Philipsburg Bay Campground
1Heads up1 fire 29 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $17–$30Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 4534 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
Philipsburg Bay Campground is adjacent to Georgetown Lake and provides ideal access to fishing, boating and water skiing. It is located in the Pintler Ranger District of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, the largest national forest in Montana. Surrounded by mountains of outstanding beauty, the location is perfect for visitors who enjoy mountain and water sports or those who prefer relaxing and taking in the spectacular view. Once on-site, you may be able to pay for your campsite(s) by scanning a QR code using the Recreation.gov mobile app, and the Scan and Pay feature. If this option is available, you will need to first download the free Recreation.gov mobile app https://www.recreation.gov/mobile-app prior to your arrival as some remote areas have limited or no cellular service. Keep reading
Recreation
Canoeing and boating are popular activities at the lake. Hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers will find no shortage of trails within a few miles of the campground. Georgetown Lake is a prime destination for fishing and fly fishing with kokanee salmon, rainbow and brook trout being the most sought-after species. It is illegal to target Bull Trout, if caught they must be released immediately with minimal handling. Participants must have Montana licenses to hunt or fish.
Facilities
The campground has 65 sites in total, 34 sites are reservable and 31 sites are available as first-come, first-served. Loop A and half of loop B are first-come, first-served. Loop C and half of Loop B can be reserved in advance during the summer season. It is available for RV or tent camping and is boater-friendly with paved roads and a boat ramp. Once on-site, you may be able to pay for your campsite(s) by scanning a QR code using the Recreation.gov mobile app, and the Scan and Pay feature. If this option is available, you will need to first download the free Recreation.gov mobile app https://www.recreation.gov/mobile-app prior to your arrival as some remote areas have limited or no cellular service.
Natural Features
The campground overlooks the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. Georgetown Lake is a large mountain lake spanning close to 3,000 acres at an elevation of over 6,000 ft. Lodgepole pines enclose the lake and surrounding mountains, providing a home to abundant wildlife including moose, elk, white-tailed deer and even bighorn sheep. Water birds such as the graceful blue heron as well as hawks and other birds of prey also inhabit the lake area.
Nearby Attractions
Town of Philipsburg and Anacaonda, gem mining, hiking, fly fishing, atving. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (406) 859-3211.
Charges & Cancellations
Must cancel 4 days in advance
What the agency tells you
There are 65 campsites. 34 sites are reservable and 31 sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Please Note: Double occupancy will be charged for more than (1) camping unit in the site. Additional camping units are trailers, RVs, and other mobile sleeping quarters. Extra vehicle charge $5 per day (first 2 vehicles are free). See host or self serve fee station - cash or check only at the campground.
Bears are prevalent in the area. To reduce the likelihood of a human-to-bear conflict, Food Storage Order rules are enforced. All food, beverages, trash, and scented items must be properly stored when not attended. Proper storage methods include a bear hang, an enclosed hard sided vehicle, storage locker, or an IGBC certified bear resistant container – IGBC coolers must be locked. Bear resistant storage lockers are available at the campground. Learn more about bear safety and forest-wide Food Storage Order
Everything else this campground posts · 9
Quiet hours are 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.
Camping stay limit is 16 days.
Site must be occupied the first night. The campsite cannot be left unattended for more than 24 hours without permission.
Check in time is 2:00 PM. Check out time is 11:00 AM.
Dogs allowed - must be on leash at all times within the campground.
No dump station on site; closest facility is in Anaconda.
Reserved Sites will be held until check out time (11:00 AM) the day following your arrival date. Sites must be occupied by the checkout time of that following day to hold a reservation or the site will be forfeited and released to other guests.
Fire Restrictions: Fire restrictions may be imposed at any time due to hot, dry weather conditions, at which time campfires and charcoal fires may not be allowed.
