Review Detail

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times... That Dickensian dichotomy is the tale of two campgrounds at Malmstrom AFB. There's the new one, about half a mile outside the front gate that is modern, beautifully maintained, and hosted by a gentleman who clearly cared about his customers. He was courteous, informative, and helpful. The sites are concrete, level, and spacious. It has a modern bath house, with all the amenities, which is kept sparkling clean. A great place to stay when visiting the Great Falls area of Montana. The host said he was obligated to tell us about the other campground on the base itself. He said the rates were less there, and told us the facilites and setting were of somewhat lesser quality than his facilities. But he was careful not to outright badmouth the place. So, before deciding on one or the other, I thought it only fair to us, and to you the reader of these reviews, to take a good look at the other place. The contrast couldn't have been more stark. When we pulled up at the host campsite, a man sitting in a lawn chair didn't move, but yelled for his wife to get her papers. At the same time, their dog started barking, and never stopped, the entire time we were trying to converse with the hosts about the campground facilities. The woman took about three minutes to actually come out of the trailer with the signup board and info sheets. After a few minutes with thes folks, I figured MWR was scraping the bottom of the barrel for someone to host the campground. We were told that there were no showers, but that we could go over to the gym, about a quarter mile away for that. The toilet facilities consisted of two flush toilets in a small shack, one for the women, one for the men. A look inside revealed that they were clean and adequate for the purpose. The spaces were all gravel, not level, and were poorly maintained. In fact, the whole campground was poorly maintained, and the hosts/MWR didn't seem to care. We were told that we could have one of the full hookup sites for the W/E only price, because the sewer was clogged on those sites (three or four of them, I think). We thanked the hosts for letting us look around, and bid them and their yapping dog farewell. We were greeted with a smile as we returned to the other campsite. The new campground is $17 per night. The old one is $11 for W/E only, or $13 for W/E/S. The price difference is well worth paying. The base facilities are good, and we dined that night at the Grizzly Club, a combined open mess. There was no WIFI at either campground. The star ratings for this review are based on the new campground only. I think you can guess what the rating would look like for the other campground. Side Note: For Sprint users, there was no coverage, phone or broadband card.