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$3 - $15 / night
$3 - $15 / night
The Gardiner district covers the southeast part of Custer Gallatin National Forest, bordering Yellowstone National Park. Both Gardiner, MT and Cooke City, MT are within the Gardiner district.
Many people enjoy the solitude and primitive experience of camping away from developed campgrounds and other campers. Dispersed camping is the term used for camping in the National Forest OUTSIDE of a designated campground. It also means no services (such as trash removal), and little or no facilities (such as tables, fire pits or toilets) are provided.
$3 - $15 / night
Beyond the developed areas, Yellowstone offers a diverse, mountainous landscape that invites exploration by foot, pack stock, and boat. Hundreds of miles of trails and over 300 designated backcountry campsites facilitate travel throughout the park, and permits are required for all overnight stays.
$3 - $15 / night
$3 / night
Traveler
We stayed for one night and camped in a tent. The river access was nice, as were the campsites. However, there were not many marked tent sites and there was dog poop everywhere. Other than that, it was very nice! They have 2 vault toilets.
Scout
This is a campground used by people wanting to fish the river and have a home base. Not much shade and only pit toilets but easy in and out with all pull through sights. Great TV and Cell coverage and one hour from Yellowstone National Park north entrance at the Roosevelt Arch.
Legend
Crazy Creek Campground is a nice wooded campground near the North East entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Crazy Creek is also the last developed campground as you head to the park that allows for tent camping, from here to the entrance the campgrounds allow only hard sided camping units due to bear activity.
Crazy Creek campground is a 16 unit campground. Each site has plenty of trees which was great as it allowed my to use my hammock. Each site has a picnic table and metal fire ring and plenty of room for your tent. Campground has a vault toilet. No water is available. Campground is not ADA accessible. Bear storage lockers are available as food must be stored in your car or one of the lockers. Dumpster is available for your trash. Sites are just $10 a night, but they fill up fast. A great feature of this campground is the Crazy Creek trail. A trail from the campground takes you across the highway to the trail, a very short hike brings you to Crazy Creek falls.
Traveler
There are 3 or 4 sites at this location. One vault toilet services all of them. The site closest to the vault had the best stargazing view in my opinion. There is a picnic table and fire pit accomodating each site. A large open field is on site for activities (frisbee, playing catch, etc) but be careful of the large rocks. Exciting location as your just a quick drive down the mountain from Yellowstone National Park. Great for the avid "backcountry" camper.
Scout
Came in late in the rain…they had cabins available for not much more than a tent site. That was a blessing for us since we have been tent camping. Staff is very helpful and friendly!
Legend
This review is specific to tent camping which I don’t think is the focus of KOA locations.
For the good, the facilities we super clean and there were personal shower/bathroom rooms for use. The shower was great after a week of car camping.
The camp store had the basic and was convenient.
The location was very close to West Yellowstone and the west part of the park.
However, the tent camping left something to be desired. Our loop was around the back of the campground, with the basics of a fire ring and picnic table, it there was no tent pad and the ground was generally pretty sloped.
The tent sites overall were sort of fit into extra spaces and had little privacy.
Guide
A private campground just north of Yellowstone national park which offers for hook ups for larger rakes as well as tent sites along the Yellowstone River. A little pricey but very convenient. We took a tent site for $30 a night for our VW van. I can’t post was nice enough to allow us to recharge our house battery in the morning while we took showers.
Guide
We drove back 10 miles but pretty sure it went back another 10-15. Great dispersed camping. Roads were well maintained. Drove the pickup back in for tent camping this August. Would recommend for a close spot by Yellowstone National Park.
Traveler
Tent camped here. Definitely bring bear spray as this is a remote campground in the woods.
Had great availability last minute. $34 for the night. Sites 1-13 are pretty grassy and good for the tent! Site 14 was tent friendly, but it was harder to find a flat surface with no tree roots. A 2 person tent was used at site 14 and we made it work. If you have a bigger tent I would definitely go for sites 1-13 first. Each campsite had a bear locker to put food in!
Guide
LOUD campground with no help to quiet folks down. This is a largely tent campground and drunks until 2am can really mess up a trip. The tent site we had was right out in the hot sun with no shade or privacy. Ask for the wooded areas! It was a wonderful location with lots of wildlife and very clean! A bull elk tried to eat our clothes which was funny. A Bison stayed behind our tent the entire time too. The showers are not too far and very clean.
Legend
Pebble Creek is a cool little campground that because of it's location in Yellowstone National Park, it offers a much different experience compared to most of the other campgrounds in the park, ie, it's more like just being in the mountains, and it's also off the beaten (heavily beaten) tourist path.
