West Tensleep Lake
1Heads up1 fire 34 mi away
- Right now
- Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
- A night
- $18.50From, per site
- Sites
- 10All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
West Tensleep Lake Campground is located on West Tensleep Lake on the west side of scenic Cloud Peak Skyway, near the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area. The Bighorn National Forest offers a wide variety of activities, including hiking, fishing, scenic driving and a number of historic sites. The administering organization is Rustic Freedom / Gallatin Canyon Campgrounds; e-mail: support@rusticfreedom.com Recreation West Tensleep Lake covers 125 acres and is open to non-motorized watercraft only, making it a perfect location for canoeing and fishing. Keep reading
Anglers will find rainbow, brown and brook trout in the cool waters of the lake. The popular West Tensleep Lake Trail begins just outside the campground. The trail leads into the Cloud Peak Wilderness, passing Lake Helen, Lake Marion and Misty Moon Lake before climbing to the summit of the 13,167 foot Cloud Peak, the highest peak in the Bighorn Range. Off-road vehicle trails, scenic jeep roads, hiking and horseback riding trails and many fishing streams are available in the surrounding area.
Facilities
The campground offers single-family sites each equipped with a picnic table and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided. The nearest dump station is 17 miles away on Powder River Pass Natural Features The campground is situated on the southern shore of scenic West Tensleep Lake, in an area full of alpine lakes and creeks. A forest of lodgepole pine, Douglas fir and spruce trees covers the area. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (307) 431-7446.
Nearby Attractions
Meadowlark Lake is within a few miles of the campground. This small lake allows motorized craft at a no-wake speed. The High Park Lookout is located just east of Meadowlark Lake. This old fire lookout was built by the CCC decades ago and is no longer active. A short hike leads to the lookout, where hikers are awarded panoramic views of the surrounding area. Deer Haven Lodge and Meadowlark Lodge are nearby, offering dining, lodging, guided horseback riding and fishing and camping supplies.
Charges & Cancellations
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This cancellation processing fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
What the agency tells you
The administering organization reserves the right to substitute sites without prior notice
Site 9 is a tent-only site with an 18' narrow pull-through parking spur
Limited space allows for no more than 1-2 (8x10') tents per site
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Larger RVs and trailers cannot be accommodated; Boulder Park Campground is recommended for larger units
Groups larger than 20 people must camp elsewhere: Willow Park, Hettinger, Ranger Creek Recreation Area or Pine Island offer group camping
Two non-towed vehicles allowed per site. The first vehicle is included in the basic fee; the second vehicle will be charged an extra $9.00 fee at the campground
Firewood may be purchased from the campground host.
Click here for more information on the Bighorn National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing organisms by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee. This fee is retained by the reservation service contractor along with the non-refundable reservation fee. All requests for the return of the non-refundable reservation fee and the cancellation fee will be declined by the campground concessionaire as they did not receive these fees (these are the fees retained by the reservation contractor, a different entity).
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 10 · 1 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 45 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and campfire ring with grill. Accessible vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…with grill. Accessible vault toilets, drinking water and trash collection are provided. The nearest dump…”
- Dump station
- Yes
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Off Road Vehicle Trails
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 68th darkest of 248 in WY
- Bortle 2
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 · 17
What you actually pay
“the second vehicle will be charged an extra $9.00/day fee at the campground.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $18.50 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.
“Refunds: Refund requests made through www.recreation.gov will be charged a $10 processing fee.” · 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 Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
10 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 10 mapped sitesAll 10 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 10 of the 10 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 10 of the 10 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| WEST | 001 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 58 ft | 115 ft | 1,219 ft | $18.50 |
| WEST | 002 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 58 ft | 111 ft | 1,276 ft | $18.50 |
| WEST | 003 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 45 ft | 120 ft | 1,421 ft | $18.50 |
| WEST | 004 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 45 ft | 135 ft | 1,462 ft | $18.50 |
| WEST | 005 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 72 ft | 172 ft | 1,521 ft | $18.50 |
| WEST | 006 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 77 ft | 306 ft | 1,478 ft | $18.50 |
| WEST | 007 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 72 ft | 323 ft | 1,403 ft | $18.50 |
| WEST | 008 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 72 ft | 254 ft | 1,420 ft | $18.50 |
| WEST | 009 | tent only nonelectric | 73 ft | 316 ft | 1,330 ft | $18.50 | |
| WEST | 010 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 91 ft | 262 ft | 1,261 ft | $18.50 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Deer Park CampgroundBighorn National Forest · 1.1 mi
Island Park CampgroundBighorn National Forest · 3.8 mi
Sitting BullBighorn National Forest · 5.2 mi
Willow ParkBighorn National Forest · 5.3 mi
Lakeview BighornBighorn National Forest · 5.6 mi
Lake View CampgroundBighorn National Forest · 5.6 miFrom Worland, Wyoming, take U.S. Highway 16 east 49 miles. Take West Tensleep Road (Forest Road 27) seven miles to campground.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Hyattville, WY
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
West Tensleep Lake is in Wyoming’s at-large congressional district. Its representative, Harriet Hageman (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →