Best Tent Camping near Terry, MT

Stayed 5 nights and it sure was lovely! Right next to the creek/dam, you can fish or play in the water with your dog. The 2 vault toilets were always clean & stocked. Lawn was mowed while here and everyone was respectful of each other’s space. Can’t hear much noise from the highway. There’s two farms that back against the place so you may hear some noise from it. There’s at least 8 spots here and a tent site. Definitely enough room for all rig sizes. Picnic table and fire ring at each site. Had 2-3 bars of LTE via AT&T. Definitely would stay here again! Only 15 minutes from mile city. No water, no trash but it’s free!

wow, what a find! We had planned to travel through the area but hadn’t planned to stop—until we hit the Tourist Center at the Montana border and found a brochure for thus park. If you love geology and want a quieter less crowded and more accessible experience than the Theodore Roosevelt National Park nearby, then this place is for you! There are several campgrounds and dispersed campsites to choose from, the RV campground is small and packed and a bit barren, but the tent sites are magnificent. There are incredible canyon views from the “Pine on Rocks” campground close to the park amphitheater, but the campsites are kind of on the edge of a cliff so would not be good with kids or pets. The trails are magnificent, and you can hike to all kinds of geological wonders, even some dinosaur digs in action! However, don’t do like we did as we came in August and the heat is BRUTAL and we werent able to hike as much as we wanted. However, we were pleased that our dog was able to join us as we discovered dogs arent allowed on the hiking trails over at the National Park

We stayed in site 12, which was rated as an RV campsite, it was pull through, but the hosts said mainly they use that area of the campground for tents with the RVs across the street (RV sites 1 - 9).  If you are tent camping, the upper sites are really nice and secluded (20s - 30s).  RVs cannot make it to sites 20s - 30s because it is a narrow dirt road to the top.

It's dry camping - no RV hookups, but at the visitor's center they have a water fill station that is free.  You can pull in and fill up your RV water tank.  There is no dump station at the park, nor in Glendive, so you have to drive to Miles City or Wibaux to dump.  We found a Cenex in Miles City that had a good dump station and it was free.

The sites were spacious, clean and affordable.  Sites 11 & 13 had a nice view.  The bathrooms were pit toilets.  Very clean.  No running water.  Camp fires are permitted.

The camp hosts were really helpful and friendly.

We spent one day in Makoshika hiking the trails with our dog.  We felt that 1 day was sufficient, but you could easily spend more time to enjoy the park, take some longer hikes, or play disc golf.  The other day we took a drive to North Dakota to check out Theodore Roosevelt National Park, about an hour drive away.  Well worth the drive.  We stopped at Beaver Creek Brewery on the way back to the campsite and brought back a growler for around the campfire.

They said next year they plan on expanding the campsites and adding in some full hook-up RV sites and a dump station.  Even without that, we plan on coming back.

I'd book in advance if you are planning on going over a weekend.  The campsites were all booked when we arrived.  We reserved our spot about 3 weeks prior.

I think we've been spoiled by all the forested campgrounds we've stayed in. This was a convenient one night stop for us, and we knew what we were getting into just off I94. There's a lot of road noise although it may not bother most of the campers who have large, air conditioned RVs. 

On the plus side, there's electricity, water hookup, clean bathrooms and showers, wifi and a dump station. There's a pool, a small playground and a grass area for tents.

Sites for RVs are in parallel rows very close together, and there is no possibility of shade. The neighbors in large RVs on both sides of us pulled in, hooked up their hose, plugged into the electricity, and went inside. We didn't see them again. 

This place filled up in the early evening. It's truly a one night stay except for some people who must be living/working in the area. There are also some mobile homes at the back of the park. It's a well maintained place to sleep for a night.

This is a beautiful area of Montana that goes under visited and under appreciated. The campground is just as nice as you would find in one of the national parks. There are fire pits, tables, pit toilets, and the availability of firewood and water at each camping area. I was able to make my way down here in January and happened to be the only fool camping in the Montana winter when a wind storm rolled through. Regardless of the wind, this is a wonderful campground with plenty of hiking and biking extremely close to the campground.