Click Here for more information about Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest Check out the forest's campground description for specific information to Fish Your National Forest
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 45
- Hookups
- 4 electric
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 12
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets · Pit Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 12 of 45 campsite records / ACCESSIBLE PIT TOILETS on 12 of 45 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 32 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Coast
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 403rd darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 34 of the 45 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
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 · 14
What you actually pay
“Extra vehicle charge $5 per day (first 2 vehicles are free).” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $17–$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.
“Must cancel 4 days in advance” · 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 · 7
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
45 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 34 mapped sitesAll 45 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. 45 of the 45 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| B | 025 | standard nonelectric | 87 ft | 407 ft | $17 | |||
| B | 026 | type not stated | 491 ft | $17 | ||||
| B | 027 | standard nonelectric | 93 ft | 495 ft | $17 | |||
| B | 028 | standard electric | 73 ft | 638 ft | $30 | |||
| B | 029 | standard nonelectric | 73 ft | 580 ft | $17 | |||
| B | 030 | standard nonelectric | yes | 133 ft | 677 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 031 | type not stated | 35 ft | yes | 611 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 032 | type not stated | 35 ft | yes | 682 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 033 | type not stated | 35 ft | yes | 594 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 034 | type not stated | 35 ft | yes | 504 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 035 | type not stated | 35 ft | yes | 497 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 036 | type not stated | 35 ft | yes | 427 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 037 | type not stated | 35 ft | yes | 407 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 038 | type not stated | 35 ft | yes | 348 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 039 | standard nonelectric | yes | 102 ft | 389 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 040 | standard nonelectric | yes | 93 ft | 410 ft | $17 | ||
| B | 041 | standard nonelectric | yes | 109 ft | 378 ft | $17 | ||
| C | 42 | standard nonelectric | 101 ft | 510 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 43 | standard nonelectric | 68 ft | 470 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 44 | standard nonelectric | 68 ft | 519 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 45 | type not stated | 60 ft | 50 amp | 616 ft | $17 | ||
| C | 46 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 709 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 47 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | 670 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 48 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 764 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 49 | standard nonelectric | 53 ft | 718 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 50 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 823 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 51 | standard nonelectric | 56 ft | 754 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 52 | standard nonelectric | 44 ft | 794 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 53 | standard nonelectric | 72 ft | 784 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 54 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 854 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 55 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 876 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 56 | standard nonelectric | 81 ft | 919 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 57 | standard nonelectric | 62 ft | 848 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 58 | standard nonelectric | 62 ft | 898 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 59 | standard nonelectric | 103 ft | 851 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 60 | standard nonelectric | 66 ft | 689 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 61 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 652 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 62 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 48 ft | 616 ft | $30 | ||
| C | 63 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | 574 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 64 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 48 ft | 526 ft | $30 | ||
| C | 65 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 530 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 66 | standard electric | 30/50 amp | 47 ft | 489 ft | $30 | ||
| C | 67 | standard nonelectric | 58 ft | 485 ft | $17 | |||
| C | 68 | standard nonelectric | 58 ft | 429 ft | $17 | |||
| S&P | Standard, S&P | type not stated | 60 ft | $17 |
25 of 45 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lodgepole Campground (on Georgetown Lake, Montana)Deerlodge National Forest · 0.9 mi
Piney Campground and Boat LaunchDeerlodge National Forest · 0.9 mi
Flint Creek CampgroundDeerlodge National Forest · 2.0 mi
Cable Mountain CampgroundDeerlodge National Forest · 2.3 mi
Spring Hill CampgroundDeerlodge National Forest · 6.5 miEast Fork Group Picnic AreaDeerlodge National Forest · 6.8 miThe campground is located in southwestern Montana, about 11 miles south of Philipsburg. Follow U.S. Route 1 south and take a right on Georgetown Lake Road. The campground is on the left adjacent to the lake.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 23°F, day 56°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 7°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 Augusts are colder than the August 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
Philipsburg Bay Campground is in Montana’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Ryan Zinke (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →