Looking for the best Townsend RV camping? Finding a place to camp in Montana with your RV is easier than ever. Whether you're looking for a quiet location in the woods or a happening campground near the attractions, The Dyrt makes it easy to find the perfect place to park your RV.
Cardwell General Store and Campground, located off I-90 at exit 256, is locally owned and operated in beautiful Cardwell, Montana. Centrally located between Butte and Bozeman in the Jefferson Valley of Montana, it is nestled in the tiny ranching community of Cardwell. Laundry, restroom, shower and wifi are some of the amenities offered for our guests.
The RV Park is located directly behind the general store, which offers a wide variety of goods and services to locals and travelers alike. Fishing supplies, tackle, & bait are available for purchase, as well as firewood. The gas pumps are open 24/7 for credit card users, and an ATM is on site. Inside the General Store is an Espresso bar with fantastic coffee drinks! a candy store and a ice cream shop with the best shakes ever including Huckleberry!
The Cardwell General Store and Campground is open year round and harbors thirty-eight pull-through RV sites, up to 60' max, and six dry tent sites. We also have one fully furnished dry cabin. It comes with a queen sized bed with included bedding, table and chairs, mini fridge and Microwave. Heat and Air Conditioning also in this cabin! The cabin is super nice and fairly close to the shower house and you will enjoy it!
The facility includes a covered pavilion, and horseshoe pits for summer evening barbecues with family and friends. For campground guests the North Boulder River and Jefferson River are easily accessible nearby. Plenty of log furniture, swing sets and lovers swings to rest and visit!
Laundromat, restroom, and shower services are available to guests. There is a designated pet walk area for campers or travelers with pets. All pets must be leashed at all times. No exceptions. WIFI is available to our guests. A laundry facility is available free of charge to guests.
If you are looking for a casual, quiet park with friendly service come join us. During your stay; why not check out Helena and the surrounding areas.We are just a few minutes away from experiencing the beauty of the State Capital building, next to it is the Historical Society Museum. How about jumping on the tour train, or take a trolley ride downtown and hear about the uniqueness of our city.If you like boats, there are boat tours at the Gates of the Mountains or put your own boat on one of our three gorgeous lakes [Canyon Ferry, Hauser, and Holter.] Take a couple of hrs. and have a quiet picnic at the Tizer Botanical Gardens & Arboretum which is S of Helena in Jefferson City.Many things to see and do; so stay a couple of days. We offer Clean Showers, Laundry, TV and Lounge Room.
We are an RV Park/Campground conveniently located halfway between Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks nestled in the Smith River Valley. Acres of national forest surround us, with great access for fishing, hunting and exploring as well as local museums, hot Springs and reservoirs to visit. We have 47 Pull-thru sites available, most with full hookups and 20/30/50 amps. We also have space for tent camping, extra vehicle storage and many other amenities.
$25 - $45 / night
Bozeman Campground is located in a peaceful setting, just five minutes from golfing as well as fly-fishing on the Gallatin River. Plan a day trip to Virginia City or Lewis and Clark Caverns. Visit the Museum of the Rockies, which boasts the world's largest T. Rex skull. Take a day trip to Yellowstone National Park from this campground. Just 40 minutes south, you'll find fishing access inside Yellowstone, and 82 miles south is the west entrance to the park. Relax at the campground and let the kids take part in gold panning or let them unwind in the pool and splash park.
Dump Station & showers for registered campground guests only
$45 - $100 / night
Note from the owner of Alhambra RV Park: The water at Alhambra RV Park is tested by an independent certified lab to ensure its safety. The non-potable designation was a legal issue with well certification issues inherited from previous owners. As of September 2018 our well status has been granted as public access by the State of Montana and all water testing has yielding safe to drink and use results. Reports are free to be reviewed by anyone at any time. We strive to be a natural setting RV Park in the spirit of National Forest camp grounds with the benefit of electricity, WiFi, and other modern conveniences.
Traveler
Clean RV Park with full hook ups, laundry, showers, restrooms, pet area. Well maintained in an open field. Great stop over place for the area. Owners and camp hosts are on site. Always appreciated.
RangerGood, level, graveled sites. Full hookup pull-thrus that have a decent amount of space between sites. Bathrooms and showers very clean. Friendly staff. We were here in mid-October so not many traveling campers, but a few long-term
TravelerOnly spent one night, but level sites, full hook ups, showers and laundry clean. An area to play games and we didn’t have our dogs this time but the dog zone looked good and clean.
