Peter's Creek Campground
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 41 mi
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- FreeNo camping fee
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
This is a free campground located 42 miles south of the town of Hungry Horse on the gravel East Side Reservoir Road #38. The campground is located at an elevation of 3,600 feet and is maintained from May 15 through September 30. Peters Creek Campground is situated next to the Hungry Horse Reservoir just off the East Side Reservoir Road #38. The 6 unit campground is set back from the road and the campsites are less than 100 feet to the reservoir. The site is located in a second growth stand of trees. It is a low use site that usually has open campsites. Keep reading
It often is used as a base for huckleberry picking or fishing in the summer and for the late season hunt in late October and November. Campsites can accommodate tents and trailers up to 30 feet in length. All campsites have tables and metal fire rings. There is an accessible vault toilet. There is no potable water, but water is available from the reservoir and must be treated prior to consumption. Stock is not allowed in the campground. There is no garbage service and visitors need to plan to Pack It In, and Pack It Out. There is a food storage order in effect on all national forest land that requires that human and stock food, garbage, and other attractants be kept unavailable to bears. Your stay may not exceed 14 days. This is a remote location and there is no cell phone service in the area. The closest public phone is located 13 miles south at the Spotted Bear Ranger Station. Phone, gas, and food are located 42 miles north in the town of Hungry Horse. Campsite Reservoir View
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…metal fire rings. There is an accessible vault toilet. There is no potable water, but water is available…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…There is an accessible vault toilet. There is no potable water, but water is available from the reservoir and must…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Creek
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- None
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and it costs nothing at all. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.
recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.
Every line of the receipt · 4
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s own record says there’s no camping fee, and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
How we know this receipt · 5
record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Where it is
Anna Creek CabinFlathead National Forest · 10 miSpotted Bear CampgroundFlathead National Forest · 11 mi
Swan Lake CampgroundFlathead National Forest · 13 miLakeview CampgroundFlathead National Forest · 13 mi
Swan Guard StationFlathead National Forest · 14 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Swan Lake, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 55°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 25°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
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land

Peter's Creek Campground is in Montana’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Ryan Zinke (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
“…14 days. This is a remote location and there is no cell phone service in the area. The closest public phone is located 13 miles…”