Fort Peck Lake, North End

DN67

(Last updated May 19, 2009 ) 

General.  Fort Peck is a community that was built during the depression to provide housing for the construction crew for Fort Peck Dam.  There is not a lot in Fort Peck itself, but the town of Glasgow is only about 20 miles away and they have full services.  There are a number of campgrounds near the dam, and several of them are in DN67.  See the maps and legend below.

Downstream Campground. Unfortunately this campground is in DN77.  It is the best of the bunch with nice views, lots of room and shade.

Fort Peck West.  This campground is in DN67.  It has water/electric hookups, but the spaces are crammed in together and it is likely that a six meter operation would cause lots of RFI with other campers.  One bonus is that there is a marina store there and they sell ice!  This campground is near a boat ramp, so most of the other campers are pulling trailers.

West End Campground.  This is where I stayed.  It is a very pleasant campground on a ridge overlooking the lake. It has water/electric connections and nice restrooms, complete with showers.  It is a windy location, but is excellent from a radio point of view.  Some of the campsites are isolated from others which minimizes the chances of interfering with their electronics.

Note that there are numerous other campgrounds in the area, and the amenities range from boondocking to water/electric hookups. In the summer you will find that two things become very important - shade and electricity to run the air conditioning!

A word of caution about backroads in Montana.  There is a road hazard that the locals refer to as "Gumbo".  You have to see it to believe it.  I found a photo on the web at:  http://www.blm.gov/mt/st/en/fo/lewistown_field_office/UM/byway.print.html .  More information is at:  http://ww2.whidbey.net/bobh/pdog/2005/weather.htm

If it rains, stay the heck off gravel roads or you will learn the hard way about this stuff.  I pulled off the road to exercise my dog and got into about ten feet of it and didn't believe the amount of glop that stuck to my tires.  Apparently it often gets bad enough to stall vehicles.