CAMPANAC.Powered by public lands intelligenceMore Than Just Parks

U.S. Forest Service · Gallatin National Forest · MT

Rainbow Point Campground

ReservableOut of season, no booking; November 14 opens May 14.

Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book

Right now: Closed for the seasonOut of the season the agency publishes
A night: $26–$35Across the site types the agency prices
Sites: 84All of them booked ahead
Season: May 1 – September 30Open May 1 through September 30

Photos · Vickie Barta

52 ftLongest rig

6,540 ftElevation

638 ftWater · Hebgen Lake

8.1 miNW of West Yellowstone, MT

39%Tree cover

Open May 1 through September 30Today

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices

In the agency’s own words

Rainbow Point Campground is located on the banks of scenic Hebgen Lake, in southwestern Montana. It is approximately 10 miles north of West Yellowstone and the West Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Visitors enjoy the area for its boating, fishing and hiking opportunities, as well as its close proximity to Yellowstone. Keep reading

Recreation

Hebgen Lake is considered Montana's premier still-water fishing lake. Anglers will find a healthy population of brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout. Boating and swimming are popular activities on the lake. A boat ramp is located within the campground. Hiking, biking and off-road vehicle trails crisscross the surrounding area.

Facilities

The campground offers several single-family campsites, many of which have electric hookups. Sites are equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Firewood is available for purchase within the campground.

Natural Features

Hebgen Lake sits on the Madison River, at an elevation of 6,240 feet. The lake covers 21 square miles and has 65 miles of shoreline. Rainbow Point is situated on Rainbow Bay, among a dense forest of lodgepole pine. A variety of waterfowl is often spotted in the area, including sandhill cranes, herons, Western grebes, white pelicans, osprey, Canada geese, mallards, wood ducks, loons and bald and golden eagles. Bison, deer and moose are frequently seen as well.

Nearby Attractions

West Yellowstone offers dining, shopping and lodging options. The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center is a popular attraction with live grizzlies, gray wolves and birds of prey, and a variety of educational exhibits and programs. Yellowstone National Park offers unparalleled wildlife viewing opportunities, breathtaking scenery and unique geological features. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

What the agency tells you

Rule

Click here for more information on the Gallatin National Forest.

Rule

Bears frequent the area; all food must be stored in approved containers and secured when campsite is unoccupied.

Rule

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.

Everything else this campground posts · 4

Rule

Firewood is available for sale at host site for $10.00/bundle.

Rule

No RV Dump Station is located in any of the USFS campgrounds managed by ExplorUS in the Custer-Gallatin National Forest.

Rule

There are NO Shower facilities available at this campground.

Rule

Camping fee covers 2 vehicles or RV/Trailer with tow vehicle. An extra vehicle fee of $9.00 is charged for each additional vehicle per night of stay. If you have an extra vehicle, it must fit on the campsite parking spur.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Source: recreation.gov facility notices, quoted verbatim · Sep 9, 2026

Tents and rigs

Sites: 84
Hookups: 45 electric
Longest rig: 52 ft
Accessible sites: None listed
Pets: Allowed
Campfires: Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade: Every site

Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets: Vault Toilets; “…with a picnic table and campfire ring. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Firewood is…”
Drinking water: Yes; “…and campfire ring. Vault toilets and drinking water are provided. Firewood is available for purchase…”
Boat ramp: Yes
Firewood: Sold here
Camp host: On site; recreation.gov lists “Host”

Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026

Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water: Lake, River, Beach, Coast; Backpacking; Berry Picking; Biking; Birding; Boating; Canoeing; Fishing; Hiking; Kayaking; Mushroom Picking; Swimming; Water access; Wildlife viewing
Night sky · 305th darkest of 501 in MT: Bortle 2

Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

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.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On November 14, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 14, 2027.recreation.gov Add to calendar (.ics)

Max stay16 nightsthe facility record

A night$26–$35plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule

A weekend$60–$78DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above

If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule

Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.

Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 15

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service

A night, per site$26–$35

Standard Nonelectric$26

Standard Electric$35

These are next season’s rates, May 14, 2027 to Sep 25, 2027. The campground is between seasons now.

This fee will be collected by the campground host.

The booking feerecreation.gov

Reservation fee, booked online$8

One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.

Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.

