Souse Gulch
This place has sites and nobody may sleep in them.Ask for camping here →
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 1 notices
In the agency’s own words
Souse Gulch Recreation Area, situated on Lake Koocanusa, is the largest recreation area for the Libby Dam Project, but still offers visitors peace and quiet and plenty of space to enjoy the scenic surroundings. Keep reading
Recreation
Water sports are the most common activity at the lake, and a boat ramp is open year-round in Souse Gulch. Recreations can also access downstream of the dam at 4 river launches. The nearby Visitor Center offers short films, informational guides, interpretive materials, and a gift shop. Visitors can enjoy kayaking, paddle boarding, swimming, fishing, water skiing and jet skiing. Day users are likely to spot wildlife in the area with bald eagles, osprey, and most commonly, deer. A frisbee golf course is available in Souse Gulch and a second course is located downstream of the dam. A hiking and biking trail downstream of the dam will take visitors along the Kootenai River. Basketball hoops, playgrounds, corn hole boards, picnic tables and more offer plenty of space and recreation opportunities for families, groups of friends or solo visitors looking to get outside.
Facilities
Souse Gulch has 3 reservable shelters, all with electric.
Natural Features
Libby Dam was built is 1975 for flood control and power production on the Kootenai River. Behind the dam, Lake Koocanusa stretches 90 miles, 48 miles in the USA and 42 miles in Canda. Today, the popular lake has the added benefit of providing visitors with countless year-round recreation activities.
Nearby Attractions
The Libby Dam Visitor Center features exhibits on the history of the dam and the natural features of the area, with tours of the dam given daily during the summer. Distance from Libby Dam to closest towns: o Libby 20 miles o Eureka 60 miles o Bonners Ferry 70 miles o Kalispell 110 miles
What the agency tells you
Group shelter reservations: You are responsible for following all regulations posted under the “Need to Know” and “Site Details” sections for each respective shelter. Please read these sections before completing your reservation. - The Souse Gulch Shelter is for Day-Use ONLY. Camping is prohibited. The customer who makes the reservation will be the point of contact (POC) for the event and will be held responsible for ensuring the function is conducted in an orderly manner subject to Title 36 and the provisions listed below. Additional conditions of this reservation include: - PARKING: Please park in designated areas only. Carpooling is Highly encouraged. The POC shall provide a designated parking person(s) to supervision any overflow parking associated with their prospective group’s parking. - CLEAN UP: All picnic facilities shall be left clean upon departure. All trash, litter, or other debris uncovered must be removed and placed in an approved trash receptacle. - PETS: Pets are permitted but must be penned, caged, and/or on a lease under six feet in length, or otherwise be physically restrained. Remove and dispose of all pet waste. - RESERVATION CONFIRMATION: Upon request of park staff, you must be able to provide proof of your reservation with a printed or digital copy of your confirmation letter. - DECORATIONS: Permanent fasteners that are difficult to remove and may damage the shelter CANNOT be used to affix or hand decorations, such as nails, staples, wire, etc. Tape and other easily removable fasteners are encouraged. Reservation holder is responsible for any damages to the facility. - ALCOHOL: No alcohol is allowed on the floating platform. - BOATS: Boats shall NOT be tied to floating platform. - SAFETY: NO climbing and no diving off cliffs. NO climbing and jumping off shelters. - HOURS: The shelter will be reserved from 9:00a.m. to 7:00p.m. only, to allow for daily cleaning after 7:00p.m.. The park gates close by 8:00p.m.. - QUESTIONS: For additional information, please contact (406) 293-7751 ext. 7259 - Only 50 people and 15 vehicles (shelter1) & 10 vehicles (Shelter 2 & 3) are allowed per reservation. All equipment must remain on the shelter pad. If your event exceeds this capacity or if equipment will not fit in the shelter, please call (406) 293-7751 ext. 7259 to determine if you will need obtain a special use permit that will assist our staff in supporting your event. The shelters are reserved from 9:00a.m. to 7:00p.m. - Please visit https://water.usace.army.mil/overview/nws/locations/lib to view Lake Koocanusa water level data. The floating docks in Souse Gulch often times do not get brought in until mid June, depending on the lake level.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE FLUSH TOILETS on 3 of 3 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- WATER (SEASONAL) on 3 of 3 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Boating
- Disc Golf
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Ranger programs
- Picnicking
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing here to sleep in
The agency files 3 records here and marks every one of them day use, not overnight. On its own record there’s nothing here to spend the night in.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
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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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 9
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 · 4
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
3 records
All 3 records
Getting there
the agency’s directions · the phone number
The weather
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
The land, and who answers for it
a letter you can send
Who can change it · 2
The agency’s own record files sites here and marks every one of them day use. The draft asks whether any could open to overnight camping, and if not, why.
- Your senator, on the same appropriationSteve DainesU.S. Senator · Montana
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTim SheehyU.S. Senator · Montana
Read the draft, or change the wording
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Souse Gulch has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. Souse Gulch, Montana carries 3 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Souse Gulch (Montana) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the same question to the agency in writing.
Subject Souse Gulch has sites, and nobody may sleep in them
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. Souse Gulch, Montana carries 3 records on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s own file, every one of them marked day use rather than overnight. I’m asking you to put one question to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in writing: would they consider opening any of these sites to overnight camping, and if not, why not? Road trips and camping on public land are part of how this country knows itself. It’s where a lot of people meet the place they live in for the first time, and it has never been something you had to be well off, or well organised six months in advance, to do. Sent about Souse Gulch (Montana) via campanac.com