There are bears in the area though, so be careful, especially in tents (sometimes they won't even allow tent camping here)
GuideVisited here June of 2019. It was first time in Yellowstone, so we didn’t know what to expect. This campsite has mixed RV and tent camping. The only downside is that campsites are very close together and some of the tent camp sites do flood (1”-4” of water) during rain as we saw during our visit. So if you are tent camping, check out your site carefully. Camp office staff was very friendly. The camp office sells firewood. There is a RV dump station at the marina across the street. The marina also sells fishing licenses and does kayak inspections (you have to have a sticker to use kayaks in Yellowstone waters). Big bison roam the campground as do an occasional bear, so use of the provided bear boxes and keeping your camp clean is highly recommended. Nice campground. Very crowded during summer.
Guide
The first clue of how large this campground is, is during check in. A whole row of agent's are checking campers in. Once you enter your loop however things become quiet. I stayed in a tent camping loop, where almost all campers were sleeping in their vehicles like me. The problem is, tent sites have on-loop parking, there is no driveway, so it was literally a string of parallel parked rigs on both sides of the road, and the road was sloped. Each site had a private bear locker for personal storage. Bathrooms have nice, enclosed large kitchen sink for meal clean up to prevent bear attracting smells at your site. This is a high altitude camp and was very cold (high 20s) at night. Great base for explaining Canyon country and Hayden Valley. Nearby lodge, shopping and groceries.
Traveler
This campground sits right on Hebgen Lake. It's near the town of West Yellowstone. You can drive to Yellowstone National Park from here. There are atv trails right next to the campground. Owned by very friendly and helpful local people. You can rent boats, paddle boards, and kayaks. There's a swimming area at the lake. There are on site showers and bathrooms. There's water/power RV sites and full hookup sites. Also tent sites. Our family camps here a lot and we are never disappointed with our stay. Love the views.
Legend
First off, amazing location and easy travel between Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. We visited June 2020 (snowed our first day) and stayed at spot #521. It's the only location you can see the Tetons from your campsite! You can also take a trail down to the Snake River. We saw a fox run through our first day (see video)! Probably the most we've paid to tent camp but well worth it! The campground offers amenities such as laundry and a bathhouse with hot water! Everything was very clean too. There was a gas station/store on property and a restaurant. Water and propane filling stations. Firewood for sale. The campsite itself offered full hookups, picnic table, bear box and a firepit/grill. Would stay here again but wouldn't mind checking out Jenny Lake campground!
Legend
Forested campground 30 minutes from Yellowstone National Park
Beaver Creek Campground is the good spot for a Yellowstone National Park jumping off point. Located 30 minutes form the park the distance improves your chances of finding a campsite in the busy season. The campground sits above Quake Lake, if you enjoy fishing there is a steep trail leading to the lake from the“A” loop, however there is no boat launch at the campground, you will need to drive a½ mile down the highway to find a boat launch for the lake. The campground features paved roads with gravel parking pads, vault toilets, picnic tables and metal fire rings at each site, and their are bear proof food storage if you need it, but you might need to share space with another spot. Campsite can be reserved. The campground has 62 sites spreed apart in 3 loops. Two fully ADA sites are available. Drinking water is available at three locations in each loop. The camp hosts are very friendly and helpful, they also have firewood for sale if needed for$6 A word of caution about the road driving in. The road is paved but narrow, so drive slow and watch out for cars.
Ranger review Outdoor Element's Woolly Mammoth Survival Braid
Got my wife the Woolly Mammoth Survival Braid and have to say that this is a nice survival bracelet. We did wonder if the Jute it is made with would be a little itchy when put on, but found it to be quiet comfortable. We like the idea to place the ferro rod and striker in in the bracelets buckle. It sparks up very nicely making our charred cloth and cotton balls with Vaseline easy to get started. We then tried to start a fire with the sample piece of jute, made a little nest and gave the striker a try and after a few attempts got a spark to take hold and had a fire. Nice to now that we now have a wrist full of fire starting material if we ever need it. Might just want to take this off when starting fires as it didn't take much to get the sample burning. All in all a great survival tool to have around.
RangerPebble Creek was our favorite campground in Yellowstone National Park. A less crowded area of the park, probably why we loved it! 27 sites and all are available first come first serve- no reservations! The location and lack of reservations make this a quiet, peaceful campground. It sits at 6900 feet elevation. All sites have a table, fire ring, and food storage locker- it is bear country! There are vault toilets and seasonally there is potable drinking water. Our first night there we stayed in one of the"pull out sites" on the west side of the campground. It was ok, however they are not true pull outs, you just park on the side of the park road.... not bad considering the low use of this campground. On our second night we scored a spot on the east side right across from Pebble Creek.... it was perfect! We enjoyed drinks in our chairs at the creekside and a beautiful night listening to the peaceful sounds of the creek. It appears they have changed the site numbers since we visited to add some tent sites, so do not pay attention to the site markers in our old nostalgic photos!
