Searching for a tent campsite near Helena National Forest? You can find tent campsites by type, including drive-in, walk-in, and even hike-in for a backpacking adventure. Search nearby tent campgrounds or find top-rated spots from other campers.
The Log Gulch Recreation Site provides visitors with 70 campsites with a 7 day stay limit. All but two of the campsites can accommodate RV or tent camping (or a combination of both); two campsites are tent-only sites. While tent camping is available at all campsites, only a limited number have grassy or optimally flat tent camping surfaces. Campsites are primitive, without hookups, but each campsite does have a fire pit and picnic table. Potable water is accessible at various locations throughout the area. Note, quiet hours are from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. (no generators during this time). Do not camp outside numbered sites. Camp hosts or staff members are typically available onsite 7 days a week, from Memorial Day through Labor Day. This site has a loading dock with a boat ramp on each side. Two docks with boat slips are also available on a first-come, first-served basis. Boat slips are included in the camping/day use fee. A fish cleaning station is also available from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The recreation site also has a beach with an enclosed swimming area, available Memorial Day through Labor Day (no lifeguard on duty). Restrooms are available throughout the site, and the restroom closest to the beach has a changing room. Two ramada shelters are also available for public use. The upper ramada is available if group reservations are not in effect. The lower ramada is available on a first-come, first served basis. Call the Butte Field Office for reservation details. Hiking trails are accessible from the park.
$15 / night
Coulter Campground offers 5 boat-in campsites on the east side of Upper Holter Lake and adjacent to the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. Approximately 1 mile north is a large day-use area (Meriwether Picnic Site) with wilderness access and boat docks. A scenic river trail provides access between the campground and picnic site. The campground, located within a scenic river canyon, provides excellent opportunities for wildlife viewing. Fish Your National Forests: Fish available include: Trout, Walleye; Types of fishing available include: Shore, Motorized boat, Spin, Bait;
The Indian Meadows Trailhead provides access into the Scapegoat Wilderness. The site is not usually accessible by passenger vehicles until late May.
General Notes: Provides access to the Scapegoat Wilderness. Food Storage order in effect. Limited stock campsites available.
Parking: Ample parking provided for large stock trailers.
GuideThere was no sign for this campsite on the highway. I just pulled off the highway where it said access to National Forest, and it appeared fairly close to the highway. There were only half a dozen sites or so, and no amenities. And of course, no cost. I think the actual Moose Creek Campground is farther up the road and away from the highway. But this was perfect for someone who is caravaning and needed a quick place to stop. It's right on the creek and it was delightful. There was one other camper in there the evening I was there.
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.
Legend
Our goal is to leave an unbiased review for future campers. First, don’t check in until 2:00 PM. The billeting office is closed for lunch and doesn’t get back until 2:00. As you don’t have a site number and you’ll need a key for the utilities, it will not do you any good to arrive early. Using our RV GPS, we headed off I-90 onto US-12 into Helena. At West Helena we turned on Williams St., which brought us to the VA Medical Center, then less than a 1/4 mile further to the South Gate. The gate is locked. When we called 406-324-3970(main gate) prior to our arrival, we were told to park in front of the gate and call the number on the post to have security come and let us in. The private security guard checked our IDs, reservation confirmation email, and then called in our names and truck license plate number. We were then told to head to the three story building where the billeting office is located and park in front of the building near the stepped entrance. This is not a large base/post, so don’t worry about getting lost. A lot of reviews talked about going through the North Gate, but as of this writing, they are using the South Gate for arrivals and departures. The main gate barriers are too narrow for a large RV. The billeting office is on the first floor straight a few yards and to the right after you enter the building and also where the free laundry is located. The FamCamp campground (CG) was simple to find, and we went to pull through FHU site 7 with 50/30/20 AMP. Not all the sites in this small CG have 50 AMP. The pull through was easy enough to get into, but its narrow with 9” high cement curbs, which makes getting your sewer up and over a bit of a challenge. They placed a brick thing at each site to help level your sewer hose. Also, depending on how your stairs deploy, dealing with the curb can be a challenge. In our opinion, the cement curbs are a horrible design. This site’s gravel pad was not level, so we had to use our leveler blocks. Water pressure was good at about 50 psi. There’s no CG Wifi, but we had our Starlink, plus we got a 4 bar Verizon signal. There are 12 sites here with row 1-7 being FHUs with 50/30/20 AMP and the back row 8-12 are 30/20 AMP. The sites are close to each other. We had a large class A in the adjacent site and its slideout came to our large cement picnic table. There’s a small restroom building but no showers. There are 6 RV or Tent sites where you could dry camp. There’s no obvious water spigot, but there are grass watering spigots. We saw reviews about a camp host, but we did not notice one. We departed at 10:50 AM and billeting called wondering if we had departed. If you don't turn in your key by 11:00 AM, you are charged an extra day. We were not unsatisfied with our stay, especially the good service and free laundry. But for a three day stay, due to their check in/out procedures, and site challenges, we’ll pass on this CG in the future.
