White Sandy Campground

6563 HAUSER DAM RD
HELENA, MT 59602

Overview

White Sandy is located on the west side of Hauser Lake at the confluence of Prickly Pear creek. White Sandy faces Eldorado Bar and the beautiful Big Belt mountains. It is in an ideal location for outdoor recreation, wildlife watching, water sports, camping and swimming.

Recreation

White Sandy offers excellent recreational access. There is a beach area, picnic areas, as well as a ramada/pavilion with power and lights, available by advanced reservation. There are vault toilets located in convenient locations throughout the site. There are trails throughout White Sandy as well as in the surrounding area. Additionally, there are multiple trails within the larger Hauser Lake Recreation area, as well as multiple fishing access sites, hunting access, wildlife viewing and of course, boating. World class mountain biking trails abound in the area as well. The recreation opportunities are truly boundless.

Facilities

White Sandy offers several amenities that will make your stay enjoyable and comfortable. White Sandy is a 32-site campground that has spacious and level gravel parking pads that accommodate RVs, travel trailers and tents. Reservations are required at this site.

White Sandy features a large concrete boat launch with a courtesy dock, as well as areas to beach your vessel. A fish cleaning station is available near the day-use parking at White Sandy. There are vault toilets located in each loop of the campground as well as near the boat launch and beach area. There is potable water provided throughout the campground and day use areas as well as garbage dumpsters. Every campsite contains a fire ring with a grill grate in addition to a picnic table. There are also picnic tables and small pavilions throughout the area. There is a small general store across from the entrance to White Sandy, additionally, Black Sandy state park is located just 1/4 mile up the road, which offers an RV dump station which is $5 to use if you are staying at White Sandy.

Natural Features

The campground and day use areas are situated in a shrub-steppe landscape, mostly comprised of sage brush and bunch grasses. Every campsite has a view of the lake and mountains. While there are some ponderosa pine and deciduous trees throughout the area, they are scarce and do not provide a large amount of shade, but the lake does help keep the temperatures down a bit on those hot summer days.

Contact Info

For local information, please call (406) 258-0279 or call (406) 318-8100 for general information.

Nearby Attractions

White Sandy is located in a prime location to get out and recreate outdoors, or within the capital of Montana. There are hundreds of miles of trails, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands, state parks, the Lewis and Clark Trail and so much more.

Helena (only a short drive away) has all the amenities of a large city with small town charm. There are great restaurants, museums, the capitol building, old mining settlements, Last Chance Gulch, Reeder's Alley and a vibrant downtown with a walking mall area.

Charges & Cancellations

Reservation Cancellations & Changes

• Cancelling a Reservation: Customers may cancel their reservation prior to arrival both on-line and through the call center. A $10 service fee will be withheld from any refund for a cancellation. Depending on when you cancel in relation to your arrival day, it may be considered a late cancellation (see below).

• Group Facility (including Cabins and Lookouts): Customers who cancel a group overnight facility reservation less than 14 days before the arrival date will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee.

Late Cancellations or Cancellations within the Cut-off Window

• Individual Campsites: A customer who cancels a reservation the day before or on the day of arrival will pay a $10.00 service fee AND forfeit the first night's use fee (not to exceed the total paid for the original reservation). Cancellations for a one-night reservation will forfeit the entire amount paid and will not be subject to an additional service fee.

The recreation.gov cancellation policy can be found here: https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies

Camp site features

Across 26 camp sites:

Electric hookups: 1 of 26 sites
Fire pit: 14 of 26 sites
Pets allowed: all 26 sites
ADA accessible: 3 of 26 sites
Group sites: 1 of 26 sites
Longest RV: 50 ft
Largest party: 100 people
Power up to 15 amps
Equipment: Boat, CAR, CARAVAN/CAMPER VAN, FIFTH WHEEL, LARGE TENT OVER 9X12`, PICKUP CAMPER, POP UP, RV, SMALL TENT, Tent, Trailer, VEHICLE

Fees

$25 per night per camping unit per site, with a maximum of 2 units per site. Group Loop-C Loop with Ramada/Pavilion is $140 per night with a maximum of 2 units per site (x6 sites = 12 units) with no additional fees. *** You must occupy your campsite every night that you have reserved. If you do not show up for 24 hours from "Check-In Time" (2:00 PM), you forfeit the use of that site and are not entitled to any refunds or discounts. *** *** You must occupy the site you reserved and cannot change sites, or move to a different loop of the campground.***

Directions

From Helena drive north, from Great Falls drive south on I-15 to the Lincoln Road exit, turn east on Lincoln Rd and continue to the T-intersection with Hauser Dam Rd, turn left (North) and continue about 4 miles until you reach White Sandy Recreation Area directly in front of you on the right hand side of the road. If you get to Black Sandy state park, you have gone too far.

Stay Limit

Check in from 2 PM, check out by 11 AM.

Reviews

99 reviews

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 stars

Gail R

Loop:A

Site:

Reviewed 2 months ago

Beautiful campground. Generously sized and clean sites, clean toilets, ample trash dumpsters, and, of course, killer views from everywhere. We were in site 9 and it couldn't get any better. Helpful and friendly camp host. We enjoyed Hauser Dam and the adjacent public trail, as well as Helena's Last Chance Gulch Road and the Mansion District,

Winfield W

Loop:A

Site:

Reviewed 2 months ago

Lake getting too much algae, but surface temp 67. Lots of rainbows, rare walleye. Campground nearly empty until Friday night. Nice level campsite at 21

Deborah M

Loop:A

Site:

Reviewed 2 months ago

Beautiful lake. Peaceful rustic camping. No potable water.

Hank H

Loop:A

Site:

Reviewed 2 months ago

Wish they had water.

Dan O

Loop:A

Site:

Reviewed 2 months ago

Campground was fine. Site was level and large. It was a scenic location, but I was here only as a place to stay during a nearby conference. ... the part that I didn't like was that the site showed that water was available on site. Luckily, there was a spigot across the road from my site and I just had to pull the trailer across the road to connect to the spigot. I should have taken that as a clue. The spigot was locked open, but no water flowed. I figured that theyd had a plumbing problem so I moved to the next available spigot . . dry also. . . it took me 3 times to get the picture and then a camper from across the road came over and told me the campground was dry and I had to go back outside the campground to a dump site (not associated with the BLM campground, but the State Fish and Game department). I was losing sunlight as I filled my tank. - It would have been nice if the REC.gov website or the campground checkin booth had displayed that info.

Brenda H

Loop:A

Site:

Reviewed 2 months ago

Since the kiosk does not sync up with the website I did not get to stay in my lakeside camp spot. I also think the lakeside camp spots are more expensive and reservation only so I am unclear how this happened. Did I have a great weekend yes! So not upset just thought I'd share my thoughts.

Availability

See the Camp Sites section below to find detailed booking availability.

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