Painted Rocks State Park 

I have things I love about this campsite and things I didn't.   It is along the shores of the Painted Rock Reservoir and offers lots of opportunity for water activities and fishing.   You can get a spot right on the lakeshore like we did in site #14.   However there are some negatives.   Overall the sites are fairly close together and pretty wide open, so no privacy.   And on the weekend, locals come for the day and literally park in your campsite and walk to the shore.   Our site sat next to walk in boat launch and people would use it as a day use swimming area, really disrespectful in the way they invaded the area in front of our campsite.  On weekdays though it was peaceful and a great spot.  There are 25 sites total.   

It was so hot on this Montana road trip and we needed a way to get cooled off, so we stopped in Missoula and bought a Wilderness Pungo kayak.    We loved it so much we ended up buying a second one the next summer also.    I love the series of pictures above showing Steve teaching Mason how to ride in the kayak.    For a lab that loves to swim and jump in the water, he is a really good passenger in the boat too!  

Getting Here:  

The campground is 17 miles south of Hamilton on U.S. 93, then 23 miles SW on route 473.   ​