We came into this campground on a Tuesday after camping through Wyoming. We stopped at the NFS visitor center to get a map of the Theodore Roosevelt National Forest and a list of all the dispersed campgrounds as we thought all campsites would be full. They had several people in them, but were definitely not full.
We were tent camping and were thrilled when we came upon this great walk in site. The site was very close to the parking lot, but didn't matter because of the beautiful terrain.
On one side of the campground (across from the road) is an enormous grassy hill. We looked for bighorn sheep with no luck! The other side of the campground is surrounded by the Cache la Poudre River.
Each site had a great tent pad (tough ground though, bent some tent stakes), a great picnic table, and very nice fire rings. There is a nice little trail that meanders through the campground. There were two other campers in the campground, but due to the terrain, we didn't even notice them.
The bathrooms are vault toilets and were very clean. There is drinking water available via a hand pump that was very easy to use.
We camped in a Big Agnes Tent and were very glad that we put every single guy line out! There was some amazing wind coming through the canyons during the night! It was very clear overnight and the sky view was awesome.
There seemed to be a lot to do in the area, lots of outfitters putting people in the river on rafts and kayakers around.
We arrived at Horse Thief Lake late on a Wednesday afternoon. Actually VERY late. It was around 7:00 pm on June 7, 2017. We were on a road trip and didn't have a firm schedule. We arrived without a reservation and were thrilled that they had three or four walk-ups available.
This campground serves both RVs and tent campers. The walk-up are was beautiful and quiet. We were in site 34, which is the closest to the road that circles through the campground, but it was above our site and we never noticed traffic.
It was early in June so many sites had reservations on them for the weekend, the walk-in area was less than half full. The sites are far enough away from each other that we were not bothered by any other campers.
The site had a great pad and nice wooden picnic table with a great fire ring. The fire ring was great in the morning as it was still pretty cool in early June.
Firewood was sold at the campground by the hosts for $5 a bundle. The hosts were very kind and kept the campground immaculate.
The vault restrooms were very clean, but there were MANY flies by the afternoon outside of the restroom.
We had some HEAVY rains while camping here and the people in the site closest to the lake, and near the top of the hill (amazingly) were flooded out and had to dry everything in the morning and move to another site.
We had no problem with critters bothering our camp. There are no bear boxes and the camp hosts told us they had never heard a report of bears being in their campground.
This was a great base camp for us. It is only 2 miles to Rushmore and we went to Custer's campground (and drove though TONS of animals including buffalo, prong horns and others, the Crazy Horse memorial and the Iron Road.
We were visiting Yellowstone and camped here, just 15 or so minutes from the Northeasr entrance. It was early June and we did not have a reservation, but we almost has the place to ourselves. We were tent camping, but each site could be tent or RV.
it is a nice flat campground full of beautiful wildflowers and scrub bushes. Vault toilets which were super clean and drinking water from faucets outside the bathrooms.
Steel bear boxes at each campsight which I would suggest using as we saw a mmma Grizzly and two cubs not 15 minutes from camp as we entered Yellowstone.
We paid in the honor system as we never saw a sign of the camp hosts being present. We paid $10 a night with our senior pass
We didn't see much wildlife in camp, but there was evidence of them and a beautiful river runs behind the camp.
Wehave a great Big Agnes tent I would suggest that you secure your tent well, and use all guy lines . It was unbelievably windy and two other campers' tents were mangled when we arrived at the site, due to wind.
Although it is fairly close to the highway, it drops down into a small valley and we could not see or hear the cars going by.
We came into this campground on a Wednesday and picked the best of three open sites. There were a lot of reserved sites, but they were mostly coming in on Friday.
The site was beautiful and very close to the river (the sound was great). The vault toilets were very clean. The water was available through a easy to use hand pump. The camp hosts had firewood for $5.00 per bundle.
We were tent camping and the site had a large pad, a place for my hammock, a nice wooden picnic table, and a GREAT fire ring. The sites were all very far apart from each other.