What this campground addsits own record

Extra vehicle$8

“Additional vehicles will be assessed a $8.00/night extra vehicle fee upon arrival at your site.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record

What a stay costs

One nightDerived$34–$43

A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$60–$78

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $26–$35 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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov

Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10

Cancellation fee$10

Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night

No-show$20 + your first night

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

Sign price: recreation.gov facility rate schedule, quoted as the agency publishes it · Oct 1, 2026

Booking fee, change fee, cancellation fee, no-show: Rules and Reservation Policies, Recreation.gov, the published fee schedule, curated by hand into lib/reservation-fee-schedule.json (9 rows, each carrying its own verbatim sentence). The publisher states these policies were last updated September 2019. · Sep 9, 2026

What this campground adds: The U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record and notices for this campground, quoted verbatim. An extra-vehicle charge is set locally and appears on no national schedule, so it’s never assumed. · Sep 9, 2026

The two totals: Derived by CAMPANAC by adding the agency’s own published nightly rate to recreation.gov’s own published reservation fee. Both components are cited above; the addition is ours and is shown only where every component is known. · Sep 9, 2026

Who keeps the booking fee: Recreation.gov facility policy text, Dead Swede Campground (facility 234221) · Not on the national policy page. This is agency policy text recreation.gov publishes on individual campground pages; this site holds it verbatim on 45 active campgrounds (campground_rules.cancellation_description, scripts/load-facility-rules.mjs). · Sep 9, 2026

The contract: Reservation Gods: Who Stole Our Campsites and Sold Them Back to Us, More Than Just Parks, April 2025 · Apr 1, 2025

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

85 records · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 83 mapped sites

59 ftbetween you and the next site, typically

Most roomLoop C C18 96 ftLoop B B11 95 ftLoop B B12 95 ftLoop D D11 82 ftLoop D D12 82 ft

Least roomLoop A A13 31 ftLoop A A14 31 ftLoop B B01 41 ft

Source: Derived by CAMPANAC from recreation.gov per-site coordinates (nearest-neighbor distance) · Oct 12, 2026

All 85 records

84 of 85 records located

Standard38RV / electric45Type not stated1

A01 A02 A03 A04 A05 A06 A07 A08 A09 A10 A11 A12 A13 A14 A15 A16 A17 A18 A19 B01 B02 B03 B04 B05 B06 B07 B08 B09 B10 B11 B12 B13 B14 B15 B16 B17 B18 B19 B20 C01 C02 C03 C04 C05 C06 C07 C08 C09 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 D01 D02 D03 D04 D05 D06 D07 D08 D09 D10 D11 D12 D13 D14 D15 D16 D17 D18 D19

Aerial · Esri World Imagery

Sites: recreation.gov (RIDB), coordinates as published · Aug 23, 2026

Imagery: Esri World Imagery

SleepsUp to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 83 of the 85 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.


