For those who want to experience Helena National Forest, but still want the creature comforts of home, consider glamping for your trip. The Dyrt lets you enjoy a unique, rustic Helena National Forest experience while glamping. Glamping offers quick access to one or more of Helena National Forest's most popular destinations.
Holter Lake Campground is situated on the picturesque Holter Lake in west central Montana. The site is located approximately 45 miles north of Helena, Montana, along the Missouri River. The area offers stunning views of the Sleeping Giant Wilderness Study Area. Gates of the Mountains Historic Site is in close proximity of the campground, which is accessible via a watercraft. The area is overflowing with outdoor adventure opportunities. Whether you're into fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, hiking, boating, water skiing, or all of the above, all of these activities are in close proximity to Holter Lake Campground. There is surely an activity for everyone!__
Holter Lake Campground offers excellent recreational opportunities. Activities in the area include camping, boating (motorized and non-motorized), fishing, water skiing, hiking, scenic/wildlife photography, wildlife viewing, and bird watching. There are trails within the general vicinity, as well as multiple fishing access sites and hunting access points. The recreation opportunities in the area are truly boundless.
Holter Lake Campground offers excellent recreational opportunities. Activities in the area include camping, boating (motorized and non-motorized), fishing, water skiing, hiking, scenic/wildlife photography, wildlife viewing, and bird watching. There are trails within the general vicinity, as well as multiple fishing access sites and hunting access points. The recreation opportunities in the area are truly boundless.
Every campsite has a view of the lake and mountains. The campground and day-use area has poplar and green ash trees throughout the campground, which provide shade during the height of the summer. The site is situated in a shrub-steppe landscape, mostly comprised of sage brush and bunch grasses. The campground is surrounded by sparsely wooded hills.
Holter Lake Campground is located in a prime location to get out and recreate outdoors. There is access to public lands, where multiple recreation opportunities and experiences are available. The campground is adjacent to the Missouri River, which was also the historical travel corridor for The Lewis and Clark Trail. Holter Lake Campground is situated between Helena and Great Falls.__ In Helena, there are great restaurants, museums, the capitol building, old mining settlements, Last Chance Gulch, Reeder's Alley, and a vibrant downtown area. In or near Great Falls, there is the First People's Buffalo Jump and Interpretive Center, Charlie Russell museum, Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, Giant Springs Fish Hatchery and State Park, and Tower Rock State Park. The Continental Divide Trail is nearby.
Reservation Cancellations & Changes ___ Cancelling a Reservation: Customers may cancel their reservation prior to arrival both on-line and through the call center. A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refund for a cancellation. Depending on when you cancel in relation to your arrival day, it may be considered a late cancellation (see below). Late Cancellations or Cancellations within the Cut-off Window ___ Individual Campsites: A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. The recreation.gov cancellation policy can be found here: https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies
$25 / night
Vigilante Campground is located approximately 24 miles northeast of Helena in the Big Belt Mountains. To access the campground travel northeast of Helena on Highway #280, across the Missouri River to the small community of York. At York continue driving straight on Road #4 to the campground. This 7 acre campground provides access to the Hanging Valley National Recreation Trail and the scenic Trout Creek Canyon Trail.
Log Gulch Campground is situated on the picturesque Holter Lake in west central Montana. All sites are reservation only. The site is located approximately 45 miles north of Helena, Montana, and 60 miles south of Great Falls, Montana, along the Missouri River. The area offers stunning views of the Sleeping Giant Wilderness Study Area. Gates of the Mountains Historic Site is in close proximity to the campground, which is accessible via watercraft. The area is overflowing with outdoor adventure opportunities. Whether you're into fishing, hunting, wildlife viewing, hiking, boating, water skiing, or all of the above, all of these activities are in close proximity to Log Gulch Campground. There is surely an activity for everyone!
Log Gulch Campground offers excellent recreational opportunities. Activities in the area include camping, boating (motorized and non-motorized), fishing, water skiing, hiking, scenic/wildlife photography, wildlife viewing, and bird watching. There are trails within the general vicinity, as well as multiple fishing access sites and hunting access points. The recreation opportunities in the area are truly boundless.
Every campsite is in close proximity to the lake and mountains. The campground and day-use area have poplar and green ash trees throughout the campground, which provide shade during the height of the summer. The site is situated in a shrub-steppe landscape, mostly comprised of ponderosa pine and bunch grasses. The campground is surrounded by sparsely wooded hills.
Log Gulch Campground is located in a prime location to get out and recreate outdoors. There is access to public lands, where multiple recreation opportunities and experiences are available. The campground is adjacent to the Missouri River, which was also the historical travel corridor for The Lewis and Clark Trail. Log Gulch Campground is situated between Helena and Great Falls. In Helena, there are great restaurants, museums, the capitol building, old mining settlements, Last Chance Gulch, Reeder's Alley, and a vibrant downtown area. In or near Great Falls, there is the First People's Buffalo Jump and Interpretive Center, Charlie Russell Museum, Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, Giant Springs Fish Hatchery and State Park, and Tower Rock State Park. The Continental Divide Trail is nearby.
Reservation Cancellations & Changes Cancelling a Reservation: Customers may cancel their reservation prior to arrival both on-line and through the call center. A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refund for a cancellation. Depending on when you cancel in relation to your arrival day, it may be considered a late cancellation (see below). The $8 reservation fee is non-refundable. Group Facility (including Cabins and Lookouts): Customers who cancel a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee. Late Cancellations or Cancellations within the Cut-off Window Individual Campsites: A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee. The recreation.gov cancellation policy can be found here: https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies
$25 / night
Whether you're exploring the Rocky Mountain beauty of Montana or you're on a longer journey traveling throughout the West, the new Helena North KOA provides a convenient base camp. It lies just half a mile off I-15, with plenty of Pull-Thru RV sites for larger rigs. All RV sites have 30 or 50 amp service, along with a patio area and picnic table. In Helena, Montana's state capital, you can hop aboard the Last Chance Tour Train for an engaging open-air ride around the capitol grounds, through the mansion district and past a restored miner's village. About 10 miles north, boat tours take visitors up the Missouri River through a canyon of towering limestone walls - a historic route traveled by Lewis and Clark, who dubbed it the Gates of the Mountains. You'll find other spectacular mountain scenery to the north and south; Helena lies midway between Glacier and Yellowstone national parks.
Beautiful Canyon Ferry Lake is the most used and enjoyed water playground in Montana. Summer recreation includes swimming, boating and some of the best walleye and trout fishing in the state (home of the Canyon Ferry Walleye Festival and Perch Ice Fishing Derby). Winter activities include hunting, ice fishing and ice sailing! This KOA offers 57 Pull-Thru RV Sites with both full hookups and water/electric. It has Camping Cabins, Tent Sites, showers and restroom facilities, and is close to the Canyon Ferry Lake Boat ramp and docks! Amenities include Wi-Fi and complete laundry facilities. You'll also find storage facilities for your boats, trailers and campers. What? You forgot your beer and marshmallows? The convenience store offers almost anything you may need for a pleasurable camping experience. Enjoy horseshoes, volleyball, a kids' playground and more! If you are out on the lake too late, the KOA store has Heat and Eat meals to choose from, or the Silo Bar and Grill is open most days year round. Our staff is friendly and well-informed on everything about fishing, boating, RVing, and storytelling!
GuideThis 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.
Scout
We weren’t able to reserve a site but plenty of ff first come sites. Most sites are large that will accommodate a camper and boat trailer. All are back in.
GuideThis 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.
Scout
It is now day use only. 5am-10pm
Scout
Maybe one acceptable loop, perhaps mostly for boaters. But there are 3 other loops: nothing is labeled, so good luck in finding your spot. The Manager site is not labeled either, and she was of no help. Dry, hard ground, no trees, nothing that might make a visit enjoyable. No drinking water; arid, depressing; i kept waiting for the undead to come over the horizon.
Pretty Lake, though.
TravelerOnly spent one night, but level sites, full hook ups, showers and laundry clean. An area to play games and we didn’t have our dogs this time but the dog zone looked good and clean.
GuideA lot of water stations. The boat dock parking area allowed camping along the perimeter. A few paved walking paths near the beach area. The narrow paved roads made life interesting. The fish cleaning station is closed due to vandalism. Our first day was 105F which made the lake more inviting. Evening low of 76F. No pets on the fairly small swim beach. All other water access has large rocks for erosion mitigation.
Our Saturday departure was delayed by FWP boat inspection at the entrance and a long line was inbound to Holter Lake.
Scout
Was able to get a spot right on the water late on a Saturday night. Quiet, fire rings tables and restrooms. Not much to complain about.
LegendThis is a great BLM camping spot right above the reservoir, with all of the sites having a great view. We were stopping for a night so didn’t get to explore very much. All of the sites can accommodate larger rigs, but none have electrical service so there are lots of generators. We found this unnecessary as we run on nearly 100% on solar and there is open sky a plenty!
The bathrooms are clean, pit toilets, but have potable water right outside. The camping area is right next to a large boat launch for anyone getting on the water. Hiking, boating and fishing are all right there for your enjoyment.
Nearby towns of Craig and Wolf Creek don’t offer much in the way of services, besides a small bar and grill, and gas station, so come prepared.
