Court Sheriff Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $15–$30Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 46All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Court Sheriff Campground is located at the very north end of Canyon Ferry Reservoir, 30 miles east of Helena, Montana, along Montana Highway 284. Court Sheriff Campground offers year-round access to a wide range of recreational opportunities. Court Sheriff Campground is named for the Sheriff family. In 1865 Court Sheriff moved into the region from the state of Illinois to Montana to work the mines. Court Sheriff first worked the mines in Diamond City, then hired on as a carpenter to help build a wooden flume for the Magpie-Gave Hill ditch. In 1875 he opened a general mercantile to serve the miners east of the Missouri River at Cavetown. He moved to nearby Canyon Ferry in 1880, and by 1883 had established a general store and later added a livery stable and two-and-a-half-story hotel. Keep reading
Recreation
Canyon Ferry Reservoir offers a wide range of year-round recreational opportunities. Water related activities include everything from swimming and fishing to sailing and motor-boating. Canoeists and kayakers explore the many quiet backwater bays. Jet skiers, windsurfers and water skiers skim the summer waves, while winter draws ice fishermen, ice boaters and ice skaters.
Facilities
Court Sheriff Campground is very popular and a well-developed campground. The campground is paved with 48 campsites, most are located along the water. During the peak summer months services include vault toilets, potable water, trash, recycling containers and a campground host.
Natural Features
Court Sheriff Campground sits at the north end of Canyon Ferry Reservoir between the Big Belt and Elkhorns mountain ranges. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (406) 475-3920.
Nearby Attractions
Court Sheriff Campground on Canyon Ferry Reservoir is located halfway between Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park along with the capital city of Helena, Montana. For up to date events visit, www.helenamt.com .
What the agency tells you
All campsites are to be considered single unit sites unless marked as a double site. Single campsites are limited to one camping / sleeping unit per campsite. An exception will be made for parents with young children; Parents may have one additional tent for children under the age of 18.
Pets must be physically constrained by a leash under 6' in length. Do not leave pets left unattended. It is your responsibility to clean up after your own pet.
Quiet hours are from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. Be considerate of other campers. Activities and noise should be kept to a level that does not disturb other campers. Generators are not allowed during quiet hours. The use of loud, profane, or abusive language or music is prohibited.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Personal property used to reserve campsites, including RVs and tents will be removed in accordance with 43 CFR Part 423.23.
No show reservations are subject to cancellation after the third night.
Campsites must be occupied each night.
Check in time is 5pm. Check out time is 4pm.
While at Canyon Ferry Reservoir: CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that comes in contact with water. Never dump unwanted bait, worms, fish parts or other organisms into the water. For more information visit https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/ STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. REMOVE plants, seeds, animals and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicle. CLEAN your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. STAY on designated roads and trails and use local firewood. For more information visit https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 46 · 4 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 100 ft
- Paved pads
- 44 of 46
- Accessible sites
- 3
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…the peak summer months services include vault toilets, potable water, trash, recycling containers and a…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…months services include vault toilets, potable water, trash, recycling containers and a campground host.…”
- Store
- Nearby
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, River
- Boating
- Fishing
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 485th darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 3
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 rates for this season, $15–$30 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.
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 · 5
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
48 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 45 mapped sitesAll 48 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. 45 of the 48 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| 001 Host | host pad | 40 ft | $15–$30 | |||
| 002 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 41 ft | 250 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 003 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 68 ft | 181 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 004 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 93 ft | 118 ft | $15–$30 |
| 005 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 86 ft | 113 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 006 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 67 ft | 108 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 007 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 67 ft | 90 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 008 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 81 ft | 79 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 009 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 84 ft | 95 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 010 | type not stated | 175 ft | ||||
| 011 | standard nonelectric | 75 ft | yes | 86 ft | 28 ft | $15–$30 |
| 012 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 68 ft | 118 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 013 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 57 ft | 193 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 014 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 59 ft | 104 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 015 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 59 ft | 159 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 016 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 72 ft | 75 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 017 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 52 ft | 140 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 018 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 41 ft | 77 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 019 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 41 ft | 94 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 020 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 63 ft | 70 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 021 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 52 ft | 131 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 022 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 64 ft | 67 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 023 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 54 ft | 70 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 024 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 54 ft | 91 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 025 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 56 ft | 89 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 026 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 56 ft | 107 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 027 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 62 ft | 128 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 028 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 63 ft | 131 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 029 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 65 ft | 123 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 030 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 51 ft | 105 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 031 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 51 ft | 71 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 032 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 65 ft | 70 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 033 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 54 ft | 69 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 034 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 54 ft | 43 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 035 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 76 ft | 64 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 036 | tent only nonelectric | 50 ft | 202 ft | $15 | ||
| 037 | tent only nonelectric | 50 ft | 214 ft | $15 | ||
| 038 | tent only nonelectric | 79 ft | 264 ft | $15 | ||
| 039 | tent only nonelectric | yes | 86 ft | 191 ft | $15 | |
| 040 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 81 ft | 204 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 041 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 75 ft | 182 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 042 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 82 ft | 161 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 043 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 88 ft | 211 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 044 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 63 ft | 220 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 045 Host | host pad | 60 ft | $15–$30 | |||
| 046 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | 57 ft | 248 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 047 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 41 ft | 291 ft | $15–$30 | |
| 048 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 50 ft | 292 ft | $15–$30 |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It names them host pads. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 48 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Chinamen's Campground0.2 mi
Cave Point Group Use Area0.8 mi
Riverside Campground1.3 mi
Jo Bonner Campground1.5 mi
Hellgate Campground4.3 miSpokane BayButte Field Office · 4.5 miHeading north along MT highway 12/287, drive north to Spokane Creek Rd and turn right Yellow flashing light. Follow Spokane Creek Rd for 4.6 mi and turn right onto Co Rd 430/Canyon Ferry Rd and continue on to Court Sheriff Campground. The campground will be on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for York, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 34°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 14°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
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Court Sheriff Campground 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 →