Loop A	A01	standard nonelectric			62 ft	393 ft	$26
Loop A	A02	standard nonelectric			60 ft	478 ft	$26
Loop A	A03	standard nonelectric			60 ft	451 ft	$26
Loop A	A04	standard nonelectric			57 ft	534 ft	$26
Loop A	A05	standard nonelectric	40 ft		57 ft	511 ft	$26
Loop A	A06	standard nonelectric	47 ft		58 ft	577 ft	$26
Loop A	A07	standard nonelectric	50 ft		58 ft	631 ft	$26
Loop A	A08	standard nonelectric			64 ft	648 ft	$26
Loop A	A09	standard nonelectric	42 ft		62 ft	672 ft	$26
Loop A	A10	standard nonelectric	42 ft		64 ft	669 ft	$26
Loop A	A11	standard nonelectric			52 ft	655 ft	$26
Loop A	A12	standard nonelectric	48 ft		52 ft	637 ft	$26
Loop A	A13	standard nonelectric	52 ft		31 ft	586 ft	$26
Loop A	A14	standard nonelectric			31 ft	555 ft	$26
Loop A	A15	standard nonelectric	50 ft		66 ft	538 ft	$26
Loop A	A16	standard nonelectric			61 ft	458 ft	$26
Loop A	A17	standard nonelectric			52 ft	403 ft	$26
Loop A	A18	standard nonelectric			52 ft	416 ft	$26
Loop A	A19	standard nonelectric			56 ft	360 ft	$26
Loop B	B01	standard electric	30 ft	50 amp	41 ft	433 ft	$35
Loop B	B02	standard electric	30 ft	50 amp	46 ft	464 ft	$35
Loop B	B03	standard electric	45 ft	50 amp	41 ft	469 ft	$35
Loop B	B04	standard electric	42 ft	50 amp	65 ft	529 ft	$35
Loop B	B05	type not stated	42 ft	50 amp		514 ft
Loop B	B06	standard electric	30 ft	50 amp	57 ft	571 ft	$35
Loop B	B07	standard electric	24 ft	50 amp	57 ft	596 ft	$35
Loop B	B08	standard electric	30 ft	50 amp	78 ft	672 ft	$35
Loop B	B09	standard electric	30 ft	50 amp	53 ft	723 ft	$35
Loop B	B10	standard electric	39 ft	50 amp	53 ft	696 ft	$35
Loop B	B11	standard electric	33 ft	50 amp	95 ft	743 ft	$35
Loop B	B12	standard electric		50 amp	95 ft	679 ft	$35
Loop B	B13	standard electric	27 ft	50 amp	60 ft	549 ft	$35
Loop B	B14	standard electric	36 ft	50 amp	66 ft	588 ft	$35
Loop B	B15	standard electric	32 ft	50 amp	60 ft	488 ft	$35
Loop B	B16	standard electric	31 ft	50 amp	60 ft	504 ft	$35
Loop B	B17	standard electric	42 ft	50 amp	60 ft	430 ft	$35
Loop B	B18	standard electric	36 ft	50 amp	73 ft	399 ft	$35
Loop B	B19	standard electric	33 ft	50 amp	50 ft	439 ft	$35
Loop B	B20	standard electric	39 ft	50 amp	50 ft	396 ft	$35
Loop C	C01	standard electric		50 amp	49 ft	424 ft	$35
Loop C	C02	standard electric		50 amp	49 ft	472 ft	$35
Loop C	C03	standard electric		50 amp	67 ft	479 ft	$35
Loop C	C04	standard electric		50 amp	50 ft	558 ft	$35
Loop C	C05	standard electric		50 amp	50 ft	575 ft	$35
Loop C	C06	standard electric		50 amp	50 ft	624 ft	$35
Loop C	C07	standard electric		50 amp	67 ft	634 ft	$35
Loop C	C08	standard electric		50 amp	71 ft	697 ft	$35
Loop C	C09	standard electric		50 amp	70 ft	761 ft	$35
Loop C	C10	standard electric		50 amp	54 ft	764 ft	$35
Loop C	C11	standard electric		50 amp	54 ft	712 ft	$35
Loop C	C12	standard electric		50 amp	68 ft	759 ft	$35
Loop C	C13	standard electric		50 amp	48 ft	700 ft	$35
Loop C	C14	standard electric		50 amp	48 ft	747 ft	$35
Loop C	C15	standard electric		50 amp	66 ft	722 ft	$35
Loop C	C16	standard electric		50 amp	66 ft	670 ft	$35
Loop C	C17 Host	host pad		50 amp			$35
Loop C	C18	standard electric		50 amp	96 ft	610 ft	$35
Loop C	C19	standard electric		50 amp	68 ft	507 ft	$35
Loop C	C20	standard electric		50 amp	59 ft	435 ft	$35
Loop C	C21	standard electric		50 amp	68 ft	474 ft	$35
Loop C	C22	standard electric		50 amp	70 ft	406 ft	$35
Loop C	C23	standard electric		50 amp	53 ft	377 ft	$35
Loop C	C24	standard electric		50 amp	53 ft	336 ft	$35
Loop C	C25	standard electric		50 amp	64 ft	334 ft	$35
Loop C	C26	standard electric		50 amp	78 ft	411 ft	$35
Loop C	C27	standard electric		50 amp	64 ft	354 ft	$35
Loop D	D01	standard nonelectric			73 ft	648 ft	$26
Loop D	D02	standard nonelectric			73 ft	575 ft	$26
Loop D	D03	standard nonelectric			62 ft	619 ft	$26
Loop D	D04	standard nonelectric			59 ft	662 ft	$26
Loop D	D05	standard nonelectric			56 ft	615 ft	$26
Loop D	D06	standard nonelectric			56 ft	665 ft	$26
Loop D	D07	standard nonelectric			73 ft	606 ft	$26
Loop D	D08	standard nonelectric			59 ft	669 ft	$26
Loop D	D09	standard nonelectric			59 ft	619 ft	$26
Loop D	D10	standard nonelectric			78 ft	691 ft	$26
Loop D	D11	standard nonelectric			82 ft	785 ft	$26
Loop D	D12	standard nonelectric			82 ft	855 ft	$26
Loop D	D13	standard nonelectric			51 ft	833 ft	$26
Loop D	D14	standard nonelectric			51 ft	825 ft	$26
Loop D	D15	standard nonelectric			53 ft	738 ft	$26
Loop D	D16	standard nonelectric			53 ft	744 ft	$26
Loop D	D17	standard nonelectric			57 ft	661 ft	$26
Loop D	D18	standard nonelectric			57 ft	662 ft	$26
Loop D	D19	standard nonelectric	44 ft		62 ft	602 ft	$26

