Best Tent Camping near Norris, MT

Arrived on a Saturday afternoon and there were 3 spots open (only 6 sites). My site had a bear box, nice picnic table and fire ring (fire ban currently). There’s two clean vault toilets. It’s just 10 minutes to red lodge but you feel very remote. There’s a creek running through some campsites which drowns out any neighbor noise. There’s a nice trail that starts in the campground (willow creek) and it’s about 4 mi RT with 900 feet elevation gain. Super peaceful trail and wasn’t very busy for a Saturday. There’s plenty of trees around for shade. I had 2 bars of LTE so could work remotely. And it’s free!

Palisades campground is a small 11 site campground on the shore of the Madison River.  This campground is in the open as it has no trees in the campground, so you will have no protection from the wind or sun, and minimal privacy.  The sites are nicely spread apart.  While at first glance it does not look like the greatest area for a tent due to the small boulders in the area, on closer look I found plenty of good spots to set up a tent, this is due to the large amount of room either between sites or behind each site.  Two accessible vault toilets serve the campground.  Each site has a picnic table and a metal fire ring,  most sites also have a bear locker for food storage, but some sites will need to share.  Water is available in the summer season.  Nearby day use area has a boat launch.  No trash service is available so be ready to haul out your trash. Cost is $12 a night.

Red Cliff is a large comfortable campground with a few electric sites; water is onsite at a well so fill bottles or onboard tanks to take to your site.  Sites are reservable through recreation.gov.  Many sites have shade most or all of the day, and they are not too close together.  Many sites are on the Gallatin River, an excellent fishery and pleasant location.  Many sites will accommodate large rigs, but small to medium trailers and RVs/camper vans are the norm. No cell service.

Vault toilets are well spaced and clean, no plumbed bathhouses.  Many recreation sites and opportunities are nearby and this is the closest campground to Big Sky Town and Resort which has grocers, breweries, shopping, restaurants, and a hospital.  It is still amidst wilderness, though adjacent to Hwy 191.  BEAR SAFE FOOD STORAGE IS REQUIRED BY LAW.  Bear boxes are provided at many sites, or lock up your stuff in a hard-sided vehicle.  You may see elk, deer and bear.

There is a great onsite trailhead for hiking and horseback riding.  The Cliffs themselves are developed for rock climbing with bolted sport routes from 5.6 up to 5.11 and 5.12.

This is a clean well-kept FS campground.

About 20 minutes south of Bozeman, MT on scenic Hyalite Canyon Road sits Langohr Campground. There are 19 spacious single sites and the 20th site is a group picnic site for day use. Langohr Campground runs along Hyalite Creek and is tucked inside Custer Gallatin National Forest in a small open meadow with Douglas fir, Lodgepole pine, and Englemann Spruce. 

I was fortunate to find a campsite as a walk-in even after arriving mid-afternoon at the beginning of June 2019 because it was too late to reserve online. Each site does have a picnic table and fire ring, and electrical sites are available. Some are drive-in or back into sites, and a few are literally next to Hyalite Creek which is an added bonus. A heavy snowfall occurred a week before and remnants of it were scattered along the campground. Good thing I brought a snow scraper to clear the picnic table of snow. The fee is $20.00 per campsite for two vehicles and $8.00 for any additional vehicles. The group picnic site is $45.00 for day use. I paid cash for the site, but I believe you may also pay by credit card.

Many of the campers were settling in and had parked RVs and pop-ups. Pets are allowed but must be on a leash as wildlife such as bears, deers, moose, and elk frequent the area. Bear lockers should be used for food storage or properly stored in vehicles. There are huge bear safe trash and recycling containers near the entrance for campers to use. The bathroom is clean, free of odor and bugs, and it is a vault toilet. There are no showers, dump station, or camp store, but you are close to Bozeman.  The camp host was settled on site 11 and sells firewood for $6.00. You can take a walk along the Hyalite Creek or drive 3.5 miles south down to Hyalite Reservoir for other activities such as fishing, kayaking, canoeing, climbing, hiking, and boating. The night sky was pretty spectacular especially with the trees around on a clear day.

