Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Lewis and Clark National Forest

Lewis and Clark National Forest Grasshopper Campground is a nice campground in the Castle Mountains. As you enter this campground you find a trail head to the left and then a picnic area to the right. The campsites start right after the first of two vault toilets for the campground. At the beginning of the campground loop, right behind the registration box you will find the hand pump for the campground. A creek runs right through the middle of the campground. One nice feature of this campground is once the campground gates are closed and locked, you can still drive to sites 1 and 2 as they are before the closure gate, so as long as you can still drive up the road you can camp. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. I did notice at least one site also had a BBQ grill in addition to the fire ring. Sites are $10 per night with a 16 day stay limit.

Kings Hill campground in the Lewis and Clark National Forest sits at around 8000 feet in elevation.  This 18 site campground should be a five star but just couldn't give it the 5th on as the area was recently cleared of dead trees and still bears the scares from the process, most notably the charred remains of at least 3 large slash piles in the campground.  Not all the wood was burned and might site had a pile that would have last several days.  The site are nicely spread apart and you can still find sites with trees in place.  Some of the sites have stairs that lead up to or down to the campsite.  The campground has water and vault toilets but no trash service so be prepared to pack out everything you bring in.  Each site has a picnic table and metal fire rings as well as BBQ grills.  Campground is near highway 89 so their is some road noise.  Campground is next to the Showdown Ski Area.

General: Just about every option you could ask for (except for tents): 50-amp FHU pull-thru, 30/20-amp with w/e(back-in and pull-thru), FHU with patio, glamping tent, one and two-room cabins and cottages. 

Site Quality: Different from many KOAs we have stayed in is that the camper pads are gravel, not paved, and there are quite a few trees that provide decent separation/privacy between the sites. The sites are bordered by railroad ties, and some are a tighter fit than others. A few of the sites at the end of the row before the glamping site appeared a little overgrown. As is usual for a KOA, our site was assigned upon check-in. The first site we were assigned didn’t work out for us since our electric cord could not reach the pedestal. Be aware that electric connections are shared between two sites so if you do not have an extension cord, you may have a problem (or need to be reassigned which was easily done for us). 

Bath/Shower House: Accessed by code. All-in-one units with soap and paper towels. They were clean. 

Activities/Amenities: Many and varied including a water playground (guests can join you here by paying a fee), petting zoo, train, dog park, yard games, bike rentals, propane fill, dump station, laundry, ice, ice cream, and free pancakes. There was even live entertainment! 

We don’t typically stay in KOAs or RV parks (mainly because of cost and lack of privacy between sites) but they are good for us when we need showers, laundry, and a dump station. Although still more than we like to spend for camping, this one was a pleasant surprise with the number of trees on the property. The staff was exceedingly friendly!