Roundup City Park Rest Area

We recalled Roundup being a bustling little red brick town 10 yrs ago. No more. An abandoned downtown mostly with a couple bar/casinos. The Cow Belle campground outside town was a little tricky to find, in pretty wooded area, no hook ups, but full of folks when we arrived (some long term, it would appear, a rag tag assortment). We looked at the Ideal and the other variously named place noted to be in Roundup, and both were derelict and not an option. That left the City Park, which does exist, but not where shown on this map, and with no true overnight camping. Nevertheless, we parked in the "Rest Area" portion of the park overnight and boondocked and no one bothered us. The great grassy expanses of the park are all dotted with NO DOGS signs. Slept decently enough. No reason to stick around Roundup.

We had stayed here 3 times in the last 5 years and always looked forward to it. Considered it a hidden gem. Clean, quiet, lots of shade provided by huge old cottonwood trees, along the banks of the Musselshell River, donation fee is requested, we'd usually leave $5 - $10 per night. No dump station or hook-ups, drinking water is available and flush toilets. No designated sites, just find a spot and park. Some areas did have picnic tables and fire rings.

This time however we were very disappointed. We understand a huge hail storm had devistated the town in June along with torrential rains which caused the Musselshell River to flood so we expected to see some damage but the park was shabby, had not been mowed and some sites were filled with soft sand and large ruts, likely the result of the flooding and cleanup.

We dind find a level spot that wasn't sandy and set up in the shade of some of the beautiful big cottonwood trees.

There was a group camped in the back portion of the campground with multiple vehicles and in the few hours we were there a constant stream of vehicles were going through the park, mostly to the group in the back, not at all the quiet peaceful park we had experienced in the past. Also there was trash throughout our site, and the park in general, food wrappers, a pair of socks, food, cigarette butts etc. The bathrooms were a mess.

We were so disappointed that we decided to hook back up and move on.

We sincerely hope the city will restore this little park to it's former condition.