Red Cliff Campground is a large Forest Service campground in the Gallatin River canyon. The campground has 63 campsites which can be reserved. This nice campground is set among pine and spruce trees. Their are two sections to the campground, the south section is more heavily wooded and has electric sites for$28 a night. The north section is more open, especially at the uphill portion of the loop with sites for$20. Several campsites have steps leading up to the campsite. The entire area was very green, with nice tall grass cover through out the campground. The Campground is set across the Gallatin river from Hwy 191, allowing the river to slightly muffle the sound of the constant truck travel on the highway, still the road noise is the big downfall for this campground. Each site is equipped with a large picnic table and metal fire ring. Bear lockers for food storage are located though out the campground, but you might need to share space with others as one lockers serves multiple sites. Vault toilets are located through out the campground. Water is available as well as trash and recycling. If you need firewood it is available from the camp host. It appears that about 1/3 of the sites are located along the river. If you like to hike there is the Elkhorn trail head at the south end of the campground, and of coarse don't forget to bring that fishing pole.

Salmon Fly Fishing Access Site is a beautiful small campground along the Big Hole River. The site has six campsites all nice spread apart from each other, and a decent size day use area. Sites have gravel parking pads, metal fire rings and picnic tables, along with nice grass areas to set up a tent. The fishing access site is with in walking distance to the small town of Melrose. The site has one vault toilet. No water or trash service is available. The site has a concrete boat launch, but be warned that Montana FWP has posted that the water is shallow for larger boats. The campground is nice and quiet, far enough from the Interstate to not really hear the road traffic, there also is a lightly used rail line near by, but did not notice any train noise while at the site. Cost to camp is$12 with a valid MT fishing license,$18 with out, if you are over the age of 62 then those rates drop to$6 or$9 a night.

Canyon campground located in a canyon just across the highway from the Yellowstone River is a pleasant campground with plenty of boulders for kids and adults to climb. The boulders are what really make this campground interesting, many of the campsites are tucked in between these large boulders. Canyon is a good jumping off point for the north end of Yellowstone National Park, located 16 miles from the north entrance town of Gardiner. This is a cheep campground at only$7 per night,$3 more for a 2nd vehicle, but you trade a low cost campground for lack of water. You will need to bring your own water for your stay so come prepared, this is also a trash-in trash-out campground. Bear food storage rules are in affect so leave the food in your car or use the bear lockers. Campground has vault toilets and each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring. The one negative about this campground is the proximity to the highway, lots of road noise during the day, a little quieter during the night but for some reason a lot of drivers seen to hit the rumble strip as they drive by making things a little loud at night. Our Scouts used this campground as a jumping off point for a multi day backpacking trip, close to the park so we could get to the back country office early to get a permit before sites filled up.

This honestly was one of my favorite trips/camping experiences I have ever done! There really is nothing like it. The cabin is so cute, tucked away in a forest. It's pretty magically. The best part about this cabin is you can't reach it by car. You can take a 4 wheeler, ATV or you can hike 8 miles. My friends and I love hiking so we chose to hike the 8 miles to the cabin. I think this makes the experience that much better. We were able to take in the scenery as we hiked, and it made us appreciate staying in the cabin. The cabin contained all the basic necessities that you need, but obviously you have to bring your own food, sleeping bags and hygiene products. We also brought sleeping pads to put down on the beds provided. The restroom is outside (outhouse) and there is no water or electricity. We brought our own supply of water and brought lanterns, and a few other light sources. There is a fireplace in the cabin but they don't provide the wood. We were able to gather another wood and branches from outside to build us a fire. It comfortably sleeps 3, however we had 4 people and one person had to make their bed on the floor. There were great trails nearby, which I think most of them are used in the winter for snowmobiling. I would definitely recommend coming here, any time of the year!!

Note - this visit and review was done before the Yellowstone River flooding.  Damages to the campground are unknown at this time and currently the site is listed as closed until water levels go down.

Carbella Recreation site was recently upgraded from a disperse camping area to a full fledged campground.  New gravel roads, parking pads for campsites, bear lockers, picnic tables and fire rings have all been added to make this a nice campground.  A large parking area as also been built for the boat ramp.  Several new vault toilets have been installed.  Campground is right on the Yellowstone River making this a great spot for fishing or floating the river.  Campground is a short drive to Yellowstone National Park.  Their is a walk-in tent only area as well.  Cost is currently FREE! with a 14 day stay limit.  I think the only thing that was not upgraded was the boat launch.