GuideThis is a typical KOA. First the good: Friendly helpful staff until their gone at closing time. Little mini store with a few essentials. Clean bathrooms and showers and clean laundry room with several washers/dryers.$2.00 per load to wash. Can't remember how much to dry. Very cool pinball machine that costs 25 cents per game. Fun fun fun! Another bathroom/shower in middle of park but I never looked inside that one. 65 sites that most have full hook-up and pull-through. A few cool tent sites with gas BBQs. Some cool looking cabins but I never looked inside one. I'm here on 8/24/2024 and RV park is sold out except 3 pull-through sites. All tent sites were full. I don't know about the cabins. Cool playground for kids and large mostly gravel dog run. Edit added: AT&T has 5G and three bars. KOA has wifi but slow slow slow I got 3MPS so instead of KOA wifi I used my iPhone Personal Hotspot that worked great. THE BAD(and reason for only 3 stars): All gravel roads and sites throughout the park. Very close together. Some sites have a very narrow strip of grass. Some of the picknick tables need to be re-painted. Unfortunately while eating breakfast you could be 2 feet away from the next RV dumping their sewer. P.U. The luxury sites don't have that problem. They are at the end of each row and only have a neighbor on the drivers side. I think well worth the extra 17 bucks. Not ADA friendly. Very hard for someone with a walker to get around because of gravel roads/sites. Someone with a wheel chair near impossible. Has a nice handicap shower in main office building. Only problem is that once I take my walker in with me it's very tight and no room to move around. Not EV car friendly. There is a$250 fine and eviction if you plug in your car. The person at the front desk told me the$250 fine and eviction is because EVs overload the outdated system and cause a fire. This KOA is an older one and was wired before EVs. Each individual site has its own 30 amp and 50 amp circuit breaker. Some trees but few and far between. No pool or hot tub. Final thoughts: Make reservations well in advance if you can. This KOA is the best game in town and is mostly sold out in summer. I think(sorry I don't know for sure) there is only one other RV park in town and from what I can tell, it is a much older one. I would proceed with caution before I booked it. Good traveling. See you on the road.
GuideThis is a typical KOA. First the good:
Friendly helpful staff until their gone at closing time. Little mini store with a few essentials.
Clean bathrooms and showers and clean laundry room with several washers/dryers. $2.00 per load to wash. Can't remember how much to dry. Very cool pinball machine that costs 25 cents per game. Fun fun fun! Another bathroom/shower in middle of park but I never looked inside that one.
65 sites that most have full hook-up and pull-through. A few cool tent sites with gas BBQs. Some cool looking cabins but I never looked inside one. I'm here on 8/24/2024 and RV park is sold out except 3 pull-through sites. All tent sites were full. I don't know about the cabins.
Cool playground for kids and large mostly gravel dog run.
Edit added: AT&T has 5G and three bars. KOA has wifi but slow slow slow I got 3MPS so instead of KOA wifi I used my iPhone Personal Hotspot that worked great.
THE BAD (and reason for only 3 stars):
All gravel roads and sites throughout the park. Very close together. Some sites have a very narrow strip of grass. Some of the picknick tables need to be re-painted. Unfortunately while eating breakfast you could be 2 feet away from the next RV dumping their sewer. P.U. The luxury sites don't have that problem. They are at the end of each row and only have a neighbor on the drivers side. I think well worth the extra 17 bucks.
Not ADA friendly. Very hard for someone with a walker to get around because of gravel roads/sites. Someone with a wheel chair near impossible. Has a nice handicap shower in main office building. Only problem is that once I take my walker in with me it's very tight and no room to move around.
Not EV car friendly. There is a $250 fine and eviction if you plug in your car. The person at the front desk told me the $250 fine and eviction is because EVs overload the outdated system and cause a fire. This KOA is an older one and was wired before EVs. Each individual site has its own 30 amp and 50 amp circuit breaker.
Some trees but few and far between. No pool or hot tub.
Final thoughts: Make reservations well in advance if you can. This KOA is the best game in town and is mostly sold out in summer. I think (sorry I don't know for sure) there is only one other RV park in town and from what I can tell, it is a much older one. I would proceed with caution before I booked it. Good traveling. See you on the road.
Legend
This is a newly developed campground, with two shower houses(rare in Montana) with flush toilets, as well as vault toilets. The sites are all spacious enough to accommodate two vehicles, both towing trailers or boats. There are three types of sites in the campground, Rustic (no water, sewer or electricity ), Electrical Only (no water or sewer) and Full Hook-up (water, sewer and electrical hook-ups). Campground has a store and gas is available. The day use area has a frisbee-golf coarse and beach volleyball. I was very impressed with the campground, leaps and bounds above the old campground.
Legend
This place is not a good choice. It is dirty and not maintained except for the bathhouse which is decent. This property caters mostly to long-term residents in older RVs and mobile homes. It is not a place for Dyrt campers wanting to get away from it all. I was the only short-term traveler, and I was charged$35 for a 20 amp electric only site. That was too much. I have been on the road full time for eight months and this is the least attractive campground yet. I don’t like to criticize other reviews, but the other rating of 4 stars is a joke. It is more like a 1. I gave it 2 because the people were very friendly and the bathhouse was a B-. There are huge pot holes in the entrance which are not RV friendly. There is no garbage dumpster and no sanitary dump. I had to drive a gas station in town to do this.
