Pebble Creek Campground — Yellowstone National Park - CLOSED IN 2024

Camp ground was closed July 2023

This is a popular first come, first serve campground. Primitive, with clean vault toilets, hand pump water, creekside sites. $20/night get there by 7am

Pebble 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!

We entered Yellowstone through the Northeast from Silver Gate Montana to avoid traffic and locate a smaller campground. Pebble Creek was great for tent camping. There are about 30 sites at this location which is best suited for tent campers or those traveling with a small camper or van. The have the toilets and fire pits. They don’t take reservations at this site. You need to be here early to get a site. The wildlife is the area is amazing. We saw plenty of bears and bison everywhere. Yellowstone did not disappoint. The summer crowds were overwhelming in some of the more popular area. I would like to come in the off-season and do some more hikes.

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)

Wen we camped here we had a child in the group and it was very child friendly. There was a permanent fire pit and a picnic in addition to vault toilets.

We would definitely stay here again but late summer months bring a lot of mosquitos so be prepared with the spray!

Pebble Creek Campground in Yellowstone National Park is one of the most private options for camping in the park. The campground is smaller than most of the others, only about 30 sites, and not built for big RV rigs. This keeps out a lot of traffic, in addition to being a first-come-first-served campground. In order to secure a site at this campground, which is open from mid-May to mid-September, you need to arrive early, sometimes by 6:30 AM. The day we pulled in for a site, we were the first ones to arrive at 6:30 AM and the campground was full b 8:00 AM.

The sites are nestled among pine trees, most are level, and all have tent pads. Our site was NOT level, but with our small RV (17') trailer, we were able to find a spot that allowed us to level the rig. There are fire rings and picnic tables at all sites, as well as bear boxes for food storage (ours had two). There is no running water at this site (aside from a hand pump), or electricity, and generators are NOT allowed (to our relief!). There are a few outhouses that are well-maintained and clean. There is no dump station here, and the closest is quite a drive, so RV's need to be prepared to haul out black water. Propane can be filled in Cooke City, about a 15-minute drive to the east, out of the park.

Evenings get quite cold, as this campground sits just under 7000 feet in elevation, so plan your sleeping arrangements accordingly. In mid-June we woke one morning to frost, and most nights bottomed out in the 30's.

On our first evening at the site, a bull moose wandered through the field next to our campsite over the course of an hour or two. We were also able to use binoculars and a camera zoom lens to spot mountain goats on nearby Mount Norris, across the road from the campground (see photo). Bears and wolves are both visitors to this area, as well as coyotes and bison. Lamar Valley is just a couple of minutes away to the west. Wildlife lovers will find this campground to be in a fantastic location!

The camp hosts have been working in Yellowstone campgrounds for almost 20 years, and were extremely helpful and cordial. They are firm with following rules, so don't expect to pull over any tricks on these two. We enjoyed all of the campers we met, including some from Georgia, New Zealand, and Cody, Wyoming.