Laurel, MT is a great camping destination for adventurers of all types. Aside from great camping spots, you'll find hiking and many more outdoor experiences. Thinking of traveling with kids? You're in luck—Laurel is surrounded by family-friendly activities. Find the best campgrounds near Laurel, plus reviews and photos from other campers like you.
Map: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/Acton_GeoRef_2019.pdf Located approximately 18 miles north of Billings, the Acton Recreation Area consists of an extremely diverse landscape. With Cretaceous Age upland bluffs of Eagle sandstone, minor badlands, steep drainages, weathered shale, and scattered ponderosa pine, this 3,800 acre parcel of land allows for many wildlife viewing opportunities. Open to camping, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and hunting (during season), Acton provides multiple possibilities for use year-round. About 6.6 miles of mapped roads are open for motorized use. The Acton Recreation Area is located within the Hoskins Basin Archaeological District, an area containing the remains of both conical and cribbed aboriginal wooden dwellings. Both types are increasing rarities on the northwest plains. Reports of early explorers indicated that dwellings of this type were once common. Due to loss through natural causes (weathering, floods, and fire), many of the structures have been lost. Their use for firewood and fence posts account for other losses. Distribution of the both the cribbed and conical dwellings is quite limited. The cribbed type is reported to have been spotted only from south-central Montana to northern Wyoming. The conical types have a wider range but are not as common in southcentral Montana as the cribbed. Only a limited number of these dwellings are known to exist. Sites with both types represented are fewer still. No off-road motorized vehicle use is permitted to protect the archaeological sites and wildlife habitat.
$25 - $55 / night
This park has been closed due to bank erosion. Call/check website before arriving
Our KOA is located just 4 miles north of Red Lodge. We offer KOA Patio Sites, RV Sites, Tent Sites, and Kamping Kabins. Amenities include a heated pool, new playground, new gem mining sluice (which is open to the public), outdoor activities, and access to Rock Creek. We are the perfect basecamp while exploring Red Lodge, the Beartooth Scenic Hwy, Yellowstone NP, or numerous other breathtaking sites around our area. Happy Kamping, The Tubb's
Basin Campground is located 7 miles west of Red Lodge, Montana, along Forest Road 2071, which is paved all the way to the campground. The area is a popular location for hiking, backpacking and fishing.
Fishing is a popular activity along the West Fork of Rock Creek and at nearby Wild Bill Lake. The small lake is open to kayaking and canoeing, and an accessible fishing dock is located on the shore. The Basin Lakes Trailhead is just across the road. Silver Run Plateau, West Fork and Timberline Lakes Trails offer access to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Mountain bikers enjoy the Ingles Creek Trail and a variety of loop trails at Silver Run. Biking is also allowed on the Basin Lakes Trail.
The campground is situated on the banks of the West Fork of Rock Creek. The campground and the area surrounding the campground were burned by the Cascade Fire in 2008, leaving an open landscape abounding with wildflowers.
The charming town of Red Lodge, Montana offers a variety of dining and lodging options, galleries, shops and summer events. The Home of Champions Rodeo is held on Fourth of July weekend, Beartooth Bike Rally and Iron Horse Rodeo in mid-July, Mountain Man Rendezvous in late July and the Festival of Nations in early August. The Beartooth Highway was deemed "the most beautiful drive in America" by the late Charles Kuralt. It snakes across the rugged Beartooth Mountains from Red Lodge to Cooke City, Montana, and is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies. Along the way, visitors are treated to sweeping views and plentiful outdoor recreation opportunities.
For facility specific information, please call (928) 537-8888.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This cancellation processing fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
$20 - $34 / night
Closed until further notice:
Emergency Site Closure This fishing access site is closed due to flood damage leaving the site without a safe access road. These public safety risks caused by extremely high water levels, endangered and failing infrastructure, flooded and impassible access roads, and limited availability of search and rescue resources. Closures will be strictly enforced. Signs are posted at the highway and road entrance.