Ranger
Great rv park with hotsprings great staff
GuideA little pricey RV Park, but the free entrance for 2 to the hot springs and free breakfast is well worth the stay
Traveler
Parking lot style. Reasonable space between sites. Reservations accepted. Full hookup sites & electric sites available. Safe feeling.
Ranger
We camped here only because the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park (where we have often camped on trips out west) was full on fourth of July weekend. The host told us about the Cardwell Campground further west.
So we were cranky after the extra drive and the late hour, hoping to find an open site on the holiday weekend. There is also a market and gift shop there. You have to call the host and he comes to escort you to a site.
I kept asking him what the rate was but he ignored me and spoke to my husband! Only after the credit card went through did I find out we were paying $65 for one night, even with a "veteran's discount." Under other circumstances we wouldn't have stayed there as we do not usually stay in such expensive RV parks. We were to learn that private campgrounds rates have gone up.
The park was well kept and we had electric plus sewer and water.
Guide
This is a small, no frills site just outside of Helena, MT. No hookups for RVs; Vault toilets, which were very clean. Pack in/Pack out as there are no trash receptacles. Moderate road noise until dark. Beautiful views and dark skies at night for stargazing
Guide
Canyon Ferry Lake is an expansive lake reaching 33 miles from Townsend to Helena, MT. Gorgeous scenery that is reminiscent of the ocean: long, white-sand beaches, warm waters (in the summer), and the lake disappearing into the horizon. Hellgate Campground is the largest developed campground with 69 campsites along the banks of the lake. Some campsites are for single cars only and some have space for multiple vehicles. Each campsite has a designated fire ring and picnic tables. Verizon cell coverage is available. Rated a four-star because this campground is popular and fills up quickly, a little too populated for my personal preference.
GuideNice dog park across the street, sites are a little tight but its perfect for a couple night stay. Awesome that its only 35 miles to Big Sky and its a gorgeous drive. Our sire only had electric/water but i know there are some with full hookups. Picnic tables and fire rings and sites are gravel.
Guide
Camp sites are fairly spread out, there’s room for RVs if that’s your style. Boat launch available for easy access and a large enough parking lot to park your trailer. There’s slight phone service in some spots. Lots of rock formations in the area to climb and explore. There’s a few trail heads to get to the peaks and get an amazing view of the lake and surrounding valley.
LegendLarge campground on the east side of Canyon Ferry. Two very large group use areas. If you like camping in the trees you will need to get one of the first several sites along the creek, most of the other campsites are in the open unless a large cottonwood is growing on the edge of the lake. Large day use shelter. Boat ramp with lots of parking for boat trailers. Lots of pull through sites for RVs.
Guide
Dry camping tent or rv Clean level sites Pit toilets water near by...
GuideThe campground is nice enough, lots of brown grass throughout the park that if irrigated would look fantastic. There is a base rate for your camp spot the an up-charge of $5 a night if you have an electric spot and another $5 a night if your site has electricity. Using the dump station is $10 if you are not in full hookups, fresh water is available at two fill stations, unfortunately you cannot attach your own water filter to the fill stations as they have a hose that is not threaded and you cannot remove the hose.
THE ROAD….I’ve been on LOTS of washboarded roads in the US deserts and Mexico, but never such an unrelenting brutal one as the one to the campground from the highway. I am not the fly over at high speed guy, You may not feel the bumps in your car but your RV or trailer is being trashed. The road is also extremely dusty. If not for that road I would recommend this park, great facilities, launch ramp, docks but I am already dreading the drive back out.
The bathrooms and showers are spotless! Showers are 3 min for 25 cents.
The office staff and campground Hosts can’t be beat, the very best. They helped me immensely finding a spot during a busy summer week.
Ranger
Good campground for RVs, gets windy and not much shade for tent campers.
Ranger
The staff were very friendly and as helpful as possible. The restrooms and showers were nice and clean. Small store, nice pavilion area and a huge dog area. I did not see a playground area. The sites are very small and very crowded. A small fire ring and picnic table at each site however to sit on our picnic table one of us would have to sit directly beside our neighbors sewer dump. At our site two lengths of sewer hose wouldn’t reach from our tank to the sewer dump, so even though we paid for full hookups we were only able to utilize water and electric. The roads in the park are also very tight and in my opinion not very big rig friendly.
Ranger
Nice BLM campground, no beach/swim area on-site, have to walk .5 mile trail to Clarks Bay day use for swimming. Great for RVs, no shade for tents (trees are too young and provide no shade yet). Boat ramp area is small.
