Cascade
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $18From, per site
- Sites
- 29All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cascade Campground is located 11 miles west of Red Lodge, in southern Montana. It conveniently sits along Forest Road 2071, which is paved for most of the route. The area is a popular location for hiking, backpacking and fishing. Keep reading
Recreation
Fishing is a popular activity along the West Fork of Rock Creek and at nearby Wild Bill Lake. The small lake is open to kayaking and canoeing, and an accessible fishing dock is located on the shore. The Basin Lakes Trailhead is three miles away, across the road from Basin Campground. Silver Run Plateau, West Fork and Timberline Lakes trails offer access to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Mountain bikers enjoy the Ingles Creek Trail and a variety of loop trails at Silver Run. Biking is also allowed on the Basin Lakes Trail.
Facilities
The campground offers several single-family sites, one of which is accessible (site #5). Each site is equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Trash may be deposited in receptacles at nearby Basin Campground.
Natural Features
The campground is situated on the banks of the West Fork of Rock Creek. The area surrounding the campground was burned by the Cascade Fire in 2008, which left many open glades with abundant wildflowers.
Nearby Attractions
The charming town of Red Lodge, Mont., offers a variety of dining and lodging options, galleries, shops and annual summer events. The Home of Champions Rodeo is held on the Fourth of July weekend, Beartooth Bike Rally and Iron Horse Rodeo take place in mid-July, the Mountain Man Rendezvous is in late July and the Festival of Nations happens in early August. The Beartooth Highway was deemed "the most beautiful drive in America," by the late Charles Kuralt. It snakes across the rugged Beartooth Mountains from Red Lodge to Cooke City. It is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies. Along the way, visitors are treated to sweeping views and plentiful opportunities for outdoor recreation. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (928) 537-8888.
Charges & Cancellations
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This cancellation processing fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
What the agency tells you
Standard Single Family sites: Recreation Use Fee allows ONE camping unit ONLY.
Extra Vehicles: Cannot be paid for in advance - upon arrival coordinate with the host for payment and where to park.
Late Arrivals: campers are not considered a "no-show" until 24 hours after arrival date check in time. Our policy is that your site will not be released before that.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
FIRST COME FIRST SERVE sites must be booked in person. DO NOT call to determine availability, as they are only available on-site.
Bears frequent the area; please obey all food storage rules and regulations. Check with your host for details.
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org. Firewood bundles can be purchased from the campground host.
Click here for more information on the Custer National Forest
Opening and closing dates are weather permitting, please call 928-537-8888 for more information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 29
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Trash may be…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…with grill. Accessible vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Trash may be deposited in receptacles…”
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Biking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 273rd darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $18 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
“Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee.” · this campground’s own terms
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
30 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 28 mapped sitesAll 30 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 29 of the 30 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Sites 1-24 | 001 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 87 ft | 90 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 002-HOST | host pad | 26 ft | yes | 123 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 003 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 78 ft | 80 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 004 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 77 ft | 79 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 49 ft | 144 ft | $18 |
| Sites 1-24 | 006 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 49 ft | 109 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 007 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 47 ft | 192 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 008 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 47 ft | 154 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 009 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 124 ft | 133 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 88 ft | 241 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 68 ft | 203 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 68 ft | 226 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 013 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 70 ft | 162 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 014 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 130 ft | 281 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 015 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 64 ft | 385 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 016 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 64 ft | 392 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 017 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 59 ft | 426 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 018 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 59 ft | 389 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 019 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 69 ft | 428 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 020 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | 80 ft | 391 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 021 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 77 ft | 418 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 022 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 55 ft | 346 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 023 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 55 ft | 342 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 1-24 | 024 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 78 ft | 268 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 25-30 | 025 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 66 ft | 111 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 25-30 | 026 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 66 ft | 156 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 25-30 | 027 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 105 ft | 128 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 25-30 | 028 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 105 ft | 99 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 25-30 | 029 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | 128 ft | 115 ft | $18 | |
| Sites 25-30 | 030 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $18 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It names it a host pad. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 30 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Basin Montana CampgroundCuster National Forest · 3.0 miPalisades CampgroundCuster National Forest · 7.0 mi
ParksideCuster National Forest · 8.0 miParkside Campground and Group CampsitesCuster National Forest · 8.1 mi
Limber PineCuster National Forest · 8.2 mi
Greenough LakeCuster National Forest · 8.3 miFrom U.S. Highway 212, go to the south end of Red Lodge. Turn west onto West Fork Rock Creek Road (Forest Road 2071) and travel 11 miles west. The campground is on the left.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Luther, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 24°F, day 47°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 6°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Cascade is in Montana’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Troy Downing (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →