Forum Discussion

mowermech's avatar
mowermech
Explorer
Aug 14, 2021

We had to go to Kalispell....

to attend a funeral. Planned to arrive 5 Aug, leave 7 August.
Every campground close to town that I called was fully booked, no sites available.
EXCEPT the relatively new RV Park right on the edge of town. The one that I said I would not stay in because of the price.
Yep, "Montana Base Camp". Lots of empty spaces. It is easy to see why...
First, the price: $120/night!
Second, all sites are back-in. No pull-through sites at all.
Third, amenities, or lack thereof. No store, the office is difficult to find (it looks like just another laundry/shower building). Free laundry, though. a washer and a dryer in a little cabin with the shower facility in the other end.
Fourth, new park, so no shade. What few trees there are haven't grown enough yet.
Fifth, it is right next door to a log home building business, so that is noisy. There is also quite a bit of highway noise. We slept soundly, but I can see where some would find it terrible.

On the plus side, the single access road and all sites are paved. The sites (full hook-up) are well laid out, with lots of space. There is an emergency exit at the cul-de-sac at the end of the road. They allowed our kids to pitch a tent in our site ($27/night extra, not bad, really.). The park was easy to find. Entrance and exit is from/to a round-a-bout, so quite easy.
All in all, not a truly BAD experience, except for the price. I doubt if I will go back again.
Montana Basecamp, Kalispell, MT Good spot when there is nothing else available!
  • I was through that intersection early June 2020 and don't remember seeing a campground. Maybe that's the reason for newness appearance
  • hornet28, it is hard to see from US 93. there is a goofy connector to it, and just last month in the K-Town paper, the city or county is thinking about re-doing it. An outfit from Florida came up and built it. If he was an elks Lodge member, about two miles toward K-Town, they have an RV park. We use it all the time.
  • Alt 93 with the traffic circle it's off from is where I went through
  • Lantley wrote:
    mikestock wrote:
    The first rule in business: Charge too much and you won't make money, charge too little and you won't make money. The best rate to charge is the one that maximizes profit. Unless this campground is full when all others in the area are full he needs to adjust accordingly or learn the hard way.

    While there is a sweet spot. "Chick Filet" Capacity does not equate to success. Ruth Chris does not want to set their prices such that they have a line wrapping around the building like a McDonalds.
    There are profit margins. Capacity alone does not = profitablity.
    You can be just as profitable at 50% capacity as you can with 100% capacity if your rates are set at a profitable level.
    Low rates are not necessarily the key to success/profitabilty.


    Not to say there are no other variables. There are many, of course. Free gov't money as your competition for workers is hard to predict.
  • Somebody from Boise is planning a trip to Northwestern MT, so I will boost this up so it is easy to find

About Campground 101

Recommendations, reviews, and the inside scoop from fellow travelers.14,716 PostsLatest Activity: Oct 15, 2013