Legend
Easy to Access campground, picnic tables, restrooms available, water, convenient store down the road. Drive to site is short and easy as well. Spots for RVs and campers. Fishing access, lots of trout. Nice place to take the kids to play on Hauser Lake. Spot to catch live crawfish, boating access.
Guide
Nice, level sites. Not far off the main road. Picnic tables, fire pits. Sites pretty close to the water. Boat access. Swift current, but nice water to wade in. Bunnies and lots of mosquitoes at dusk.
Traveler
The campground at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park has all the amenities you would need. Power and water hook ups, bathrooms and showers, a nice big playground for the kids. But, it feels more like a big parking lot with little shade or privacy. Great if you are in a camper, but maybe less appealing if you are tent camping. The campground lies at the base of the mountain that the caverns are in--about 3 miles. Once you are up near the caverns there is plenty of parking for RVs or cars. There is also a shady area to kennel your dogs for a fee, as they are not allowed in the caverns. There is also a small deli and a gift shop.
The total hike to and through the caverns is about 2 miles and about 2 hours. The hike to the caverns is about half a mile, and was fine for our 4 year old. However, the two year old, we carried in a pack. Once inside the caverns, there are over 600 stairs and a lot of bending and stooping, so take that into consideration if anyone in your party has mobility issues. There are handrails throughout and no particularly dangerous areas, other than some slippery spots. As long as children are old enough to know to stay near, they should be fine walking and holding hands.
Traveler
I I initially found this on free campsites. Com. Though the official website is listed as BLM, BLM actually doesn't have Galena Gulch on their site. However, this is a clean and mowed campsite that is largely grassy field next to the boulder River. The mountainous and forested Recreation area surrounded it though.
There is plenty of space for RVs, though there are no hookups of any kind. There is no water and no electricity and no cell phone service. I have Verizon. I took a star away because there wasn't any water but added it back because it was free!
There were probably a dozen official sites that had fire rings and a parking spur. While there were a couple sizable rigs there, if your RV is so big that you must have a pull through, you will probably find this Campground challenging.
There was a large grassy area and another smaller grassy area that were simply open with no fire ring or parking spur. However, it was very easy to park on the grass and several people could pitch tents there if they wanted. I did this.
There are two side-by-side pit toilets and an information board in the center. They were clean and stocked. Once again, I want to emphasize that there is no water here. The boulder river is directly adjacent but locals in Montana don't consider any water safe.
There were multiple people there with their dogs and a great number of sites filled with RVs. At the time I was there there were only two of us tenting.
Your GPS will get you here, nearly. Take the exit it tells you and follow the directions. However, my GPS told me that I had arrived and I was looking at the boulder River on the right and houses on the left and no Campground. What you have to do is go up the road another hundred feet and follow the sign to turn right to Galena Recreation Area. This takes you on an underpass under the freeway and immediately becomes a gravel road that goes over a one-lane bridge. You can't make any wrong turn here. As soon as you cross the bridge you will see the campground immediately on your right. From the time you make the right hand turn to the campground it is probably a couple hundred feet.From getting off the freeway to the campsite is probably less than a mile
I was there for 3 night and it was full every night. However, the turnover seems high as it appears most people use it as an overnight on their travels, especially since there are not any services there. But it's a pretty area. Some people bring their ATV and use the dirt road that runs through the recreation Area to drive around. You can use that road to hike to , also the radon health mine is right up the road.
Bring water and food as you would have to drive 20 minutes back to Boulder to get services. Boulder's a cute small town with a few restaurants, a grocery store, gas stations and a very wonderful Hot Springs Resort.
RangerWe stayed here the night before our cavern tour. Camping included the out of state vehicle charge which was nice. It’s 28 for out of state cars, 14 for in state. There are also senior discounts. There were some specific regulations as far as what site you could pick and how many tents etc that you could put up. We don’t know how strict they are with it, but make sure your read the signs at the fee area. Sites are spread out but not private, our neighbors were seated looking straight at us, but we couldn’t blame them since there weren’t many good ways to sit without looking at someone. Good for RVs, maybe less so for tents and vans in our opinion. Bathrooms were clean though and everything seemed nicely maintained. Caverns were very cool, but were in limited groups and the tour was shortened because of covid. Still cool though, would have liked to stay when a full tour could have been done.
RangerThis was a safe easy stop along the way from Yellowstone to Glacier National Park. $35. for a tent site with water hookup. Nothing fancy — a wooded parking lot with fire rings and picnic tables. Better than most RV lots. All spaces are pull through (huge relief traveling with a tiny cargo trailer that’s impossible to back up. No privacy. Hookups, laundry, bathrooms. The tent sites without hookups were cuter. The gate closes at 10. Check-in ends at 9p.m. Surrounded by farmland.
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