On July 4th, my partner and I had the pleasure of spending the night at the cyclist-only campground in Twin Bridges, MT. It occupies a pretty spot along the Beaverhead River and is a three minute walk from the center of town. A clean, hot shower and a clean bathroom. The indoor shelter, which contains two picnic tables, offered a welcome escape from the intense mosquitoes that are attributable to this year's abnormally wet winter and spring. There is a large camp sink and a third picnic table outside. There was even a BBQ grill, coals, lighter fluid and a can of Coleman Fuel. You may sleep inside the shelter or pitch your tent on the surrounding grass. About the facility, my partner remarked that it's "well proportioned." Nothing is too small or too far away from anything else.
Not long after we arrived, the man who serves as the "caretaker" of the facilitiy stopped in to check on the place and to collect donations left by users. During our brief conversation, he explained that some of the town fathers still do not support the site because they feel cyclists do not spend much money. (Next door there is a small motorist’s rest stop. A man came over from that stop, took himself a shower and left without leaving a donation.) To counter that perception, he asked us to write in the sign-in book how much money we spent during our stay. (Usually, guests are asked to supply this information on a survey from, but the forms were out the day we were there.) We went one step further and slipped a few store receipts into the box along with our donation.
Later in the evening we were joined by a solo cyclist riding to his home in St. Paul. MN and a German couple who was on the Trans Am east to west. From looking at the guest book, they seem to be drawing a decent crowd.
Consider supporting this oasis if you have the opportunity to. Twin Bridges has a fairly good-sized grocery store for a town of its size. And while the restaurant portion of the Blue Anchor is closed (the bar side is still open), there are a couple of other eateries and coffee places in town along with a library.