Traveler
Cleanest and nicest bathrooms I’ve seen in a long time!! We stayed in tent spaces which they were working to update with water and electricity, both of which worked for us! A storm came through and it was windy for a bit, but besides that beautiful skies and great weather. Respectful campers, and right by water access!
TravelerSuper easy to book a spot here through the KOA website. Found the store stocked with some pretty good food that rotates weekly. Clean and well maintained bathrooms and campsite
TravelerAll good except for wooden rails lining the road make it difficult to back in some spots
Scout
A bit hard to find but go past the Helicopter and keep going down the dirt road for a mile or two. All the campsites sit along a rocky canyon and a stream runs parallel to the road. All sites have a picnic table and fire pit. One of my fav camping spots I’ve visited
GuideWe booked a pavilion spot with 50A service. Other pavilions have 20A or 30A. Non group sites are dry camping only. There is a water spigot nearby for filling tanks. Road coming in is a bit rough, but overall a great place to stay.
RangerClean area, typical KOA restrooms. Not much shade. Pretty mount and lake views. Playground and store. $5 for showers if you are not staying.
Guide
Not going to lie. I didn't know what to expect and white knuckled a but driving my little old motorhome down into this ground. This is a bit of a trek.
TOTALLY worth it if you are up for the adventure though.
The campsites are beautiful, seclided, and shaded. There is water for kids to play in. There is a camp host. And several toilets. Endless trail. If you do some research in that area there is a place where there are some caves to explore, and another with fossils.
No cell service. But one of my favs so far.
Guide
We rolled into the last spot which was the only spot with no tree coverage. So that stunk.
But it is a cute campground. Just off the highway so it is easy access. A toilet, a boat ramp, and several trails down to the water. Great spot to SUP and play around.
This is a high traffic area though. Lots of fisherman's and their boats coming and going. They drove a bit fast for y liking with kids and dogs.
But we would stop again for the water access
GuideDid not visit. Passing along info that camp website is gone. Park is now a KOA Park.
Guide
Great place to stay. We had the whole campground to ourselves. We stayed right next to the creek and had a very peaceful stay with beautiful scenery
RangerGood, level, graveled sites. Full hookup pull-thrus that have a decent amount of space between sites. Bathrooms and showers very clean. Friendly staff. We were here in mid-October so not many traveling campers, but a few long-term
LegendIt's a beautiful place to stay even if you don't fish or boat. I wanted to stay here to kayak and SUP, but like other large lakes/reservoirs the wind was a factor in mid September. The campground is nice. The previous review from Dexter has already given a lot of details about the CG, so I won't repeat. For the price, yes, I would recommend if it fits your needs.
ScoutEasy access from 15 and nice RV spots. Boat launch ramp and small beach for swimming, fishing and for dogs to play. A sweet gem! No hook up but a pit toilet
GuideDue to a tree fungus the Forest Service has clear cut this campground a few years ago. Now it’s low shrubs, wild flowers and blueberries. The sites are on the outside of a loop like many FS campgrounds. Water is a well with pump. The toilets are clean pit toilets. We were there mid week and only three of twelve sites were taken. It does have a nice stream running along one side with shade. Nothing here to get very excited about.
Legend4 star rating is only due to no services and vault toilets (spotless). We had great AT&T cell service. The third Saturday in September and maybe half the sites were filled. Limited shade. People were friendly. What we could see, the views were amazing.. Unfortunately, the smoke obscured the true beauty. The winds were too high to kayak and paddleboard. A little disappointed, but that's not doesn't dissuade me from enjoying. Bring what you need as there isn't anything close to get suppies.
ScoutGreat spot near Glacier National Park, quick to get to! Dog friendly, cabins and fun little round (yurt-like) metal buildings to stay in too! Plus over sized lawn chess!
TravelerWe stayed here on our way to GNP and I have to say, we absolutely loved it. At first I didn’t like how there were no trees, but honestly, it was private anyways because nobody else was there. The bathrooms were clean, which is super important to us. We enjoyed ourselves.
GuideI hope we just had an off weekend cause it wasn’t a very pleasant stay. There was trash (including used toilet paper) on the grounds. The bathroom was ATROCIOUS and gross (poop smeared on the walls). Teens and young adults came and went frequently throughout the evening and night and were loud (arguing, revving engines at 2am) and they weren’t even camping out. We were in tents and heard everything. The creek was beautiful but we won’t be back to this campground.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Helena National Forest?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Helena National Forest is Holter Dam Rec. Site Campground with a 4.3-star rating from 15 reviews.
What is the best site to find glamping camping near Helena National Forest?
TheDyrt.com has all 17 glamping camping locations near Helena National Forest, with real photos and reviews from campers.
