Battle Ridge Campground

We live in Bozeman so it’s close but a world away. Looking to unplug and relax this was just the ticket. I had a fire burning all day Saturday and we just hung out and played games. In the midst of a heated game of connect four, a bear meandered by fifty yards or so away. He seemed uninterested in the half full campground as he disappeared over the ridge. Overall a great place to chill and enjoy nature. Only 4 stars because the water spigot was shut down so you have to haul your own in.

Access here is spotty. It's June 8 2023 so it's sunny and drying out one day and rainy the next. It's pretty much raining every day in the afternoon for a little while. When I first rolled in here a few days ago it rained, changed to hail then back to rain. The hail was pea-sized so no big threat to the vehicle. If after pulling off the paved road onto the dirt access road, you take the first right into the Forest Service fee-based campground($10 per day or $5 if you have an access pass. I have a Gold Star& Veteran Lifetime Pass.) then the access is good. If you go farther down the road to the road then all bets are off. Past the FSC is free dispersed camping but at a price. That price is access. There are a few loop roads to the left that can get you a little more remote and quiet but the road is dicey. You should have a higher clearance all-wheel drive or 4X4. It may not be necessary, depending on the weather, but it's up to you and your driving skills on marginal roads. I'm too old and lame to dig a 32' Class A out of the mud so.... Down the road, just a smidgen, is a place off to the left and one off to the right. The one to the right is high and dry and the one to the left is "for the adventurous." After those two spots don't even bother going down the road because you're going to run into a locked gate with the usual No Trespassing signage.

The location is so-so. While the scenery is gorgeous but you're close enough to a highway to see and hear it really well. Some of the local hooligans roar down the road and heavy trucks use their Jake brake going down the hill. If you turn left when you get on the highway and go down about 200 yards is the Battle Ridge Trailhead on the right. Do it! The scenery is magnificent. If you're kind of lame, like me, then you can use a single-track OHV that's less than 5o" wide. My Grizzly meets that. It goes all the way to Fairy Lake but I couldn't make it because of a fallen tree across the trail. The terrain wasn't going to let me try and go around it. It was steep with dense trees.

Everything is clean and that may be because it's early in the season, for here. Today, there are three of us in the campground, and in the dispersed area I counted four.

The site quality is good with picnic tables, a nice in-ground fire pit, and pit toilets, and the sites are somewhat level. I had to go 4" to level but I had stopped in Livingston to pick up 2X8 planks for leveling. That was an idea right on the money because my plastic leveling blocks don't do much on soggy ground. The road is graveled and there is a common bear box for the entire campground.

I'm disappointed that I haven't seen a bear yet. I have a hunk of salmon in the freezer that's gone bad. Maybe I'll go throw it on the roof of the toilets.

Battle Ridge and Blackmore campgrounds in the Custer Gallatin National Forest will begin charging overnight fees on Aug. 1, 2022.

The new fee for the Battle Ridge Campground in the Bridger Mountain Range is $10 per day, offering 12 campsites. The Blackmore Campsite, near the outlet of Hyalite Lake, provides 10 campsites and will charge $16 per day.

We made it past the treacherous deep pits in a fork off the left loop other reviewers warned about with a 4x4 truck and lifted Casita. Site was great with super views and solid hammock trees. A short walk to a pit toilet that was 4 stars as far as pit toilets go. The camp is cross from Battle Ridge multi use trail. The friendly camp host warned of fire danger and a black bear that was poking around. Later that night we saw the bear coming up the site trail. It ran off after some clapping, but just make sure you store your food right!

Great spot. Arrived after dark, so didn't get a good look at the campsite. Roads were fine for our all-wheel drive car. I imagine it's busy during the summer months, but we were one of only two campsites occupied during our stay. Quiet and gorgeous spot for a sleep. Amazing stars, surrounded by trees and mountains when you wake up. Would definitely stay here again!

Arrival/Site Conditions: We stayed arrived on a Wednesday late afternoon. There were two sites left, both had a steep angle. We had to raise the front of our 25 ft. travel trailer 13". We were able to park our Tundra at the front of the site. It had rained for about three days before our arrival and so our RV slipped each time we tried to level it (sides). We used wheel chocks and crossed our fingers. They held and so we breathed a sigh of relief. Our scissor jacks were extended almost all the way to level it out after we raised what we could with the hitch. They held for 9 days. The ground dried out and everything was good! Sites 2 and 4 are the least level.

Sites: There are roughly 11 sites depending on how one counts them out. The first one was taken by the campground host. Who later told us that before they came, the campers were rough, partying a lot and being disrespectful to others and the property. There are a few deep ruts leading to the entrance of the campground, which is on the right. Otherwise, the road is in gravel. Our Vista Cruiser handled the ruts fine, just remember to take it slow. If one chooses to go left and veer away from the formal campground, there are spaces people have taken amongst themselves to create a site. This is frowned upon per the Campground Host's comments. They mentioned blocking off access; however, campers break through them anyway. Again, choosing to go left, there are a 3 to 4 places one could park their RV or tent; however, the ruts were quite deep and extremely muddy.

Water/Toilets: Even though the Forest Service listing says they have water, it was turned off due to being contaminated by herds via a nearby creek. The campground was free when we arrived; however, research is being done to potentially turn it into a more improved campground raising the cost of $0 to $10 a night. There were photographers taking pictures of the campground to access its feasibility of being improved during our stay. There are vault toilets, they are clean. A few were locked.

Hiking: There are plenty of trail heads in the immediate area. One of which is right across the road from the campground. Most of the trails are multi-use and are often used by dirt bikes. We had to move to the side a few times. If you're heading up to Fairy Lake, the trail head is roughly seven miles from the main road. It is extremely bumping; you're likely to bounce all over the place like I did. From the trail head, the lake is about 2.5 miles up.

Cell coverage: we did not have much in the way of coverage at the Campground (Verizon, GoogleFi). With Verizon, sometimes I got a bar. Up the road from the campground at the Bridger Bowl (skiing lodge), we had full bars. We parked just off the main road (MT-86) in a gravel lot. Otherwise, we used our WeBoost for coverage. Verizon had a decent cell signal with the WeBoost, GoogleFi did not.

When we arrived we noticed that the Official Battle Ridge Campground was still closed to the Public as of 5/29/2020 and 5/31/2020. We ended up going to the left loop and camping in the Forest service area on the top. The site overall was fine but the wind was hell all weekend. When it wasn't windy it was amazing but good luck with that as it seemed to gust 20 mph winds every 20 min or so. We will be back, but in a different area that is less windy. Getting there was easy from Bozeman. The road at the campsite has been rutted into a mud pit so be cautious with vehicles and being equipped with 4x4.