Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Fort Peck Project

Very spacious campground. I was impressed with the sites - lots of mature trees, and they have a reasonably long (4ish mile) nature trail.

One thing I found disappointing was that there is very little river or lake access nearby without a boat. I could barely find any place to let my dog cool off in the lake. Even the nature trail never gets closer than about 50 yards to the river, and is separated from it by a swampy, mosquito infested, cattail laden barrier. They need to provide more beach access. The only swimming beach is a few miles up the road, and as you guessed, NO DOGS ALLOWED. That's a shame, because my dog is cleaner and better behaved than most people.

Be aware that this part of Montana is the Great Plains, and it gets very hot in the summer. Right now, July 24th we're supposed to have a high of 102. And my particular campsite has NO SHADE whatsoever.

This is a much better place to stay if you have a boat, as the lake is really the only attraction here. It's just too bad there is such limited access unless you have a boat. 

The nearest town is Glasgow, some, 20ish miles away, and there ain't much there. Fort Peck is closer, about 4 miles, but there's nothing there but a little convenience store.

IMPORTANT: If you're coming in from the east or west on US 2, BE SURE YOU TAKE THE "TRUCK ROUTE" Highway 42 down to the lake, NOT the regular Highway 42, which has a VERY LOW CLEARANCE BRIDGE. I had to stop, and flag down a sheriff's deputy who graciously held traffic up so I could back out of my predicament. There's no warning sign. I made a right hand turn onto 42, and BOOM, there it was a block up the road. 12 feet, 2 inches. My 5th wheel is 13'6".

**NOT FUN**

**IMPORTANT: Don't be tempted to park under the cottonwood trees. Your vehicle will be COVERED with some kind of sap...took two car washes to get it off.
**

This is a primitive campground in the American Prairie Reserve.  It seems to be a relatively unknown place and we were the only people in the campground for the night (there are 6 tent sites and 7 RV).  It was about 40 miles of high-quality gravel road to get here.  Near the campground, there is a research HQ for the reserve which is not open to the public and otherwise we didn't see anyone else the entire time.  

Tent sites are walk-in and and on platforms, which you are required to use.  This means if you have two tents like us, you'll need two sites.  You tie the tents down to lashing points on on the side of the platform.  Each site has a fire pit, picnic table and there is a community covered picnic area and fire pit as well.  Free firewood is available next to the toilets.  There are vault toilets and non-potable water sources in the loop.  The walk-in is only about 15-50 yards, depending on the site.  From the campground, there is a small auditorium and nature trail available.  Bugs were pretty bad the night we were there, so we didn't try much of the nature trail.  

Everything felt new and almost unused, like the campground had just opened.  The toilets were only okay in cleanliness, the main reason I took off a star.  It was a fantastic experience for the kids.  A buffalo herd roamed the area and even through the campground at night and in the morning.  Prairie dog towns were all over.  It was one of our most memorable camping experiences but definitely come prepared since nothing is available on site or nearby.  Many of the roads in the preserve are in pretty primitive shape so 4WD is recommended to get around the preserve, but you won’t need it to access the camp site.  We had a big windstorm come through during the night, so lash down carefully!

This is one of the best places to take in that Big Sky that Montana is famous for!  The combination of the rolling hills that seem to go on forever and the reservoir make this a great spot to camp!  There are tons of opportunities to recreate in so many different ways!  At most of the grassy camping peninsulas you can launch your boat or SUP right into the water!  There are places where you can get some solitude and other places that are fit for a reunion or weekend party/getaway!

Now getting to the actual campsites.  Most of them are relatively primitive with only a few fire rings and picnic tables scattered about.  The grassy peninsulas are also not really split into individual campsites and it feels more like a camping field.  This means that if its busy your neighbors will likely be right on top of you if you can't get one of the isolated spots.  There are vault toilets near most of the spots along with running water at the day-use areas.  Another great thing about these spots is the presence of a great fish cleaning station!  To get cheap gas and food head into the nearby town of Glasgow which will be at least $1 cheaper per gallon than the marina pumps

This was my 2nd favorite spot that we visited other than the place we stayed at for the wedding.  First reason it was so great was because of the seclusion due to it being on the south side of Lake Ft. Peck and away from any city.  Be warned though you are pretty much on your own out here so be sure you have a full tank of gas before exploring.  The 2nd and arguable more important reason I loved this spot so much was due to it being surrounded by the Hell Creek Geologic Formation which has some of the highest concentration of vertebrate fossils in the world!  While it is illegal to take any vertebrate fossils you can get cool imprints of leaves and other invertebrate animals that lived right alongside the dinosaurs!

We stayed in OF 8, which has no hookups. The site, as is many around it, is huge. This site is nearest road so keep that in mind. Traffic was relatively quiet when we were there during weekday. Many sites have view of water although some are just peekaboo. Shade in many sites but not the big OF sites. Sites with hookups have nice paved pad. A few of these are really deluxe being off on their own with great views. Campground is not walking distance from lake. Lake is impressively HUGE. Nice fire ring at each site. Most sites appear to not be super level. We did fine in 8.