Baker's Hole Campground

A campground along the Madison River on the Hebgen Lake District.
Camp sites: 73 camp sites
Electrical Sites: 33
Accessible Facilities:
Fire Grates
Fishing Platform
Tables
Toilets
Water
Trash Pickup: Yes
Firewood: $6.00 / bundle
No Reservations:
This campground does not use a reservation system, it is managed on a first-come, first-served basis. Be aware the campground may fill up on weekends & holidays during the summer months and you should arrive in the early afternoon to ensure there is a space available for the night.If you would like more information on the campground please contact Yellowstone Country Campgrounds, Inc at (406) 646-1012.

This is definitely the most affordable campground right outside of Yellowstone NP and the small town of West Yellowstone NP. Electric sites (30 amp) are $22/night and dry sites are $16/night. The dry sites definitely come with more magnificent views of the Madison River Valley and meadows, but we chose an electric site as temps were dropping below freezing at night. The campground is well maintained by the park hosts and have the cleanest and best smelling pit toilets I have ever come across. It is also one of the few National Forest CGs that can accommodate very large rigs, as they have many pull-thrus and large back-ins. Some sites back to the Madison river, with walking trails to the riverfront, and others back directly to the road (287) and road noise is an issue.

I only used Bakers Hole as an overnight stop, but I would stay here longer if I had the time. Peaceful and picturesque pretty much describes it. Not all sites have power, but if it is available in it only a few dollars more than the dry camping sites.

Date of Stay: June 2015

Located just a couple of miles north of West Yellowstone, Montana, Bakers Hole is the closest affordable camping to the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park. We stayed four nights and spent two and one-half days exploring the park. You can be inside the park in literally 10 minutes, assuming you don’t have to wait in line at the entrance gate. (Pro-tip: If you don’t like crowds, enter the park by 6am and you will have a few hours of very few people before the masses arrive.)

The limited electrical sites were full when we arrived and we actually managed to snag the second to last spot in the park. The camp host says that the park normally fills up by 6pm, so arrive early if you want a spot.

There is road noise from the highway and occasional airplane noise as the airport is close by. But this is all easy to deal with considering the location to Yellowstone.

1 bar (basically unusable) unboosted AT&T. 2 bars Verizon 3G unboosted and 2 bars Verizon LTE boosted.

Simple, basic Forest Service campground that is popular only because of its location to Yellowstone National Park. Otherwise it is similar to what other Forest Service campgrounds have to offer, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

We arrived on a Saturday in the afternoon and snagged the last spot. During the week there are many available spots, but on weekends, I'd recommend arriving early.

The electric sites are near the road and are pretty noisy. You can still hear the highway noise in the dry camping spots, though it isn't as bad.

The campground is a lot closer to West Yellowstone than I expected from looking at a map. I think the speed on the highway is 75 so you can get to "town" in minutes.

Cell service is terrible without a booster, but with one I was able to get 2 bars of Verizon LTE. There are 3 over-the-air TV channels (including CBS) not HD.

If you are fortunate enough to get a site with the riverfront and mountain views, it can be a fantastic, world class. Some of the other sites are a little noisy and/or buggy or too close to highway 191. Most electric hookup sites ($32, half w/ access pass) fall into the latter category.

I had a pull-through site for my boat and glorious sunrises. Only 3 miles to West Yellowstone and the West entrance. Worth it to be patient for the better spots, but forget it on the weekend during peak season.

This is a lovely forest service campground with large, flat sites, with a nice mix of primitive ($16/night) as well as 50amp hookup ($24/night) sites and double size-sites ($32/night). All sites half-price with senior pass.

Great separation, lots of privacy between sites and a few even have river views. Plenty of choice here, even for bigger rigs. Dog-wise it's 100% dog-friendly and there is also a very nice hiking trail to town behind site #13. Location is great, only 3 miles from West Yellowstone and the western entrance into the National Park. Only ding is road noise. The campground is rather close to the main road so you will hear cars. However it wasn’t unbearable, and we found the campground did quiet down nicely at night. All-round it’s a great choice to explore the area. We'd definitely stay here again.

Note/ Cell signal was all-around iffy here (especially Verizon) and we found we needed a booster to get a consistent, usable connection.

We stayed here for one night late in the season (in fact the host said they normally close Sept 1 but extended a couple weeks bc the weather was so good) having driven to Yellowstone from the Tetons. We then scooted out the next day to explore the Canyon area of the park and go on our way. My sense is driving is part of the equation at Yellowstone, and this slightly back and forth route worked out well for us.

Good grocery store in town. Water and recycling at the CG - yay! Spotless bathroom. Great host. Like others have said, the road noise is the only ding.

I loved camping here, my site #72 was in the non-electric area next to the river. Unlike the electric sites closer to the road, I didn't hear road noise. I liked that it was close enough to Yellowstone NP to visit if you wanted, but without the congestion. Site #72 was excellent for solar. There is water at the entrance to fill RV. The vault toilets are spotless and the hosts take excellent care of the campground.

The camp hosts deserve a lot of credit for making the camping experience at Baker's Hole so great. You can have the natural beauty and great location, but without the effort of the folks running it and keeping the reservations accurate, restrooms clean, and providing smiles and good cheer, it can turn into a less than expected or worse a very disappointing anticipated outing. Thank you to our hosts. Some traffic noise was the only drawback but little can be done about that and the rest of the experience made up for it.