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
We were passing through and needed a place to camp. We were surprised how well kept and beautiful the campground is! The host was amazing and works really hard to keep the sites in tip top shape. The lake is right against the sites and makes for a beautiful place to stay.
Ranger
Beautiful spot! Right by the river! We got the last spot down by the river and the pit toilet. $18 for non residents. Bring your own toilet paper, the toilet was not stocked very well. Fire pits and picnic table at each site. Just beautiful views! By far my favorite spot this trip!
Guide
Love the spot, not many people, picnic tables/fire pits at each pull through spot. Pit toilet was locked. The mosquitoes were absolutely blood thirsty and aggressive and after multiple reapplications of bug spray we had to call it quits. The fire barely kept them at bay, but we still got a few bites sitting next to the heat.
Traveler
Big rigs have a great space at the bottom of the hill... but if you're in a truck, van, etc., head on up the hill. The road is in great shape. There are some pullouts, but look for a road on the right (veer left at the private drive; you'll see a sign) and you'll find a great site with a fire ring and somewhat level ground. Chances are it'll be COVERED in cow poop, but hey. It's quiet, aside from the mooing of cows, and totally private. There's probably more up the road, too, I just didn't go further. Solitude.
Scout
Pulled in around 10 to find a couple 5th wheels in a circle and a few vans dispersed, only one sketchy motor home but quiet night. We stayed in the camper all night as the mosquitos were the worse I’ve ever seen at all hours.
Guide
We didn’t stay at this exact site as it was taken but there one more dispersed site about a mile or so down the road.
Was nice being close to the creek and there was lots of fallen trees we used for firewood.
Quiet spot with a small amount of traffic on the road.
Didn’t see any wildlife but the horseflies were a bit out of control this time of the year.
Guide
Quiet and almost empty Wednesday/Thursday but not only full weekend 100am wakeup call from a ski boat with a deafening sound system.[The other side of the lake]
The access to the lake was between other campsites but it was too steep for my wife. Site 61 was a tight squeeze at 33' because of an incline at the rear of 2'. Excellent sunsets and moonrises with plenty of room between the sites. No shade at sites but some trees/shrubs on the shoreline.
Guide
Easy 1 night stay on the river. Pretty quiet. Clean
Scout
The prior review is spot on. There is really no good place for a tent. You could park a camper along the parking area near the campsite. As stated prior, it is next to the outhouse, but which was clean and odor-free. You can use waders to fish by the boat landing. The site/boat landing was busy during the day but abandoned except for me in the evening. So, I liked the privacy. According to the interpretive sign, Lewis and Clark had breakfast here in 1805. Kinda cool! And I had breakfast here in 2024: but, I drove. Road noise quiets down when it gets dark but starts up by daybreak.
Scout
Couldn't camp as it was full on a Thursday in June. Couldn't find and was told there's no water. Very, very busy landing for fishing boats. The town alongside it (Craig) has a nice restaurant / bar and a brew pub.
Scout
Easy to find, road isn’t too rough, no service with t mobile, nice little fire ring. Definitely recommend getting there a little earlier to get the good spots
Traveler
Agree with the previous reviews. We stayed with our van and the space was ok, although tricky to find a flat surface. Fees still as shown in the previous pictures.
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.
Traveler
Beautiful setting, peaceful and quiet.
GuideCraig Fishing Access campground 10 sites. Unseasonably warm, beautiful early spring day by the Missouri River. There are no campers, but the sites are clean, seem to be well taken care of. One vault in the campground another at the vault at the fishing access to the front of the campground. Private property in the back of the campground several campsites close to the river are shaded which in the summer would be perfect. Some noise from I-15.
GuideAgree with Dexter. Pretty setting, creek running nearby. Can do fair amount of walking since railroad is no longer used. But constant traffic noise from I-15 can be a real drawback unless one is deaf.
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.
Guide
The lake is right at the rear of your camper. Sites are extremely close together and only electric hookup. No sewer or water hook up. Must already have water or get it at the dump station at the entrance. You must use a bucket or jug for water at the campsites as the rangers no longer provide adapters for the hydrants. Not good as a little maintenance could fix any issues.
Guide
What a great little park just off the highway! Everything was well maintained and the vault toilet was cleaned and stocked. It was really quiet with a few local families camping and the maintenance guy came through around 8am checking on the park.
We’re 52’ overall with the truck and a 30’ bumper pull toyhauler and had no issues. There are 2 maybe 3 spots that could accommodate us no problem and probably up to a 35’ camper. The road in is short but a little rough; just take it slow and you’ll have no problems!
Frequently Asked Questions
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