Best Dispersed Camping near Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area

If you like camping completely self contained, this is for you.  There is a pit toilet (locked due to current COVID restrictions), and a fire ring at each dispersed campsite.  No water, except for the creek, and not even any cell phone reception.  Parking is level.  Roads into the area are narrow gravel roads, so "large" rigs and/or trailers may find it a challenge.  "High line" capabilities for horse campers.  As for activities, there are many miles of trails and rugged roads to explore, but a CAUTION is to bring a GPS and have good map reading skills to avoid getting lost; it's easy to lose yourself.   We camped September 28-29, and saw very little wildlife (probably due to hunting season), and were probably two weeks early to see the fall colors.  If you like to be by yourself, away from people and can camp without any services (pack it in, pack it out), you will enjoy this place.

The good -A beautiful camp ground. Small space with multiple dispersed camp sites along the creek and throughout the wooded area. The creek is very small but powerful. You can not swim but still a great place to get wet. If you have a tube bring it and enjoy a short river ride. Not a good place to fish. The main camp area is completely shaded keeping things cool. The camp is very close to the creek. Still there was no issues with bugs. I did not need bug spray. There are established stone fire pits or you can gather up some rocks and make your own. Plenty of deadfall and fire wood all over the place. There is also a fence that runs the perimeter of the camp area. Helping to keep the predators out. The only animal I saw besides squirrels and birds was a skunk. Bears, coyotes, wolves and cougars are know to frequent the area.  

The bad - Many of the locals are not friendly and claim the whole creek portion of the camp ground for themselves. There are about 6 different camp sites directly on the main creek. The others are spread out through the woods. People often use the creek just to bring their kids down to frolic in the water for a few hours. More than once I have been approached and ran off by hostile creek users. Im sure there are good folks around their too. That said the few people I have met out there are nasty and will refuse to share the campground causing all kinds of drama until you just get mad and leave. Last weekend I was approached by 4 men who were not camping just using the creek to tube with their kids. I was told that I better go find another place to camp. That they were using the creek and I could not be there. I set up anyways camping away from them and was not in anyway a bother to them. Still they continued to come over and harass me about leaving. Until I finally I strapped on my pistol approached them and told them I wasn't going any where. I was met with a lot of cussing and threats. But finally They did leave! So sad a beautiful place I truly loved the area. Not sure if I will continue to go back. It was not worth the ignorance or drama of other human beings. No toilets or electricity, No wifi or fresh drinking water. If you can avoid ignorant humans I would recommend this place to camp.

As we drove through looking for the best spot we noticed there were several quality spots. We opted for a spot right by potters pond. It was very spacious and was walking distance from the dock and a toilet facility. However the toilet was very foul and we opted out of using it. The spots we saw were all quite large and they are very spread out from each other. There was also a creek running behind the spot we chose which was a treat for the dogs to drink from. Each campsite is supplied with a fire pit with a metal ring and a cooking grate, which came in very handy. There are not tables provided and it’s completely haul in haul out. We had a lovely view of the pond, which did make the mosquitos quite a nuisance but manageable. There is a family friendly fishing dock on Potters pond, and it is stocked with good sized rainbow trout the little kids had a blast fishing. A little further down was Bayley Lake which is fly fishing only and not as easy to access. Both the lake and the pond would be amazing places to kayak, we would have if the weather had been a bit nicer. Overall, I was very impressed with the size and seclusiveness of all the sites we saw. We will most definitely be back again!