Scout
This little campground is amazing. Very limited capacity (12 sites), and away from any busy or thru roads. Bathroom is a single, unisex, and was clean and well-kept. Crossing Box Creek to get to the campground just adds to the uniqueness of this little gem. We rolled in late, got spot #8 as it was the only one available. This site has next to no trees for shade (which makes tent camping hot) nor does #6, but the rest do. But the perk of our site was the huge wildflower field we had as a yard to the east, probably 200 yards from the forest tree line....my dog was in heaven. Saw a Momma Moose there and one calf. The mountain view of Box Peak is amazing too as the sun comes up over the east ridge. Made for great sunrises. Highly advise serious tent and small trailers/campers, to check this place out! It does welcome motor homes and big trailers too, but the dirt road to the campground is already narrow as is for medium sized campers and quickly becomes a one lane road - so be forewarned. For $10 a night, right between Teton and Yellowstone National Parks is a STEAL! No reservations needed either. First come, first serve. 11 AM is when sites open from those leaving. Good time to find the best spot is 11 to 2 or 3 (early afternoon). Good luck and leave no trace!
Legend
We made a reservation here by calling them a couple weeks before we left for Yellowstone National Park. We were driving from the Seattle, WA area and figured this was about half way. There are several mountain passes to cross and we did not want to fill our water and propane tanks before leaving and carry a bunch of extra weight. This place offered full hook ups and propane sales on site.
We arrived almost too late for in person check in. Since we were hoping to leave early the next morning, we didn't want to wait for the office to open again in the morning. We called ahead and the really nice lady in the office stayed a few minutes to wait for us. They have a nice office with some local items for sale that make cute little gifts.
Sites are typical for an RV campground. Everyone is very close together. Picnic tables and full hook ups are available. There are also tent sites. The bathrooms are great. many stalls and several private showers. The grounds are beautiful. Green and watered. Covered picnic shelters are available.
Campers were quiet for a Saturday night. Lots of folks out and about, everyone was so friendly! The only downside is it's right next to the freeway. Even in the middle of the night, it was loud.
ScoutWe just returned from a stay at Madison Arm resort on Hebgen and I was very impressed. They had showers, a small store, fish cleaning station and plenty of bear proof garbages. They offer cabin, RV rentals, Rv and tent sites. We enjoyed our stay and the view from our tent site.
Guide
I don’t like to leave bad reviews where I have not stayed. But, any review of a place should start with customer service.
I emailed this KOA requesting a tent say. I half-hour later I received an email back saying there were two sites but that I needed to call to reserve. I called promptly spoke to a person named Judy, her demeanor was less than encouraging. I relayed to her what the email had said and she barked at me and said we don’t send emails concerning availability. I said but I have one right here saying that you do have two tent sites. She said maybe we do have two tent sites but we don’t take emails, then she promptly slam the phone down and hung up on me. I emailed back and explain the situation at which point I was told sorry all tent sites are now unavailable.
Times like this I wonder, was it me? But I also realize that the year 2020, social distancing, pandemic, is also causing a rush on outdoor tent sites. There is stress all around. But, common courtesy should always prevail when you are customer facing.
Traveler
Plenty of space here with a beautiful lake view. Mountains on all sides of you. Very little tree coverage. Some rodent holes surrounding the tent site. Tent faired well and wind was not a serious issue by any means. There was fire ring already made at the tent site we chose. Few others camping in RVs but plenty of space/privacy between them. 45 minutes from Old Faithful and Yellowstone
RangerTent camping in yellowstone was great. Loved seeing the mountains, geysers, bison, hot springs, sunsets, and waterfalls.
Guide
Nice roads and huge beautiful sites. Being a small female solo tent camping I felt safe. There are lots of elk and rabbits.
Guide
We were there in early June and they had a cold front coming in with snow! Campground was for tent camping, no hookups.
GuideGreat little KOA. Awesome views of the Absaroka range. Book early. Tent sites were great. Nice dog park, small though.
ScoutLots of available sites. Not far from Yellowstone. Room for large tents. We had an 8 x 15 tent. Camp host was extremely helpful. You can buy wood from host. No showers. Toilets are vault toilets but extremely clean. Nice place to stay for $15 a night.
Tent camping near Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in stunning natural landscapes while enjoying the great outdoors. With various options available, campers can find the perfect spot to set up their tents and explore the beauty of the park.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Yellowstone National Park?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Yellowstone National Park is Travertine Road Dispersed - Yellowstone with a 4.5-star rating from 31 reviews.
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