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.

Price: Derived by CAMPANAC: each site takes the per-night rate this campground publishes for the site’s own site type (recreation.gov rate schedule). recreation.gov publishes no per-campsite fee, and a site whose type carries no published rate is left blank rather than called free · Oct 1, 2026

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.

25 of 85 listed

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number

Coordinate44.77917, -111.18028

The mapSee it on the map

The driveDirections ↗

The phone406-646-1012

The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Also near here

Lonesomehurst CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 3.9 mi

Cherry Creek CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 4.6 mi

Spring Creek CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 4.7 mi

Basin Station CabinGallatin National Forest · 5.5 mi

Baker's Hole CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 6.4 mi

Cabin Creek CabinCabin Creek Wildlife And Recreation Management Area · 7.4 mi

Getting there

From West Yellowstone, travel 5 miles north on Highway 191. Turn west (left) onto Rainbow Point Road (Forest Road 6954) and travel 3 miles, then 2 miles north (right) on Rainbow Point Road, after the intersection.

Directions: Driving directions as the agency wrote them · Sep 9, 2026

Source: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon54°Sunny

Tonight29°Partly Cloudy

Saturday55°Mostly Sunny

Saturday Night29°Partly Cloudy

NWS forecast for Hebgen Lake Estates, MT

Source: National Weather Service, TFX forecast office · Oct 16, 2026

Typical weather

Typical May night 32°F, day 58°F.

Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 32°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°-10°

Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season

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.

Measured at: HEBGEN DAM, MT (USC00244038), 10 miles away and 51 ft lower

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly normals · Sep 8, 2026

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

developing

Gallatin Range (Custer Gallatin National Forest)access, development

developing

Bear-Palmer Project (Custer Gallatin National Forest)logging

developing

Stillwater Mine Expansion (Custer Gallatin National Forest)mining

Roadless

Lionhead33,549 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area

Roadless

Lionhead16,909 acres · 10 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 16, 2026

Who answers for this land

Rainbow Point 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Source: U.S. Census district boundaries and the MTJP Congressional Public Lands Score

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from

Right now: The agency lists it out of season. The season it publishes is the bar below.

Sites on recreation.gov: recreation.gov’s own month availability payload for this facility, asked for October 2026, November 2026 and July 2027. It names 84 of the 84 campsites the agency files here, and every one of them carries an answer either way. A campground nobody has read carries no answer at all, never a no. · Oct 11, 2026

Season: Recreation.gov data (RIDB), full extract · Aug 23, 2026

Elevation: USGS 3DEP elevation point query at this campground’s coordinate · Sep 7, 2026

Tree cover: NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC), one 30 m cell at this coordinate, taken as the median across the 84 campsites here that carry a reading · Sep 9, 2026

Water: USGS National Hydrography Dataset, nearest perennial lake, reservoir, river or stream to this campground’s coordinate · Sep 8, 2026

Night sky: VIIRS Day/Night Band annual cloud-free composite, VNL V2 2024 (Earth Observation Group, Colorado School of Mines), read at the published coordinate: 0.053 mcd/m² of artificial all-sky glow, ranked against the 501 rated federal campgrounds in Montana · Sep 8, 2026

Sky-glow model: Duriscoe, Anderson, Luginbuhl and Baugh (2018), a simplified model of all-sky artificial sky glow derived from VIIRS Day/Night band data, the National Park Service sky-glow model

Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.

Nearest place of any size: Hebgen Lake Estates, MT, 0.6 mi NE (a census designated place). Straight line.

Nearest town: U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line 2024 places, measured by CAMPANAC to the town boundary; population is the ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimate · Sep 9, 2026