Bear Canyon Campground

I'm so tired of campgrounds taking advantage of RV'ers. This is not a resort. This is not a hotel. Your amenities are nothing special. They charge extra for more than 2 people.... $7.50 per person??? WHAT? How is a child going to cost you more money? Then $2 per pet... How is a pet going to cost you extra money? If you have an extra car... $2 extra... but you have to squeeze it onto your TINY, narrow site. We are already squished in here with neighbors nearly touching. Showers were NASTY. And the bathroom stalls don't have doors, they have CURTAINS! The little pool is open from 10am-8pm which is silly. People like to get up early and go for a swim or after dinner. Laundry closes at 8pm. A train goes by really early in the morning with its horn blaring.

I do NOT recommend this place. It's a joke. I would rather stay somewhere with no hookups rather than be gouged by ridiculous fees.

The campground is located a few minutes east of Bozeman along I-90, which was extremely convenient to visit Bozeman and also hit the Montana Grizzly Encounter and hiking areas east of town. The site sits on a bluff above I-90 and Bear Canyon, so there is road noise on the north side but generally nice views from the perimeter of the campground. The perimeter sites are all back-in sites, quite short, very close together, and totally perpendicular to the driveway. We saw several people having a lot of trouble backing into the tight perimeter spaces. Perimeter sites are also not particularly level -- we used more blocks here than we have ever used. The central spaces are all pull-through and obviously much easier to access and appear to be more level, but with less desirable views.

The bathrooms were generally clean, but not luxurious. I found it extremely humorous that the shower rooms were narrower than the one in our trailer, but at least my tall husband could stand up straight. The laundry room was adequate but quite busy. There is a playground as well as a pool area, which we did not use.

Make sure to read all the rules before visiting so you are aware of some of the unusual rules (no mail delivery, does not accept checks for payment, child tax, pet tax, early arrival fee). It wasn't an issue for us, but I can see it might be for some.

There are a few weird access issues. In addition to the low bridge for people coming in from the east or leaving to the west, the entry to the campground is on a very blind turn with a confusing intersection. It limited our options when leaving the campground with our trailer, since the route we wanted would have required a U-turn in the middle of this odd intersection. We could make it work when driving just our truck.

Cell service was generally quite good on AT&T: Download 40 Mbps Upload 12.97 Mbps when I tested, but it was more clogged at times during our stay.

This was a nice campground, we had a large pull through with a decent view of the surrounding mountains. Some of the back in sites were really small. The campstore was small, but nice, and the laundry was clean and air conditioned. The location is convenient to Bozeman, which has a nice downtown and a farmers market in season.

You are right on the highway, and there is a train nearby, but it didn’t really bother us. They charged us $2/day for our indoor cat, which I don’t agree with, but didn’t argue about.

One issue, there is a 13’ 3” bridge that you have to go under if you are coming from the east or leaving to the West. We had an appointment west of the campground for a repair, so we avoided it by coming from the west. Leaving, we headed east one exit, about 3 miles, then looped back to get on the highway going west. The other option was a u-turn that we didn’t think we could make. It would be nice if they let people know this when you make a reservation.

We enjoyed our stay and would consider staying here again, if in the area. But, the bridge might discourage us.

First off there is a low clearance bridge at the gps off ramp. 13 2’ thank goodness we had a Garmin to alert us. When mentioned to gal at check in, “oh yes.. but if you had talked me me, I would have told you” well, we booked on line, received a fast confirmation weeks ago so no phone call needed . Put it on your confirmation paperwork... simple fix.. Caution! Bla bla bla.

The site we were assigned is too tight for a 40 ft 5 th wheel. Birch trees pop out everywhere which is pretty but does not allow for width. My husband is a total magician, got us in, but way too much hassle... plus neighbors leave tow vechicles( large trucks) in roadway with front end obstructing turns! Yes, the view over the valley was a when you walked over to view it from one side of park..spectacular sunset.. but would not visit again... with anything over 30 ft..

We stayed here because we wanted to visit Bozeman for a few days and this was the only place we could find with a spot at the weekend. It turned out to be a nice clean park, with friendly staff. It has a pool so seems to be popular with families.

We got one of the cheaper back in spots with water and and electric, but actually that worked for us because it backed onto pretty open land. This is perfect for our rear panoramic windows. But you are crammed in here. The sites are short so you have to park alongside your rig. Your sitting area and picnic table are at the back, overlooking the fields. Even though we didn't have a sewer hook up there is a dump station on site which is free for guests.

One beef about this place is they won't accept parcels for you. One big advantage for us of RV parks is that it is one of the very few times we can get something shipped to us. We have found all parks we stayed at before have been happy to offer that service, so we didn't check with them we just went ahead and had a shipment sent. But they refused it, so we had to go to the UPS office to pick it up. We will always check in the future.

As with most RV parks, the WiFi seemed pathetic, we jsut stuck to using our cell signal.

I hate to give a place only 3 stars because there was nothing wrong with it specifically and given the few choices in Bozeman and how expensive Montana State Parks are this was a good option for us. It's just a simple, no-frills RV park.