Horse Prairie Campground

Stunning location on the reservoir with green mountains all around. Easy to find with GPS coordinates. Great cell service (including Starlink). Vault toilets were very clean. Dirt road coming in is well maintained. You need to be self-contained. Spots are narrow and could be cleaned up. It was very windy the days we were here. Swarms of bugs everywhere - they would hand out on the leeward side of the rig but didn't bite - just annoying. Didn't see any mice or snakes like others talked about but we put out mothballs under the rig to deter any that might be around. Very quiet and peaceful.

We absolutely loved it here. We were here late July, and as another review said.... mice and rattlesnakes. But that didn’t scare us away. We had a blast kayaking on the reservoir and hanging out on the beach.

There is pump water, but it was no good. Came out brownish. We ended up going to the pay RV spot when you first come in, and just pulling up to a spot and filling jugs. That water was very chlorinated.

The pavilions with picnic table were amazing, especially when it was windy. Bathrooms and trash area was kept very nice.

The road coming in was just fine with out 30ft TT. We could have fit in any of the spots as well.

Nice campground but I wonder if they should discontinue the trash can service. I'm diligent about mice, all bagged/boxed up in cabinets, canned down below but I couldn't even keep up with the assault. Then we had two rattle snakes come through and not easily scared off. Three years fulltiming, I've never seen this level of activity. Be prepared.

The campground has established sites with clean vault toilets, nice shelters, picnic tables, trash cans, fire rings, and a well water pump. All for free!

Access is down a smooth gravel road and it splits off for two different options. The sites on the right were our favorites but they all were nice. Big rig friendly and there are group sites available as well. If you have a boat there is even a campground on the island. Your own free, deserted island with high speed internet!

The interstate is barely visible off in the distance which means FAST internet. We have AT&T and Verizon and both were great. There is a nearby pay campsite with full hookups for $10/night that has a dump station. We were able to fill up a few jugs of fresh water there for free since we weren't sure if the well water is potable.

We really enjoyed our stay here. Our only complaint was the wind! This isn't surprising given the proximity to the Continental Divide but it did get a little annoying sometimes.

There are two halves of the site. We went to the north side from the entrance. Bit of a tight gravel road, but fine if you take it slow. The grassy areas are dried out in late summer (9/13), but still nice enough.

The views are spectacular.

Verizon 4G LTE Network
Signal strength (RSRP): -90 dBm
SNR: 23
Band: LTE B13
Down: 13.0 Mbps, Up: 4.18 Mbps

T-Mobile 4G LTE Network
Signal strength (RSRP): -87 dBm
SNR: 30
Band: LTE 71
Down 37.0 Mbps, Up: 24.5 Mbps

Dan & Jaclyn are world travelers, having kicked the dirt in over 100 countries and sailed within all 7 seas. Currently, we are full-time, location independent, perpetual travelers, roaming around North America.

We utilized Horse Prairie Campground around Clark Canyon Reservoir, as a jumping off point for Bannack State Park as well as points North to Butte sightseeing.

WHAT OTHERS ARE LIKLEY TO EXPERIENCE
The Clark Canyon Reservoir has many camping options. Those options follow a perfectly smooth dirt road around the entire reservoir. We disconnected the Jeep and performed a tour of all the campgrounds, discovering each had its own character and thus attracted different people for different reasons. The road would accept rigs of any size although a proper scouting mission would be needed as not all campgrounds would accept your big rigs.

We selected Horse Prairie Campground with both sides having a couple of available options. Most spaces are pretty flat with the basics as this is a dry camping environment. Although, it was the big rig departing one of only 4 premium water front spots that grabbed out attention. The premium spaces have shelters with concrete floors and a picnic table within. Being location independent RVers, we very much appreciated our new outdoor office space.

SPECIAL EXPERIENCE
Outside the shelter we had a second picnic table with a fire pit overlooking the water's edge. Others have mentioned bugs. Although the water was still very high, and therefore a reason of more bugs, we noticed nothing more than usual for water camping. Further to this, the location has garbage, potable water through an old style pump and the nicest smelling pit toilets ever. I know... I know... What am I talking about? I am telling you, they smelled great! Even so, why would I feel to mention it within the review? Because that is just how good they smelled!

Moving on.... We had unbolted AT&T and Verizon at this location. Arriving at any hour of any day, you will always find a space here at the many Clark Canyon Reservoir Campgrounds. Even through our weekend stay, although most of our campground was planted with 5th wheels trailers, the other three premium spaces opened up and stayed that way for the duration of our stay.

RATING - TOP 5 CAMPING CONTENDER

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CAMPED JULY 2018
POSTED SEPTEMBER 2018

We ended up in the Horse Prairie area of the Clark Canyon reservoir with an awesome site looking over the reservoir. We stopped over for one night on our way up to Glacier National Park and would have loved to stay for a couple more nights. We arrived late afternoon, early evening on a Sunday in the middle of August and found a perfect site. Check the lean-tos for tents set up prior to getting yourself all set up though. We got excited about a couple sites then realized tents were set up in the lean-tos and not visible from the campground loop roads. Sites had lean-tos, as mentioned, and picnic tables available. Sites are well spread out. Horse Prairie is far enough off the highway to limit traffic noise and is just an easy and great overnight stop.

Maybe it was the sharp contrast from some of the wooded, forest sites we'd camped in recently but we fell in love with this waterside site. We arrived mid-week in early August and there was only one other camper in the area. We had our choice of plenty of sites, some with ramadas with picnic tables and fire rings, other spaces in a large field. The roads leading to and throughout the camping area were easy to traverse and we had no trouble getting our rig leveled. As we got settled, Dave, the camp host at the pay campground down the road stopped by to say hello. He confirmed the 14 day stay limit and also told us the pump water was safe for drinking. Very friendly and welcoming.
We had the place to ourselves throughout the week and were able to walk along the beach and swim with no one else in sight. Vault toilets onsite were very clean and the water pump was great for rinsing off the dog and sandy feet after swimming. Great Verizon signal and very few insects.
Several RVs and tent campers arrived over the weekend though the place never got close to full. We would definitely stay here again though we might choose a different campsite further from the edge overlooking the water. Perhaps because of the great water view, not one but two different campers set up shop uncomfortably close to our front door despite the rest of the campground being virtually empty.