Chinamen's Campground

Campground 1
Campground 1

Sites & Rates

Average nightly rates

37 total sites

RV Sites

15 sites

Tent Sites

22 sites

About Chinamen's Campground

Review campsite details -- RV's larger than 20 feet long maybe be to large for many of the campsites.   This Campground is located at the very northern end of Canyon Ferry Reservoir, 30 miles east of Helena, Montana, along Montana Highway 284 and offers year-round access to a wide range of recreational opportunities. The Canyon Ferry area has a rich mining history. In the 1850’s the gold rush hit the Canyon Ferry area attracting miners from all over the United States in the hopes of striking it rich.  

Number of accommodations: 37

Activities & Attractions

Nearby

Boating

Boating

Spring Summer Fall
Fishing

Fishing

Year-round
Swimming

Swimming

Summer

Seasonal information

2026 (Current year)

2026 Season availability

Current season
Upcoming seasons
Past seasons
Closed periods
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Currently open - May 1 to Sep 13

Campground Amenities

Water Access

Water Access

  • Beach Access
  • Lake Access
Missing information? Let us know

Rates, Sites & Availability

Select check-in and check-out dates to see real-time availability for each site.

37 Sites Available

Site
Price
001 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
002 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
003 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
004 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
005 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
🚐 006 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 007 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 008 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 009 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 010 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 012 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 013 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 014 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 015 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 016 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 017 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 018 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
019 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
020 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
🚐 021 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
🚐 022 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
023 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
024 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
025 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
026 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
027 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
028 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
029 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
030 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
031 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
032 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
033 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
034 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
035 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
🚐 036 RV
No Hookups
Price not available
037 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available
038 Tent
8 guests · Campfire · Pet Friendly
Price not available

Reviews (86)

What Guests Are Saying

Chinamen's Campground features beautiful scenery and great lake access, making it a pleasant getaway for families. Many reviewers appreciated the friendly and helpful camp host, though some expressed concerns about her availability and enforcement of rules. While the campground has a clean environment and reasonable pricing, issues like trash, noisy neighbors, and small campsite sizes were noted, suggesting a need for improvements in management and facilities.

Review Summary

3.5
86 reviews
5
32.6%
28
4
25.6%
22
3
14.0%
12
2
12.8%
11
1
15.1%
13

randolph R

Verified

August 17, 2026 Stayed at: 012

5

camp host done everything needed for a small problem with site 12 thank you!!!

Katherine I

Verified

August 3, 2026 Stayed at: 002

1

Beautiful area and great access to the water. However, the camp hostess was not interested in doing her job but was more interested and day drinking down by the water and partying all night with other camp attendees, which meant that no one was going to get the 10 pm quiet hours enforcement. When another camp attendee had had enough and asked the site to be done, at 1 am, they threw a huge screaming melt down fit. People were allowed to do just about anything at this campground, no rules applied. The amount of garbage in the sites and around was gross. No garbage can at the bathrooms so tons of feminine products and other garbage just strewn about. I did go around the sites I had reserved and the bathrooms and picked up trash. This camp hostess could not be bothered to fill the toilet paper in the bathrooms, my husband had to go rouse her from her slumber at 5 pm to get toilet paper installed….”I’ll look into that” she told him and then over an hour later she came out and filled the toilet paper. Good thing we bring our own for cases like this. I think you can do better than Jessica, forest service.

Emily C

Verified

July 26, 2026 Stayed at: 018

1

Worst experience ever I have camped there every summer but this was awful. There was trash all over the place and dogs pooping all over beach. There was a whole camp site up the that looked like a trash dump !! The camp host didn’t care about the quality or respect of the camp area they contributed to it

Bill H

Verified

July 26, 2026 Stayed at: 014

2

Our camping experience at Chinamen's Campground on Canyon Ferry Lake, Montana, was only fair and definitely not relaxing. The camp host openly allowed loud music, multiple vehicles and campers at campsites, did not check ID's to see if occupying campers were registered and pre-paid, allowed drive-in parties without reservations to stay at open campsites without paying camping fees, and allowed jet-ski craft to park and go on the SW beach.

Debra F

Verified

July 19, 2026 Stayed at: 010

1

Absolutely the worst campground we’ve ever stayed at! There is nothing about this CG being a day use area in the facility description nor on the entrance sign. However, campers beware…this place was overrun with locals all 3 days we were there (we actually left 1 day early because we couldn’t take it anymore) We felt like we were camping in the middle of a parking lot. There is no fee for the day use so this place was completely overrun with cars, people and even dogs off leash. Locals were parking in the empty campground sites. When a truck pulling a trailer showed up he couldn’t even get past all the cars blocking the loop and then had to wait an hour until the “host” could find the owners of vehicles parked in his reserved site.
Quiet hours were a joke. There were intoxicated groups in campsites blasting loud music and using loud profanity throughout the whole night.
Bathrooms - DISGUSTING!!! When you have hundreds and hundreds of people using vault toilets all weekend that are meant to be there for a limited number of campsites, not a good thing.
Campground “host” - worthless and pretty much nonexistent. Then again, can you blame her. I doubt she signed up to monitor the thousands of day use people that show up for a free day on the lake. I wish there was a way to add photos to this review

Jasmine C

Verified

July 18, 2026 Stayed at: 009

3

The camping was extremely nice and a good get away. The problems we had was with the camping host.

Andrea D

Verified

July 15, 2026 Stayed at: 001

5

The camp host is amazing very kind and friendly and does an amazing job at keeping up with everything

Skylar S

Verified

July 12, 2026 Stayed at: 026

1

Campsite 26 at chinamen is dog***t! There's a hill running right through the middle of it and no truly flat area for your tent. Have fun sleeping on a slope with rocks and a hole underneath your tent! The picnic table there is also awful. Every other camp site had a fairly new and solid bench but this sight has a worn down piece of garbage. Also, nobody cleaned the site before I arrived. There were a comical number of pinecones littering the site. I don't mean just a few. It was ridiculous. Fix this campsite and give it proper service.

Lisa r

Verified

June 30, 2026 Stayed at: 003

4

Beautiful and peaceful very nice our whole family enjoyed thank you

Skylar S

Verified

June 28, 2026 Stayed at: 016

1

The site is smaller than the website says. We did not fit, use caution if you have a trailer at all.

Location Chinamen's Campground

Address:
7700 Canyon Ferry Rd
Helena, MT, 59602
United States

Highway access

Chinamen's Campground is accessible via MT Highway 12/287, which is the main route leading to the campground from the north. The campground is reached by turning onto Spokane Creek Rd from MT Highway 12/287.

Elevation: 1192 feet

Distance to downtown

20 mi drive to downtown Helena (about 30 min)

Nearby Campgrounds

Nearby destinations


Last updated: September 8, 2026

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