalite Creek which is an added bonus. A heavy snowfall occurred a week before and remnants of it were scattered along the campground. Good thing I brought a snow scraper to clear the picnic table of snow. The fee is $20.00 per campsite for two vehicles and $8.00 for any additional vehicles. The group picnic site is $45.00 for day use. I paid cash for the site, but I believe you may also pay by credit card.

Many of the campers were settling in and had parked RVs and pop-ups. Pets are allowed but must be on a leash as wildlife such as bears, deers, moose, and elk frequent the area. Bear lockers should be used for food storage or properly stored in vehicles. There are huge bear safe trash and recycling containers near the entrance for campers to use. The bathroom is clean, free of odor and bugs, and it is a vault toilet. There are no showers, dump station, or camp store, but you are close to Bozeman.  The camp host was settled on site 11 and sells firewood for $6.00. You can take a walk along the Hyalite Creek or drive 3.5 miles south down to Hyalite Reservoir for other activities such as fishing, kayaking, canoeing, climbing, hiking, and boating. The night sky was pretty spectacular especially with the trees around on a clear day.

Red Cliff Campground is a large Forest Service campground in the Gallatin River canyon. The campground has 63 campsites which can be reserved. This nice campground is set among pine and spruce trees. Their are two sections to the campground, the south section is more heavily wooded and has electric sites for$28 a night. The north section is more open, especially at the uphill portion of the loop with sites for$20. Several campsites have steps leading up to the campsite. The entire area was very green, with nice tall grass cover through out the campground. The Campground is set across the Gallatin river from Hwy 191, allowing the river to slightly muffle the sound of the constant truck travel on the highway, still the road noise is the big downfall for this campground. Each site is equipped with a large picnic table and metal fire ring. Bear lockers for food storage are located though out the campground, but you might need to share space with others as one lockers serves multiple sites. Vault toilets are located through out the campground. Water is available as well as trash and recycling. If you need firewood it is available from the camp host. It appears that about 1/3 of the sites are located along the river. If you like to hike there is the Elkhorn trail head at the south end of the campground, and of coarse don't forget to bring that fishing pole.

Salmon Fly Fishing Access Site is a beautiful small campground along the Big Hole River. The site has six campsites all nice spread apart from each other, and a decent size day use area. Sites have gravel parking pads, metal fire rings and picnic tables, along with nice grass areas to set up a tent. The fishing access site is with in walking distance to the small town of Melrose. The site has one vault toilet. No water or trash service is available. The site has a concrete boat launch, but be warned that Montana FWP has posted that the water is shallow for larger boats. The campground is nice and quiet, far enough from the Interstate to not really hear the road traffic, there also is a lightly used rail line near by, but did not notice any train noise while at the site. Cost to camp is$12 with a valid MT fishing license,$18 with out, if you are over the age of 62 then those rates drop to$6 or$9 a night.

This honestly was one of my favorite trips/camping experiences I have ever done! There really is nothing like it. The cabin is so cute, tucked away in a forest. It's pretty magically. The best part about this cabin is you can't reach it by car. You can take a 4 wheeler, ATV or you can hike 8 miles. My friends and I love hiking so we chose to hike the 8 miles to the cabin. I think this makes the experience that much better. We were able to take in the scenery as we hiked, and it made us appreciate staying in the cabin. The cabin contained all the basic necessities that you need, but obviously you have to bring your own food, sleeping bags and hygiene products. We also brought sleeping pads to put down on the beds provided. The restroom is outside (outhouse) and there is no water or electricity. We brought our own supply of water and brought lanterns, and a few other light sources. There is a fireplace in the cabin but they don't provide the wood. We were able to gather another wood and branches from outside to build us a fire. It comfortably sleeps 3, however we had 4 people and one person had to make their bed on the floor. There were great trails nearby, which I think most of them are used in the winter for snowmobiling. I would definitely recommend coming here, any time of the year!!

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.

Harrison Lake FAS campground is a large spacious campground with most campsite being well spread out from each other.  The fishing access site has several vault toilets, which is nice for how large of an area the campground occupies.  Each campsite has a picnic table and a metal fire ring.  Plenty of flat ground at each site for your tent. No water or trash service is available.   The site has a concrete boat ramp as well as several other locations one could put a boat in the water.  The lake is really hurting for water this year, I would say that about only 25% of the lake volume was left on my visit, so this lake and all of Montana could really do with some rain.   The big down point for this campground is that everything is in the open, the site has no trees so you are at the mercy of the sun and wind.