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Buffalo Campground is located 26 miles south of West Yellowstone, Montana and 25 miles north of Ashton, Idaho in beautiful Island Park, Idaho.
Buffalo is a large campground just off U.S. Highway 20 on the banks of the Buffalo River at an elevation of 6,200 feet. Visitors love Island Park for its world-class fishing and outstanding scenery and wildlife viewing opportunities.
The Island Park area is renowned for its fishing; the Henry's Fork is known as one of the nation's best fly-fishing streams. Anglers cast for rainbow, cutthroat and brook trout and Kokanee salmon. Island Park Reservoir and Henry's Lake are nearby, both offering boating, water skiing and excellent fishing opportunities.
Hiking, biking, horseback riding and ATVing are popular activities. Many miles of trails are in the area, including the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and the Nez Perce Trail.
The Big Springs National Recreation Water Trail offers an approximately three-hour float or canoe trip through beautiful scenery. Wildlife, including moose, bald eagles and Sandhill cranes, are often seen along the trail.
The campground offers has six loops of single family sites and one loop for group camping, for a total of 127 sites, 50 of which are reservable. The large group site can accommodate 150 people. One loop has electric hook-ups and all loops are paved.
Accessible flush and vault toilets are provided, as is drinking water and trash collection. A separate parking area is located at the accessible fishing dock and viewing platforms on the east end of the campground.
Ponds Lodge is just across the highway and has fuel, groceries and other amenities.
Island Park is composed of two areas of extinct volcanic activity. The Henry's Fork Caldera sits inside the larger Island Park Caldera. The area is known for its dense forests of lodgepole pine, broad grassy meadows bursting with summer wildflowers and a wide variety of wildlife, including black and grizzly bears, moose, elk, deer, bald eagles, Sandhill cranes and much, much more.
The campground lies alongside the Buffalo River, created by a large spring just 4.5 miles away. The Buffalo is a tributary of the Henry's Fork, and flows into it just 2 miles east of the campground. Brook and rainbow trout are plentiful in the Buffalo and a variety of waterfowl and wildlife frequents the river corridor.
Mesa Falls Scenic Byway is 7 miles south of the campground. This 28-mile road leads to scenic overlooks and trails at 110 foot Upper Mesa Falls and 85 foot Lower Mesa Falls.
Harriman State Park is 8 miles south. The Henry's Fork meanders through the Harriman, offering excellent fishing. Over 20 miles of trails are available, and wildlife is abundant in this scenic park.
Henry's Lake State Park is 11 miles north, offering fishing, a fish cleaning station and boat ramp.
Yellowstone National Park's west entrance is just 26 miles north in the town of West Yellowstone, Montana. Visitors enjoy day-tripping to the park for unparalleled wildlife viewing and the beautiful and unique scenery.
From West Yellowstone, Montana, take U.S. Highway 20 south for 26 miles.
From Ashton, Idaho: Take U.S. Highway 20 north for 25 miles. The campground entrance is .25 miles north of Ponds Lodge on the east side of the highway.
Clean, well spaced sites, beautiful setting, camphost Helen amazing. Float the river, fish , spend the day in Yellowstone. One of our favorite places in the USA to camp.
Love the people at this campground I’m one of the host in the picture . Usually everyone is always happy to be here.
We stayed here in the group campsite in early July 2021 during a Scout travel camp, for five days. We were doing stuff in Yellowstone, and this camp was in the perfect range. There is plenty of room, our girls were able to swim and wade in the Buffalo River (which is the southern border of the camp), and there was great infrastructure for getting our cooking done. Lots of nice tent sites.
The camp hosts were wonderful people as well, and had a bunch of intel about the area. I would gladly stay here again, with a group, or just family.
Very nice, clean campground. Some spots have electric hook up. There are places that allow you to fill your water tank. No sewer hook-ups. It's by the river so you can float the river. Some area's require reservations. Host's are very helpful. Vault toilets are very clean.
We Loved the Buffalo camp ground! It is about half an hour from Yellowstone's west gate. We stayed the first week in June for four nights. We started in B-12, which was a perfect pull through for our trailer and it was right by the river! We decided to stay another night and moved to A-8, just a row down which had the same perfect pull through and view of the river. The camp host was very friendly and informative and a pleasure to talk to! We will be returning to this campground for sure!
