I spent days searching how to reserve or get someone with info on the phone. There are only two campground open at Canyon Lake for the 2020 season and can be reserved on recreation.gov. Canyon Park is CLOSED for the rest of 2020

Wonderful camping area we just happened upon. Quite a few trucks with ATV trailers parked at the entrance but didn’t hear them at night.

Roughly 5 pull through RV sites at the beginning of the road. The further you got the more dispersed and smaller sites got good for our RTT set up. River runs through part of the area and was really flowing due to recent rains. We arrived just before dark so didn’t get a chance to explore much. Very quite campground with dispersed sites nestled between aspens.

If you go in on camp bird rd. this will take you to an area above the upper blue lakes. Unless you want to hike down into the lakes don’t go this route.

Go in through Ridgeway to 62 and take East Dallas Road. 5 miles or so up this gravel road will get you to the official campground for Lower Blue Lakes. There are a ton of walk in tent spots and roughly 10 drive in sites with a lot more dispersed areas. From previous reviews we thought we needed to get here early to grab a spot but there are so many options! Spots have a stone firepit at each.

The hike up to lower blue lakes is 3.4 miles with roughly 1,600 elevation gain. We got caught in a hail storm after we reached the lake. It rained every afternoon we were there. Make sure to bring a rain jacket, it gets chilly! Hike is mostly shaded with amazing views, but it is uphill.

Camping at the lakes is free and dispersed.
Dogs are welcome and must be on leash or under voice command.

There is another trailhead at the base for mount Blaine, great hike if you’re staying in the area and want an easier hike.

For camping, it is more like a parking lot. However, this spot is close to everything in both towns. The hot springs are amazing. Much more natural than commercialized. They have many pools including a silent area and one that is 4’ deep. Will certainly be back!!

Clean facility overall. Tent sites have their own loop with trees separating. Each spot has a gravel tent pad, picnic table and grill. Cost was $20 and included a shower token (5 min).

There were quite a few RVs and tent camping was about 50% full. Great spot while we were passing through.

BLM public lands. Long 12 mile gravel road through the canyon - we have a 4runner and drive was easy. Very narrow in spots, a camper would be sketchy to drive through. Came late August and river still had water so valley was green. There are about 10 campsites along the road ( no camping in fields, private property). Once you pass the cabin another mile or so you will get to the official campsite. We passed on this ( way too open) but it had restrooms. Another 1/2 mile down the road take first left for some great drive in or hike in spots! We were completely alone - magical. Canyon was a bit windy at night with our RTT. The next morning we went back to the official campsite area and hiked down into the potholes. Such an amazing sight down in the canyon. Wish we weren’t on a schedule to get on to our next spot would have loved to spend the day exploring the potholes area .

Great spot in the Granite Creek recreation area. Once on the granite creek road there are about 20 sites with rock fire pits dispersed along the river for 8 miles (down a dirt road). Then you will hit the actual campground which has a lot of good spots with picnic tables, bear boxes and fire rings. Sunny and shaded spots available. There is a beautiful waterfall about 1/2 a mile up from the campsite where you can walk into the river. Another 1/2 mile up you will get to the hot spring pool $8 per person. Really beautiful warm water and not busy. We camped Thursday night and the campground was about half full.

Arrive at around 11pm on a Saturday night. The good spots were taken but still plenty of room for our 4Runner + RTT. We used as a single night stop over driving up to Glacier. Some of the grass is well kept and mowed and other spots unmanaged. A lot of tent sites toward the back in a quieter dark area. Overall for a free site it was really nice. There were definitely some very sweet spots right on the Yellowstone river.