Full Monty Campground Review :)

[TrailPerspective]

This Video Reviews EACH Campsite at Monty Campground. It is a small, rustic, spacious very high quality 12 Site Campground in Deschutes National Forest along the shoreline of National Wild & Scenic Metolius River. It is located in the NW Quadrant of Lake Billy Chinook on the River segment before the Metolius Arm of Lake Billy Chinook. It is NOT part of The Cove Palisades State Park, but is part of the greater Lake Billy Chinook complex area.

It is a First Come, First Served and $18 per Night as of March 2024. As far as the open season - it is pretty much open year round from my understanding....candidly it's a bit of an enigma. If you go the the Forestry Service website it says it is closed, but if you actually physically drive there it is open, the same discrepancy I observed at Perry South Campground just a few minutes down the Forest Road. So ultimately I would say it's a caveat emptor "buyer beware" situation, so do so at your own risk!

My favorite Campsites at Monty Campground were as follows:

1st Place - Campsite #8
2nd Place - Campsite #2
3rd Place - Campsite #4

This area was explored on March 19, 2024. The weather was in the 30's in the AM up the the 50's by late afternoon. The road is very well paved throughout The Cove Palisades State Park and all the way through to Perry South Campground. From Perry South Campground to Monty Campground it is a relatively bumpy Forest Road - most cars should be able to make it if you drive slowly and cautiously, particularly around some blind corners on a very steep road, so exercise maximum caution driving to Monty Campground! That said, if done prudently, it is not a difficult drive, high clearance and 4WD are NOT required in my humble opinion. Always check for weather!

Just posted the video moments ago to YouTube:

https://youtu.be/o1r5-ZxgqSc

[retired jerry]

nice review. This is one of my favorite campgrounds because it's not busy

there's a gate 1.5 miles from Monty that used to be closed during the winter, but not the last few years. If it was closed and you didn't want to walk you could always just camp at Perry South

yeah, enigmatic in that they say it's closed even though it's not - just that you don't have to pay.

$18? I did not know that. I've never been there when it's "open"

[TrailPerspective]

Thanks man, much appreciated. Yes I agree its jumped up the list of my favorites in the area, thanks in large part to your tip, so thank you for that!

I have a full review of Perry South Campground releasing shortly. I actually did the full The Cove Palisades State Park circuit from the Entrance Sign thru Monty Campground, as in all the Day Use Areas, every Point of Interest etc., ended up being about 14 Stops in total, this Monty Campground Review was one of them, so they will all be releasing over the coming weeks.....

[sparklehorse]

I used to camp at Monty quite often back in the 1980’s and 90’s. Loved it. Fishing was good too. But then that whole area was torched by wildfire back in 2002. How’s it recovering? Do you have any pictures you can post?
Thanks

[retired jerry]

there is evidence of that fire but it's not obvious

there's an unmarked trail that goes up above to a ridge. The fire is more obvious there. And the road in.

but I don't think it's bad enough to not go there. It's mostly recovered.

looking down from ridge:

in the campground:

Perry South - you can see some sign of fire but there are still big trees

[sparklehorse]

Thanks for the photos Jerry. I drove over and had a look at that area a couple years after that fire. It was sad. Glad to see it recovering nicely.

[retired jerry]

from the "looking down from the ridge" photo, it looks like most of the trees down below near the water where the campground is was spared, although you see occasional trees down there that are burned

up above, including driving in, was heavily burned