Perch Point 1 & 2
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 29 of the next 30 nights read 15:34 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Perch Point Recreation area is located west of Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River in northeastern Montana. Recreation enthusiasts and sportsmen enjoy the beauty of Fort Peck Lake's 1,500 miles of shoreline. A variety of high quality outdoor activities are available, including camping, boating, fishing, hunting, sightseeing and wildlife viewing. Fort Peck Dam, which impounds Fort Peck Lake is the first dam built in the upper Missouri River Basin. Keep reading
The area surrounding Fort Peck was first charted by Lewis and Clark in 1804, and the pristine natural condition of the river and surrounding area awed the renowned explorers. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the Fort Peck project in 1933, thousands of people from all over the country migrated to Montana during the midst of the Great Depression in hopes of earning a living. Today, Fort Peck Lake is a sportsman's paradise with excellent fishing, wildlife viewing and other countless outdoor recreation opportunities. For more information, visit the Fort Peck Project Websit e or call 406-526-3411.
Recreation
The vast size of Fort Peck Lake and its remoteness from major population centers provide a variety of high quality outdoor experiences. Popular recreation activities include camping, boating, fishing, hunting, sight-seeing, picnicking, biking, hiking, photography, watching wildlife and just relaxing. Fort Peck Lake: Fifteen hundred miles of pristine shoreline serve as a haven for those wishing to get away from the stresses of modern life. There are 27 recreation areas located around the reservoir, including numerous primitive camping sites. The areas near and around the dam offer paved roads, electricity, showers and playgrounds while facilities around the rest of the lake are more primitive with gravel roads, picnic tables and vault toilets. Access roads to many of the remote areas may be impassable in inclement weather.
Facilities
Fishing: Fort Peck Lake enjoys nationwide recognition as a hot spot for walleye fishing. Fort Peck Lake provides excellent boating and fishing opportunities. The lake also offers excellent fishing for sauger, smallmouth bass, lake trout, chinook salmon and northern pike. The introduction of cisco as a forage fish in 1983 proved successful and has increased both the size and number of game fish. Wildlife Viewing/Hunting: The Fort Peck Lake Area and the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge provide superb hunting of deer, elk, big horn sheep, and prong horn. The Missouri River Breaks are known for producing large elk and other game animals. Trails: Three miles of paved nature trails wind along the Missouri River and through the surrounding wooded area. This trail area is a popular birding and wildlife viewing area. Disc Golf Course: A disc golf course "The Fortress" was installed in summer of 2021. Discs are available to check out at the gate house. Interpretive Center & Museum: The Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Center and Museum offers displays of wildlife dioramas, aquariums, dinosaur fossils and dam construction history. Open Friday through Monday 9am to 4pm.
Natural Features
A panoramic east view of Fort Peck Dam and Lake is a feast to the eyes from Perch Point. Mature cottonwoods dot the landscape providing shade and wildwife habitat. Nearby Attractions • Fort Peck Lake is a Montana treasure for its vast size and outdoor recreation opportunities. Six recreation areas within a few miles of the dam provide access for water sports, fishing and hunting. • The Fort Peck Interpretive Center and Museum, is located just downstream of Fort Peck Dam. For more information, call 406-526-3493. • The Leo B. Coleman Wildlife Pasture, located just outside the Town of Fort Peck and Downstream Campground is home to Fort Peck's Bison Herd and provides an excellent wildlife viewing auto route. • The Historic Fort Peck Theater is located in the town of Ft. Peck is a popular historic destination in summer months. • The 1.1 million acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge surrounds Fort Peck Lake and helps preserve the natural habitat for numerous wildlife species. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (406) 526-3411.
What the agency tells you
All public-use of Ft. Peck Project lands and waters is governed by Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) .
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
STOP THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE SPECIES. Remove plants, seeds, animals, and mud from boots, gear, pets, and vehicles. Clean your gear before entering and leaving the recreation site. Stay on designated roads and trails, and follow local guidelines for firewood. CLEAN, DRAIN, DRY boats and any other recreational equipment that contacts water. Dispose of unwanted bait, worms, fish parts, or other organisms into the trash and not into the environment. For more information visit invasivespeciesinfo.gov/rec
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 group, 1 cabin
- Hookups
- 1 electric
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS (SEASONAL) on 2 of 2 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE FLUSH TOILETS on 1 of 2 campsite records / VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 2 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 2 campsite records
- Playground
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Beach
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Jet Skiing
- Observation Site
- Picnicking
- Sailing
- Stargazing
- Tubing
- Water access
- Water Skiing
- Night sky · 406th darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 3
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Army Corps says
- Yes
2 of 2 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 15:34 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBookedNot reservable
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 13
What you actually pay
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:34 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 records · the site map
All 2 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 2 of the 2 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 2 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Westend 1 & 2 | Shelter 1 | day use | 12 ft | 15 amp | yes | 172 ft | 1,796 ft | $35–$75 |
| Westend 1 & 2 | Shelter 2 | group shelter electric | 40 ft | 15 amp | yes | 126 ft | 1,687 ft | $35–$75 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Boomtown Shelter0.4 miWest End Campground0.4 mi
West End Tent and Trailer Campground0.4 mi
Downstream (MT)2.9 mi
Kiwanis Park2.9 miPaulo ReservoirGlasgow Field Office · 21 miFrom Glasgow: head south on MT-42 S/State Hwy 24 W and continue onto MT 24 S for 15 miles. Turn right onto Duck Creek Road .2miles. Take a slight left into the Perch Point Recreation Area.
From Nashua: Take MT-117 S to Hwy 24. Turn right for .2 miles. Turn left onto Duck Creek road .2 miles. Take a slight left into the Perch Point Recreation area.
From MT-200: Take MT-24 N for 59.7 miles. Turn right onto Duck Creek Road .2 miles. Take a slight left into the Perch Point Recreation Area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Fort Peck, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 37°F, day 61°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 8°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Perch Point 1 & 2 is in Montana’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Troy Downing (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“the agency's own site records list "CELL PHONE SERVICE" on 2 of 2 campsites here”