Jo Bonner Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 17All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Jo Bonner Campground is located at the Northeastern end of Canyon Ferry Reservoir; 30 miles east of Helena, Montana and offers year-round access to a wide range of recreational opportunities. Jo Bonner Campground is named for Josephine Agnes Martin Bonner (1907-1965) by Montana's Governor John Bonner (1902-1970). Today, Jo Bonner Campground is a small quaint campground that offers easy access. 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
Jo Bonner Campground has 17 designated campsites . Each campsite has a picnic table and a fire rings. During the recreation season facilities at Jo Bonner campground include two vault toilets, potable water, trash dumpster, and a campground host. There is a gravel boat launch with a courtesty dock located just outside of the campground.
Natural Features
Jo Bonner Campground is located at northern end of Canyon Ferry Reservoir between the Big Belt and Elkhorns mountain ranges.
Nearby Attractions
Jo Bonner 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. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (406) 475-3920.
What the agency tells you
No show reservations are subject to cancellation after the third night.
Campsites must be occupied each night.
Personal property used to reserve campsites, including RVs and tents will be removed in accordance with 43 CFR Part 423.23.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
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.
RVs, vehicles and trailers must be parked on the gravel/pavement and within designated areas of the campsite or established parking area provided. Parking on the grass is prohibited.
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.
Pets must be physically restrained by a leash 6' or less in length or a structure. Do not leave pets left unattended. It is your responsibility to clean up after your own pet.
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
- 17
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 100 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…at Jo Bonner campground include two vault toilets, potable water, trash dumpster, and a campground…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…campground include two vault toilets, potable water, trash dumpster, and a campground host. There is a…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir
- Boating
- Fishing
- Night sky · 481st 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 · 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 · 4
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
17 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 17 mapped sitesAll 17 sites
| 001 | standard nonelectric | 67 ft | 53 ft | 66 ft | |
| 002 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 61 ft | 150 ft | |
| 003 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 53 ft | 98 ftCanyon Ferry Lake | |
| 004 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | 72 ft | 112 ftCanyon Ferry Lake | |
| 005 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 57 ft | 219 ftCanyon Ferry Lake | |
| 006 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 52 ft | 275 ftCanyon Ferry Lake | |
| 007 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 52 ft | 318 ftCanyon Ferry Lake | |
| 008 | standard nonelectric | 57 ft | 55 ft | 403 ft | |
| 009 | standard nonelectric | 57 ft | 55 ft | 401 ft | |
| 010 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 75 ft | 337 ft | |
| 011 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 61 ft | 314 ft | |
| 012 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | yes | 58 ft | 332 ft |
| 013 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 41 ft | 293 ft | |
| 014 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 41 ft | 254 ft | |
| 015 | standard nonelectric | 90 ft | 93 ft | 141 ft | |
| 016 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 48 ft | 215 ft | |
| 017 | standard nonelectric | 100 ft | 62 ft | 234 ftCanyon Ferry Lake |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cave Point Group Use Area0.9 mi
Chinamen's Campground1.2 mi
Court Sheriff Campground1.5 mi
Riverside Campground2.6 mi
Hellgate Campground2.8 mi
Bar Gulch CabinHelena National Forest · 4.6 miHeading north along MT Highway 12/287 from Townsend, MT, turn right onto Spokane Creek Road. Follow Spokane Creek Road for 4.6 miles and turn right onto County Road 430/Canyon Ferry Road and continue 7.9 miles. Turn right on to East Shore Drive and continue straight .3 miles to Jo Bonner Campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Spokane Creek, 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
Jo Bonner 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 →