Arrived 9pm tired on motorcyle weeknight end of June slept on the bench without tent hiked at 5am and left well worth the ride on my way to Theodore Roosevelt park

One of Montana's hidden gems, plenty of hiking trails and don't forget your camera. So many majestic views. Camp grounds are basic with water and a very nice Disc golf course to try very skills at.

Brother and I crashed here late so we drove in in the dark. We were delighted in the morning to find a beautiful park and a super lucky campsite with a bathroom and some trees for hammocking and two tent pads! Would love to stay here again. The out of state fee is $28/night

Slept by a shelter in the city park. Running water, supposedly you aren’t supposed to drink the water in most parts of east Montana. But the water didn’t taste/ seem bad. One bathroom, non- flushing wooden box style toilet. Horrible bathrooms. Pool nearby is a plus, the pool let me use their flushing toilets. Cheap entry fee to pool aswell. Park fairly close to grocery store.

This was one of several sites up a winding steep but paved road where trailers are not allowed. We had a very private site #20 with our own clean private vault toilet and garbage can. It was down a single track rutted road but our 24’ pop up truck camper made it with ease. We could see some of the hoodoos if we walked around. There was lots of room to set up a tent and just wander around. Cost was $14. We had groupings of pine trees for shade as it can get hot there even in Late September.

There is a campground for larger RVs but they are on asphalt closer to the entrance. They were crowded and it looked hot there.

Makoshika State Park is beautiful camping and is about as good as it gets for primitive camping. There's quite a few hiking trials, a small museum and a gift shop at the Visitors Center. The photography options are just about endless. Also, don't let anyone fool you into believing the Diane Gabriel Trail is "easy." I mean, it's not bad … until you have to scale the hill. Beautiful views though.

If you're in a tent or a pop-up, there are some very cool primitive sites up the switchbacks that provide spectacular views of the park. If you have a camper or RV, camping in the coulee is wonderful. 

The only negative is the primitive camping angle when there exists the ability for each site to have both water and electric. They added water spigots on each side of the Cains Coulee Campground earlier this year, but if they were running lines, why not run to every site? I understand if it's a water pressure issue, but still. Electric as well. The Camp Hosts now have water, electric and sewer. It'd make sense to bring that to all the sites. Not only would it make camping at Makoshika a 5-star experience, it'd allow everyone to enjoy the peacefulness of the Cains Coulee valley without a bunch of generators running.

Our experience was awesome and we will be returning next year.

Behind the Astoria hotel, the Glendive Campground feels like an afterthought. If you need a place to stay for the night and hook up to water, sewer, and electricity, this place will do. If you can drive another 50 minutes (east), you’ll find more options in Medora.

Even in August, when I called ahead the front desk said they never fill up and I don’t need a reservation. No fire pit, there are about 40 sites and several are next to about 6 or 7 dead and leafless trees - check the weather before parking your prize under one! No fire rings, and this year the restrooms and showers are closed “due to COVID”. Seems convenient... despite MT being a mandatory mask state, the front desk worker at the Astoria where you check in did not have a mask and there was no signage. However, there was a sign that the breakfast buffet at the hotel was cancelled.

Many of the pedestals need repair and the vent on our sewer was broken off. I removed a pile of dead branches in order to pull our trailer into position. However, the reality is that you don’t need much if you bring your own equipment. I just wonder how not offering bathroom facilities to tent campers helps slow the spread of coronavirus... gives me something to ponder as I don’t enjoy any amenities offered.

This is a spot that provides fishing access not really a campground. I believe you could stay here but there are no real designated spots, it is right next to the road, no trees, nothing really to do. I'm sure if you needed a spot to stop for the night, it would do but that's about it.

We were on our way to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and needed an overnight.
This is BLM land for dispersed camping.
There is a pretty steep hill down. No problems with pickup camper.
Sites access best suited for vans, pickup campers or small class C. Smal trailer might be able to make it.
This is a beautiful area and was very quiet. There is a highway nearby but almost no traffic.