06/16/2022 -
Until further notice
Map: https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/Acton_GeoRef_2019.pdf Located approximately 18 miles north of Billings, the Acton Recreation Area consists of an extremely diverse landscape. With Cretaceous Age upland bluffs of Eagle sandstone, minor badlands, steep drainages, weathered shale, and scattered ponderosa pine, this 3,800 acre parcel of land allows for many wildlife viewing opportunities. Open to camping, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and hunting (during season), Acton provides multiple possibilities for use year-round. About 6.6 miles of mapped roads are open for motorized use. The Acton Recreation Area is located within the Hoskins Basin Archaeological District, an area containing the remains of both conical and cribbed aboriginal wooden dwellings. Both types are increasing rarities on the northwest plains. Reports of early explorers indicated that dwellings of this type were once common. Due to loss through natural causes (weathering, floods, and fire), many of the structures have been lost. Their use for firewood and fence posts account for other losses. Distribution of the both the cribbed and conical dwellings is quite limited. The cribbed type is reported to have been spotted only from south-central Montana to northern Wyoming. The conical types have a wider range but are not as common in southcentral Montana as the cribbed. Only a limited number of these dwellings are known to exist. Sites with both types represented are fewer still. No off-road motorized vehicle use is permitted to protect the archaeological sites and wildlife habitat.
$25 - $55 / night
This park has been closed due to bank erosion. Call/check website before arriving
Scout
Office staff and owners are great! Areas are clean and neat.
Scout
Great place to pull off to get some rest at drive up campsites. The road right before getting to the park was washboard like (late Sept. 2024). Can drive quite a ways down but make sure your vehicle has Clearance cause the dirt road gets rough.
Guide
Nice campground with clean bathrooms. Nice shady sites on rock creek but close together , also more open sites up higher near road.
Ranger
Clean quiet at night. Family and pet friendly. Large campsites each with a picnic table and fire pit. Public toilets non-threaded water spigot near the entrance. Water quality is great. 64 outlets on four different light posts near communal bathroom and shelter area. With a long enough extension cord you might be able to get to your campsite but I doubt it. Close to the river. I feel safe here. I got here on August 30th and stay till September 3rd that's why I chose month of September.
ScoutIn short the campground had a bear owners knew about, but didn’t inform the people booking. 3 year old child gets attacked & all campers immediately evacuated. Campground doesn’t reimburse the patrons as promised. Greedy low life’s.
RangerRight on the river and lots of shade and roomy camp spots. AT&T cell service is good!
Traveler
About 7 miles west of Absarokee, 2.5 of them gravel. Sign said tent camping only but I stayed one night in my Sprinter van with no problem. Did not use vault toilet so cannot speak to its condition. Some algae near the shore of river but waded out deeper for refreshing dip.
Legend
Got on around 7pm and the office was closed. Easy night procedures. Still able to access the mini golf and pool. Kids had a blast with both and the playground. Nice full hook up back in spot. A little pricey for a quick turn but nice neighbors and great amenities. Just wish campground were open later.
Guide
We had site 1. The sites are close and not too big. Really the site is small. There is one bear locker, fire ring, and picnic table per site. The pit toilets were super clean and had a motion light inside them for night time. I loved hearing the rushing water all night long. The campground is very quiet. We walked the river a bit in the morning before leaving. We had no mosquitoes but when we arrived it was 46 degrees and when we left it was raining. Would stay here again. AT&T had one bar and our Verizon had no service.
Guide
Didn’t end up staying overnight, but enjoyed some day use of the area. Gorgeous views, well-kept pit toilets (with hand sanitizer!) and it wasn’t too busy.
Guide
Worth the drive, had great scenery and a vault toilet. I checked out the first couple groups of sites with my Subaru Crosstrek pulling a square drop trailer without issue. About half the sites were available just before sun down, didn't have an issue picking a great spot for the night. Some cool trails to walk the dog and bike leading from the area. Cool little place to stay.
Scout
Tent camping here is not very private. You basically pitch a tent in the middle of a bunch of RVs with very little tree cover. Also, we were in T1 and near the bathrooms which made it so people would cut through our campsite often.
That being said all the facilities are very nice and the staff as well.
Tent campers beware but not that ware.
Scout
This camground was fairly quiet. Close to town. Only issue with this campground is how they have sites marked. Took a little bit to figure out the site markers for tent camping. They have little concrete circles on the ground with numbers. After we figured that out it was easy to get set up and paid.
TravelerGreat spot short drive into Billing’s but in the countryside
GuideAt first we were a little nervous about staying in a public campground, but we quickly felt safe and decided to stay an extra day. There was some trash around but overall it was clean. The city park staff had a strong presence during the day, taking care of the grounds. In the afternoon and evening, law enforcement made a few sweeps through the park. There was wood left by many of the fire pits and even a water fill station for our RV. Sites did not have hookups but we run on solar with generator backup so we survived the 100 degree heat just fine. The river was right there and while beautiful... too swift for us or our dogs to enter. We enjoyed walking there and felt very comfortable. The park manager came by to introduce himself also. This place was a gem. Please leave a donation if you stay and say thank you for such a wonderful resource.
