Rumbaugh Ridge Designated Campsites

The campsite is very secluded, deep in bear country, and absolutely stunning. We had the whole thing to ourselves with tons of trees to set up our hammocks. One thing though that isn’t marked well enough, the lake water has been known to have toxic algae in it. Don’t let animals drink and even if you filter water do not filter this water.

I saw a few pictures of a few TT set up so I thought it might be ok for us to take our FW. Wrong!! We almost got in a jam. My second mistake was looking at google and thinking it looks open enough for me to make it to the camp site. Unless you are in a van or small TT this is not the spot for you. Not to mention that the road coming inn is awful. It is washboard all the way. We thought about going to Springhill just pass this site but I didn’t want to drive the road every day and Iwas also frustrated with myself for not doing better research.

Gorgeous little hidden spot on the lake! Don’t expect to get a big rig up the bumpy road, but we have a truck with a pop-up camper on the back and did it just fine. No one was there, we had a spot right on the lake all to ourselves. Beautiful sunset and sunrise, plus the sounds of elk bugling made this a magical stop over on our way to glacier.

This campground is one of the few that will be open on the south shore of Hebgen Lake after the end of September. It has 4 to 5 designated sites, which are roughly defined, but are marked. I would not attempt to access the campground with a trailer larger than 30 feet due to the tight spaces, deep ruts, and tight corners with trees. I'm not sure any of the sites are very level. No. 2 for sure was not, but it was a beautiful location. We borrowed a thick round of firewood from one of the neighbors to fill in a deep rut to get our trailer out.

Access: Take Denny Creek Road, just north of the KOA campground on the West Yellowstone Hwy. Be careful to not take West Denny Creek Road just to the South of the KOA campground. Denny Creek Road will start out as a paved road for the first 2.5 miles, but then will turn into a washboarded gravel road that will rattle everything in your rig. At about mile 7.5, there will be a sign on the left side of the road that identifies the road leading to the Rumbaugh Ridge Summer Homes. Just across the sign, on the right side will be another short narrow dirt road that drops down to the campground. However, there is no signage off of Denny Creek Road for the campground. Site #1 is on the left side of the narrow dirt road, but it would be hard to get into it with anything other than a van. Sites #2, 3, 4, and 5 are further down the dirt road about 50 to 75 feet and are on the bank of Hebgen Lake.

There is a rutted out boat ramp that can be used to launch.

There is no services, or picnic tables. However, there are rock fire rings.

Very few bugs in October, mainly files.

Hebgen Lake is known for it's large brown and rainbow trout. However, the fishing was off the 2 days we were there, possibly due to a toxic algae bloom. It is indeed a beautiful lake and moose and elk are often seen at the campground.

Hopefully, you will have nice neighbors as we did in October. However, we did hear a story of one group that were there to party with loud music that ruined the serenity for the rest.

Great spot next to the creek. It is at the end of the dirt road and nicely secluded. If you are adventurous you can go through the forrest to the lake. It is a marshy shore so not a good lake access. We had no encounters with bears, but we were vigilant about keeping our stuff stored inside the truck. The rangers visited every day to warn us of bears. There isn’t an official sign to turn off the road, but the two campsites (A&B) are well marked. The dirt road down is best with high clearance 4 wheel drive vehicle. Bring mosquito repellent. The horseflies were bad during the day.