Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Malta, MT

Montana Gulch is such a great place to visit and stay if you are ever in the area. Being from Montana, I have had the pleasure of staying at quite a few places and this one is probably one of my favorites. I love that the campground is surrounded be the beautiful mountains, and there are so many great hikes you can go on. Whenever we decide where we are going to stay, we make sure that there are amazing hikes nearby. I would definitely look up hikes nearby before you go, that way you get a feel for what is around you, the length of the hike, and elevation gain. I would also caution that there is a lot of wild life in Montana. We saw a bear and her cubs in the distance on one of the hikes we went on. It was incredible to see, but we were definitely pretty cautious. The campground is great, clean, and well kept. There are quite a few spaces available, but definitely fill up fast in the summertime. We went in the peak of summer and all of the spaces were taken. Luckily we made our reservation online ahead of time. This campground was only for tents, and there was only 1 bathroom which was the only downside. No water onsite, so make sure to bring plenty of your own. There wasn't any picnic tables in the campsites, but there were tables throughout the campground. Pets are allowed, so we brought our dog.

Very nice of the city of Malta to allow overnight campers to stay in the park for $5. It’s just that though, a city park. It’s not a campground, so there are no signs or designated spots to park for the night. We drove around the loop and found a little gravel driveway type thing by the soccer field, so we didn’t have to pull up on to the grass for the night. A cool skoolie pulled in after us and parked along the row next to us on the grass. 

The setup is just weird and you’ll have to find a spot to squeeze into where you’ll feel comfortable. I can’t imagine parking next to the playground structures, but along the edges of the park are a decent option. You pay with cash at a drop box at the entrance. Good cell reception for ATT and Verizon. Trash bins here, and gendered accessible pit toilets. And lots and lots of play options for kids. 

But the star of the show here were the mosquitoes. I had to put on long pants, thick socks, and long sleeve hoodie every time I had to take the dogs out. I also carried a little hand held fan with me to keep them off the dogs. Occasionally a little breeze picked up and gave us a little break, but mostly the air was heavy and hot and still when we were here in late July and the mosquitoes were vicious.

The pool area is first rate! The campground is OK, no great shakes. Sites are fairly close together. Expensive considering they only give you $2 of at the pool from the $15 fee to use the pools. Bathhouse is clean and well kept.

If you stay in site 12, know that even though it looks like a back in site, you actually have to pull through over the grass to get your rig in with the hook ups on the correct side.

Also, the Phillips County Pioneer Museum in Malta is well worth a visit. Awesome local history and super collection of actual dinosaur fossils, but not just casts.

Cool looking place, but the mosquitoes were unbearable when we stopped to look for a spot. We ended up packing up and leaving- I wouldn’t chance the gravel road down to this bug haven. Lots of prairie dogs skittering on the ground too, not too dog friendly.

We just needed a quick and inexpensive place for one night. This fit the bill. It was Labor Day. We thought we would grab a bite to eat at the DQ. It was closed. As was every other restaurant in town. We had corn dogs at the Cenex. We were one of two trailers camping there. We found a water spigot and camped beside it. No electricity. It's .5 miles from the highway.

We loved our stay here. Pools are awesome very relaxing. Main pool is kept at 95 , hot spring is 106 and small pool is 45. All pools are water from the hot spring. Also sauna is huge downside is it has a concrete floor that gets super hot. From memory most sauna have a raised wood deck ? Campground is nice , basketball goal, 4 horseshoe pits and a community fire pit . Bathhouse/bathroom was very nice and clean. In the main lobby they have pizza and hot dogs you can buy. Pizza was pretty good. There is also a large selection of sodas, waters and maybe beer I don’t remember . Owners /workers were very nice. Now the only thing we didn’t care for is the campground guest can only use the pool till 8pm. While the hotel/cabin guest have access 24 hrs. Not a deal breaker but would’ve been nice to go whenever maybe there’s a reason didn’t ask.

Montana is definitely one of my all time favorite places to visit. Being from Washington, there is so many hikes there, and Montana definitely reminds me a little of Washington- except the mountains are EVERYWHERE!! The hiking here is amazing, and Montana Gulch Campground is the best. The campground was really clean, and actually the bathrooms were clean as well and stocked with toilet paper when we were there. Which is shocking because most campgrounds have nasty bathrooms. The campsite spaces were fairly big, with enough room to pitch 2 tents and have our car in front too. There is a table and fire pit within your campsite. There is also some areas under cover with extra tables. The campground is easy to find, and the road was pretty good. I've been to a few places where the road leading to the campground is crappy. The hiking around here was amazing, recommend!! The staff was super friendly and helped us pick out a few hikes. The views were incredible. Wish I would have taken more pictures, but that just means we have to come back!