TravelerPretty nice spot. A few spots were open. Need 4x4 to get down road all the way down, but few spots before it gets rough. Got there late and there was a few spots left. Overlooks a ridge line. Spots have firepits and picnic tables. Bring wood. Awesome spot and definitely recommend.
Guide
We called last minute for an overnight and there was one spot left. We were welcomed and taken care of even arriving after hours. Nice pull through sites, clean bathrooms and showers, (laundry too, although we did not use this stop), and a nice area with horse shoes and another toss game. Trains can be heard occasionally while outside but inside with our fan running we never heard them.
Traveler
5 sites. This is a first come first serve camping area. There is no concrete pads as mentioned in another review. Fire pits and picnic tables at 4 sites. They say it’s a fishing access but unless you have waders there is little access to rock creek on the bank due to thick brush. It is a decent place to stay overnight. No hookups.
Guide
Campsite has plenty of spots and decent amenities. Some of the spots have lake access where we saw other campers with their boats tied up to shore. The spots were way too close together for my liking. There were almost no trees, which meant no privacy from other campers. The campsite was EXTREMELY overpriced. We paid $36 for one night of tent camping ($8 vehicle fee and $26 tenters fee). This might be a reasonable price for RVs hooked up to electricity and water, but this was a ripoff for tenters that used only the pit toilet amenity. The lake was pretty, but I will absolutely continue on and camp in the Beartooth Mtns next time around.
ScoutNice place allowing upto 7 days of free camping. Donations suggested. This is a city park just outside of town, so water and rv dump are nearby. Laundromat also nearby. Toilets and potable water are in the park. You can fill your fresh water tank.
TravelerFree campground run by the city of Columbus. They do accept donations. Only a 5 min drive off the highway so it’s very convenient as a road trip stop.
It has lots of shade and is located right next to the Yellowstone River.
In a Monday night in June, the campground was mostly full.
TravelerMany spots, you need to have a Montana conservation license $10 which you can purchase online, there is great service with Verizon.
TravelerBeautiful camping area well maintained would expect it to be an actual fee Campground but it's disbursement. Each site has a picnic table and barbecue ring. Only bathrooms are at the entrance so bring your own. AT&t has decent signal
GuideOne of the nicest BLMs if that’s what’s called. 30 min from Billings, easy access, nice gravel even road, well marked entrance and even leveled sites. We got some screaming teenagers passing in the car but soon they stopped. We had a restful night to continue our roadtrip.
Traveler
Full hookups available. Basically, downtown in a population 96 town of 4 blocks. Showers laundry available. Biggest attraction for us was a very nice and friendly little bar in easy walking distance. If you have a quarter, you can hamme r it in the wall at the bar and sign your name.
Scout
Nice and friendly management. Easy access from Hwy. both back in and drive through sites. Full hookups.
ScoutThis worked perfectly for a 2 AM stop, but would've been great for a longer stay. Came in really late and about 75% of the sites were empty. Would be nice even to camp for multi-day and enjoy the Yellowstone River. Left a donation. Looks like there is water and vault toilets as well, I didn't use them
Camping near Laurel, Montana, offers a mix of beautiful scenery and family-friendly activities. Whether you're in an RV or pitching a tent, there are plenty of options to enjoy the great outdoors.
Camping near Laurel, Montana, has something for everyone, from families to RV enthusiasts. Just remember to check the amenities and plan accordingly!
Frequently Asked Questions
What camping is available near Laurel, MT?
According to TheDyrt.com, Laurel, MT offers a wide range of camping options, with 50 campgrounds and RV parks near Laurel, MT and 5 free dispersed camping spots.
Which is the most popular campground near Laurel, MT?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular campground near Laurel, MT is Billings KOA with a 4.2-star rating from 46 reviews.
Where can I find free dispersed camping near Laurel, MT?
According to TheDyrt.com, there are 5 free dispersed camping spots near Laurel, MT.
What parks are near Laurel, MT?
According to TheDyrt.com, there are 8 parks near Laurel, MT that allow camping, notably Bighorn National Forest and Yellowstone National Park.
