Crystal Lake Group Campsite
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 35 mi
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Crystal Lake Group Campground is located in the beautiful Big Snowies south of Lewistown, Montana, at 5,700 feet. Home to the Crystal Lake recreation area, visitors enjoy hiking and fishing in the Snowies. Keep reading
Recreation
The lake provides opportunities for swimming, fishing and canoeing. The various trails that stem from the Crystal Lake complex provide excellent views and interesting photo opportunities. One trail displays old hieroglyphs in a cave allowing visitors a glimpse of the past.
Facilities
Water is available via a spring faucet and is just down from the camping site. An outhouse is provided next to the parking area for the group site. There is room for parking behind the gate in a parking area or to have two (up to 35’) campers parked there as well. Asphalt walkways and tent pads are present but room in the adjacent meadow can be used for bigger tents. Two large picnic tables are on site and a metal fire ring.
Natural Features
Settled in the basin of Crystal Lake, the group site offers great access to trails and ta short drive or walk to the lake. Some trees are around the campsite but may not offer much shade.
Nearby Attractions
Ice Caves Trail, Cascade Trails and the lake are all located in the complex.
What the agency tells you
Additional camping units are available on a first-come, first-serve in the campground next to the group site.
For more information please call the Judith Ranger District in Stanford, Montana, at (406) 566-2292. Site opens on June 2 and will close in fall when snow conidtions prevail. Check out time 11:00 AM.
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group
- Hookups
- None
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “An outhouse is provided next to the parking area for the group site.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…a glimpse of the past. Facilities Water is available via a spring faucet and is just down from the…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Meadow
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Horseback riding
- Swimming
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 · 12
What you actually pay
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
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CRYSTAL LAKE GROUP CAMPSITE | Crystal Lake Group site | group standard area nonelectric | yes | 1,402 ft | $40 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Crystal Lake CabinLewis & Clark National Forest · 0.3 miTimber Creek Dispersed CampgroundLewis & Clark National Forest · 5.1 miJellison Place CampgroundLewis & Clark National Forest · 27 mi
Judith Guard StationLewis & Clark National Forest · 37 miHay Canyon CampgroundLewis & Clark National Forest · 37 miDaisy Dean Camp Campground42 miFrom Lewistown, drive west on Montana Highway 200/US 87 for about 8 miles. Turn left (south) on Crystal Lake Road. Continue south, following the well-signed directions to the lake for 20 miles. At the "T" junction, turn left and continue on to Crystal Lake. The last 6 miles is paved and mostly a single lane. On December 1, the paved section is gated, and access beyond the gate is by snowmobile, skis, snowshoes or hiking only.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Judith Gap, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 28°F, day 53°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 12°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
Crystal Lake Group Campsite 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 →