Pelican Point Fishing Access Site

This is run by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks as a fishing access site (FAS) along the Missouri River.

Generally, the cost is $18.00 for most campers, but you can get it cheaper, as low as $6.00 if you are a Montana resident, have a fishing license, or are disabled or senior. Payment is based on the honor system through a collection box. There are no reservations here, just first-come-first-serve. There is no camp host here.

There are only four campsites. Three of the sites are situated under a very large cottonwood tree. The other site (which I happened to be in) is outside of the shade. I arrived here on a Tuesday in July, and found only the one campsite available. The other three were occupied by car campers with tents. Each site offers a picnic table and fire ring. There is a pit toilet nearby, along with boat ramp.

Otherwise, the FAS is very popular with boaters and fishermen. On weekends, this place is jam packed with pickup trucks and boat trailers.

It's also very buggy. There are these odd looking flying insects, not gnats, not mosquitoes, not houseflies, but something else. They are flying about in swarms, so much so that I felt trapped inside my trailer, lest I allow several of them to get inside.

The winds can blow pretty hard here. I witnessed a large 8-person tent completely collapse under intense winds. The campers in there had to escape into their van. Only during these winds do you get relief from the bugs.

Verizon 4G comes in pretty good here, 3 to 4 bars. Only a mile south of here, Verizon completely drops, hence many of the other FAS down there have no signal.

Other positives to this campground, is that there are hiking trails that take you along the banks of the Missouri. The tiny town of Cascade, just a mile north, has some basic amenities. The nights are very dark and quiet here.

Department personnel comes by everyday just to make sure everything is in order. They're not here to enforce camping fees. However, there is someone who comes by once a week to collect money from the box. I'm not convinced there is anyone to enforce camping rules here, these seem like employees who are here to do maintenance stuff.

Lastly, there is a 7-day camping limit, not the 14 noted by Campendium in the details.