Campgrounds and RV parks near Butte, MT

Butte's National Historic Landmark District covers a dense grid of mining-era architecture in Uptown, with trolley tours, mansion visits, and the Berkeley Pit viewpoint within a short drive of most RV parks. The World Museum of Mining sits on the site of the Orphan Girl Mine and includes 50 buildings on some 22 acres of land, with an underground mine tour that descends into the historic workings. The Mineral Museum on the Montana Tech campus displays specimens from Butte and worldwide mineral localities. Outdoor options are abundant. Georgetown Lake, about 40 minutes west, draws boaters and anglers; the Big Hole and Jefferson rivers are strong fly-fishing waters; and Anaconda's Old Works Golf Course, laid out on a reclaimed smelter site, is a common day trip. Trail networks on the Continental Divide surround the city for hiking, biking, and ATV riding.

Butte has a short, dry summer season and a long, cold winter driven by its high elevation. In Butte, the summers are short, warm, dry, and mostly clear and the winters are freezing, snowy, and partly cloudy. Peak RV season runs from late June through mid-September, when mountain campgrounds are fully open and daytime highs settle into the upper 70s and low 80s. Shoulder seasons are unpredictable. The greatest amount of precipitation occurs in June, with an average of 85 mm, and snow can linger on higher passes and forest roads into late spring. National forest campgrounds around Georgetown Lake and the Pioneer Mountains, including Lodgepole, Philipsburg Bay, and Piney, are open annually from mid-May through late September, weather dependent. 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. Winter camping is limited to a handful of year-round private parks in town. Most public campgrounds are gated or unplowed, and overnight temperatures routinely fall well below freezing.

Butte sits high and dry. Located high in the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 5,538 ft above sea level, Butte has large swings in daily temperature, with temperatures typically dropping throughout the night and rising during the day. This high elevation also makes Butte slightly cooler on average than other cities in the region. Pack layers even in July, and expect cool nights at any elevation. In-town RV parks are convenient, level, and close to highway exits and services. Many private sites are gravel rather than paved. Forest campgrounds are more rustic: vault toilets, hand-pump or spigot drinking water, no hookups, and no on-site dump stations, with the nearest dump commonly found in Butte or Anaconda. Trailer length matters on forest roads; trailer lengths that do not exceed 32 feet are recommended at Lodgepole. This is bear country. Food storage rules are enforced on national forest lands, and campers should plan to secure food, coolers, and scented items in hard-sided vehicles overnight.