Downstream

About

Downstream Campground occupies prime real estate just below Fort Peck Dam, where the Missouri River resumes its journey through northeastern Montana. The campground sits within a pleasant grove of cottonwoods that provide welcome shade during summer heat and turn golden in autumn. Three fishing ponds dot the landscape below the dam, including scenic Winter Harbor, offering convenient shore fishing opportunities without needing a boat. Fort Peck Lake is nationally recognized as a walleye fishing hotspot, with excellent opportunities for sauger, smallmouth bass, lake trout, chinook salmon, and northern pike. Beyond fishing, the area provides access to 1,500 miles of pristine shoreline, the 1.1-million-acre Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, and hunting for deer, elk, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn in the Missouri River Breaks. On-site amenities include flush toilets, vault toilets, hot showers, a dump station, playground, basketball court, horseshoe pits, and cornhole boards. The Fortress disc golf course was installed in 2021, with discs available at the gatehouse. Three miles of paved nature trails wind along the Missouri River through excellent birding and wildlife viewing habitat. The Fort Peck Dam Interpretive Center and Museum nearby features wildlife dioramas, aquariums, dinosaur fossils, and dam construction history.

Directions

From Glasgow, MT: Take Highway 24 south for 18 miles to Fort Peck Dam. Turn left onto Highway 117, travel 2.5 miles, then turn right at the intersection onto Yellowstone Road. Continue 1 mile; campground is on the left. From Nashua, MT: Travel Highway 117 south for 10.5 miles, continue straight onto Yellowstone Road for 1 mile; campground is on the left. From I-94 at Glendive: Take MT-200 west to MT-24 north for 55 miles, turn right onto Yellowstone Road for 1.5 miles; campground is on the right.