Willow Creek Reservoir Dispersed Camping

This dispersed camping location was perfect. It took us 35 minutes to get to it on the dirt road…we went 7 mph the whole way in…but it was well worth it. It’s all part of the adventure!

The whole place was beautiful and the night sky was SPECTACULAR!

Verizon worked in the RV off and on but on either of the two hills behind us it worked great. I took a chair and a cup of coffee up there and got some work done and planned the next leg of our journey! Our TMobile hotspot did a better job overall.

I’m leaving a picture of where we were and some sights. If you are in this area and know how to drive over a little bumpiness, this is the place for an unforgettable night or two of quiet and solitude.

Located about 1.5 hr due west of Great Falls, this is a nice dispersed camping area that is just east of the Rockies. We were there in Oct 2-4, 2021 and it was VERY dry conditions. Obviously no fires allowed in the dispersed camping areas. From the picture you can see the reservoir is well below normal levels. It should noted that there are cattle grazing in this area and cow patties are common. We found our Verizon to be little or no signal (if you walked up a nearby hill, you could get a signal, but not at our site or in our rig).

The roads to reach the dispersed camping circling the reservoir were a bit rough in spots. Pulling a 24' travel trailer, I finally had to turn around due to road ruts/conditions and pick one of the many spots available. As was noted by another reviewer, there may be some challenges getting a flat spot if there were more people, perhaps during a the summer season. We were fortunate to find a large and level spot. If you had a more capable vehicle, you should not have a problem going further and finding more spots

There is a primitive campground available a the reservoir which has pit toilets and some concrete pads available - I think the charge for that area was $10 or $15/night. I believe fires may have been allowed in this area. We used the pit toilets here, which were OK, a bit dirty and lots of flies but I've seen much worse. The roads to reach this spots were gravel and in good condition.

Overall we enjoyed the stay. It was very quiet at night. Some ATV's running around during the day.
We enjoyed a hike in the nearby mountains called the "Willow Creek Falls Trailhead" about an hour away drive.

We drove through the established campground on the two-track road and pulled off next to the shoreline of the reservoir. The ground was firm but due to the rolling hills flat spots are hard to come by. The rain in June was enough that finding a spot with good drainage was important.

There are potentially hundreds of places to setup camp around the reservoir, for rigs of any size.

The boat ramp and dock were in good shape. Parking in the gravel lot near the ramp is limited. Pick the two-track nearby and you'll have more area to park.

The campground itself has tables, fire rings and shelters. The sites are well spaced out. Some are bigger than others. One site had room enough to park a truck and nothing else.

The gravel road from Augusta to Willow Creek Reservoir is well maintained. The dirt road within the reservoir area is good, but could use some work due to water accumulation.

Note that OHV are not allowed in this area. I left mine home due to the info about OHV I received from a friend. Pictures of signs confirming the ban on OHV were included in this review.

The resident cattle herd leaves their mark (cow patties) but they wander away when you get close to them.

My WeBoost directional cell booster brought my signal up to four bars, from one. This was near the established campground.