Red Shale Campground

We did an overnight stop here between Billings & Devil's Tower and would have stayed a few extra nights if we had the time. Super peaceful, beautiful and out of the way. Perfect for relaxing.

Verizon 4G was zippy and we had a great evening!

This is a free National Forest campground just north of the highway. We stayed here on a June weekend, expecting to find lots of competition for a spot, but only 2 other parties spent the night. It's near the highway, and truck noise could be an issue, but we went to one of the farthest (northern) sites, and found highway noise not a problem. Also, that loop has some nice views to the north. There is no water available, and pit toilets only, but it's what you expect from a free FS site. Toilets were clean and well-kept. To reach the furthest sites, take the right fork when entering the campground. Watch for a big set of chuckholes about 100 yards in. We enjoyed staying here while we explored the Tongue River valley.

We really needed to get caught up on some housekeeping and needed good internet, quiet and clean. This was a great spot to enjoy the view, go for a walk, take pictures of wildlife, lots of birds, coyote calls off in the distance in the evenings. Beautiful breeze and temps in mid-September here but fire ban due to extreme risk of wildfires. Part of our stay was very thick with smoke from a fire well north.

Each site has picnic tables with long top overhangs for wheelchairs, fire rings with cooking grates, solid ground of fine gravel, mostly level. We were on #5 as numbers were painted on most picnic tables on the leg supports just under the tops. We took the right fork to go the further back from the road, exceptionally clean pit toilet. Gorgeous meadow to overlook from each site, some road noise from traffic but the forest diffuses most of that. The front loop, left at the Forestry info boards would hear more being 1/2 way closer than we were. Really great Verizon here to get our internet work done and enjoy the natural views. Only 1 other here on Site 2 when we arrived. Also this says 30' max, however we are 36' at 13' 6" tall, no problems with length or height having plenty of space to back in, level and disconnect. We have a rear ramp/deck and enjoyed our private patio overlooking the forest and grasses.

Pack it in, pack it out. Easy access west to Ashland 15 minutes, several dumpsters to take your trash, post office, bank with notary on site, small grocery, Diesel fuel at the Western Pump station with convenience store, small café. Typical of a small town - everyone seemed considerate, informative and polite.

We stayed here on our way up to Washington

It was super convenient and right off 212!

Only thing is we had 0 cell service and because we need internet to work so we only stayed there one night.

We have a 44’ toy hauler and fit in site #5 it was a little tight going around the corners in the campground but we were fine.

The sites were pretty leveled, well maintained and they all had a table and a fire pit!

We were on our way to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and stayed here due to other people’s reviews. We had expected it to be more busy due to the rally, but many Rally goers stuck to I-90. It was a great, quiet spot.

Most sites were long, level and relatively quiet from the hiway in the loop if you stay right. We had no problems with our tall 38’ 5th wheel. We heard the cicadas (we think) in the evening.

Clean pit toilets, picnic area, tables and fire pits.

Great Verizon service.

I’ve been waiting for an amazing free campground that feels great, not like camping on the side of the road. Wow! This is it!!

Super quiet, tons of space between sites, tons of trees. I can’t believe we got to stay here, and for free.

Would definitely stay here again and would recommend it to anyone looking for dry camping with no hookups.

Didn’t use the toilets so cannot be speak to them.

free, great campsite, has verizon and in some places you can get satellite, fairly easy to get in and out and has vault toilets
check out the video to see this campground
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zHFT-iVHrc&t=1s

This is a first for us in our year of full-time travel: a free campground with actual sites, a fire pit, picnic table and clean pit toilets. It was very beautiful and clean here and we saw almost no one else in our loop in June 2018.

There are two loops to this CG. One to the right of the fork, which goes further away from the main road, and one to the left of the fork, which stays closer to the main road. We chose the left loop because there wasn’t anyone else there, but it was noisier from road traffic. We had 3 bars Verizon LTE, but not until we got into the campground. There is almost no service outside of the CG.

There is a 16-day limit here, so settle in! We stayed 7 days, and it was awesome, except for the day it was in the high 90s, but we decided to run the genny for AC, which helped immensely. We did get plenty of solar while we were there.

The town of Ashland is VERY small. There is a café, two small grocery stores, a hardware store, a couple bars, a dvd rental/pizza place, and 2 gas stations…that’s it, all on one strip. Closest laundry is in Broadus (45 miles), and while no one in the town has ever heard of propane tank exchange, they will fill your tanks at the hardware store.

We managed to patronize almost every establishment in the town, in about 2 hours.

We drove in from the east, so we filled water at Wayside RV park outside of Broadus ($15). We dumped on our way to Bozeman at a gas station in Harden, but I don’t recommend that as they did not have running water at the dump. There aren’t many other options, but there is an RV park in Harden if you want to check that option.

Firmly in the middle of nowhere but had great T-Mobile coverage. Vault toilets available but otherwise nothing else provided. Site #2 in the upper loop has best views like others have mentioned.

What a find! If you love boondocking, this place is for you!! This is a free National Forest campground w/ a 16 day max stay. Dry camping. No hookups, water spigots, dump station or dumpsters, so come prepared. About 5 miles to town to find gas/groceries/hardware store. The views are spectacular and it’s not busy. Roads and campsites maintained well, especially considering it’s free. Right off a major highway which is good for easy access. Minimal hwy noise.