Montana is hands down one of my favorite places to visit to be outdoors. I am from Washington where there is TONS of places to camp and hike, and Montana definitely is a close tie to Washington and the incredible outdoors. One thing I love about Montana Gulch is the vast views of the mountains. The mountains surround you everywhere you look. The hiking here is incredible, so I highly recommend coming here to hike. Here are a few things we liked about this spot:

1. Great hikes! As I mentioned above, there are some amazing hikes nearby. The farthest we drove for a hike was 1hr past the campground, but we really wanted to do this particular hike so we thought the drive was definitely worth it. It was a little rainy when we went, but that didn't stop us.
2. Bigger campsite spaces. This is something that we really like about some campgrounds- is when the campsite spaces are "bigger" than normal. We were able to fit our car and 2 tents in the site. Also, each campsite was separated by trees and shrubs which gave you a little more privacy.
3. Easy to find. We appreciated that there were signs on the road that directed us right to the campground. I like to trust my phone, but sometimes it doesn't lead you in the right direction. Thankfully their signage was great.
4. Helpful rangers. They were super nice, and directed us to our campsite as well as give us some insight on great hikes nearby.

The only thing we didn't like about the campground was that there was only 1 bathroom (that we could find), and it was pretty far from our campsite.

Overall, I highly recommend coming here! Great place to stay with beautiful views.

This is a primitive campground in the American Prairie Reserve.  It seems to be a relatively unknown place and we were the only people in the campground for the night (there are 6 tent sites and 7 RV).  It was about 40 miles of high-quality gravel road to get here.  Near the campground, there is a research HQ for the reserve which is not open to the public and otherwise we didn't see anyone else the entire time.  

Tent sites are walk-in and and on platforms, which you are required to use.  This means if you have two tents like us, you'll need two sites.  You tie the tents down to lashing points on on the side of the platform.  Each site has a fire pit, picnic table and there is a community covered picnic area and fire pit as well.  Free firewood is available next to the toilets.  There are vault toilets and non-potable water sources in the loop.  The walk-in is only about 15-50 yards, depending on the site.  From the campground, there is a small auditorium and nature trail available.  Bugs were pretty bad the night we were there, so we didn't try much of the nature trail.  

Everything felt new and almost unused, like the campground had just opened.  The toilets were only okay in cleanliness, the main reason I took off a star.  It was a fantastic experience for the kids.  A buffalo herd roamed the area and even through the campground at night and in the morning.  Prairie dog towns were all over.  It was one of our most memorable camping experiences but definitely come prepared since nothing is available on site or nearby.  Many of the roads in the preserve are in pretty primitive shape so 4WD is recommended to get around the preserve, but you won’t need it to access the camp site.  We had a big windstorm come through during the night, so lash down carefully!

Very nice rv park. Lake right across the street. Cleanest bathrooms! Delicious restaurant also right across the Highway. Love being off season it was not crowded. I imagine during season this would be high demand.

Pulled off highway 2 and had a lovely night at this campsite. A nice grass area for tent camping. The highlight for us was spending the evening in the pool and hot tub.

This park has a nicely maintained yard for tent camping for you to pick any spot to pitch your tent. There are grills available but no fire rings. The Womens bathroom was okay, the one sink was clogged and dirty so I didn’t even use it. My fiancé said the men’s bathroom was fine. There is a train right next to the park that runs frequently throughout the day and night. The horn goes off during the day, not at night; however, every time the train passed at night it would wake both of us up. This park was a much better pick compared to the Trafton park we went to first.

Highly recommend this campground. We stayed 1 night while visiting the area for a basketball tournament.

The new owners are extremely friendly, and the grounds/bathhouse was clean and well maintained.

(There is a train track on south side of campground but it doesn’t blow horn as it goes by so it’s not as noisy as you would think.)

Pretty spot on the milk River two fire rings only one picnic table pit toilets were new and clean. Some bugs but not too bad. No signage off the main road so you need your coordinates.

Very nice place, sites are good, stuff is friendly POOL IS AWESOME

This place is awesome as long as you don't mind voracious mosquitos! No hookups. No designated sites. Pit toilets. Beautiful area. Fire rings. Nice launch for boats. No water at all on site, so fill up your tank before you go. No dump station. About a mile away from Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs.

Yeah as one reviewer noted, there is no lack of flying insects to accost you. Probably more bugs than I have ever seen in recent memory. Dodge the bugs by going to the kickass little bar down the road!