Antelope Creek Campground

Our intent was to stay at James Kipp Campground & Recreation Area, but it was not free as was written in many reviews I had read. While I do view $12/night as a low cost, there was no cellular or data service, shade trees around most campsites would impede solar charging, and the weather was getting very hot making electricity welcoming to run the air conditioners. As I had stopped at the entrance to Antelope Creek on the way and found phone & data acceptable, I decided to turn around, go back there to willingly pay the $36/night for the added comfort of electricity and bigger showers with endless hot water!

The campground consists of four tiny air conditioned cabins, an RV section with 20/30/50 electric, and a tent section, each with their own gravel roadway loop. They have a dump station and potable water. A very nice unisex restroom has three toilet rooms with full locking doors, two of which have showers.

Site 1 had the best T-Mobile reception that degraded as numbers went up to sites 3 & 5. 2 would likely still be good. The higher the site number, the lower the elevation. The campground has WiFi, but as we used our own, I do not know how strong or far reaching it is.

As with most humans, my first impressions of a prairie are a vast flat land of nothingness, and while at first I wanted to escape, I grew to see all that it had to offer.

A Prairie Dog Town covers most of the campground. They are so amusing to watch, especially when they are sometimes digging within ten feet from our door or window. The entertainment factor they provide is more than worth the cost of staying here.

A hiking trail traces around the grounds and borders the pond, meandering almost two miles in length. Red Winged Blackbirds hover near the pond while herons, ducks, geese and there may have been a few Avocet wading. Baird’s Sparrows feed on the ground near the campsites while Barn Swallows call the utility building their territory. Decaying remnants of a small cabin hangs on as a memory of the original homesteaders of the property. I recommend walking the trail at dusk to take in the immensely colorful sunsets, or at dawn in hopes of seeing wildlife as they begin their day. The birds cackling overhead...... the chirps and whistles of critters in the distance... a large spider carrying her babies, looking for food or shelter... my good buddies (the young prairie dogs) scurrying back to their holes while their parents beckon them home... and the cool blues and warm reds/oranges/pinks of the rapidly changing sunset and how that changes the hues of every single thing in its path until darkness. There are just so many things about the prairie that drew me in. Pain be damned, I was struggled through the entire trail, limping along, even carryied Suki up a hill (she didn’t repay the favor), and every agonizing step was well worth it.

There are many kiosks along the trail describing the surroundings, but the one titled “Art Imitates Life Imitates Art” resonated with me. It stated the following:

**** Artist Lewis Williams painted on American Prairie Reserve. He said: “As an artist new to the Great Plains, an initial question is, ‘What will I find to paint?!’ The immediate response is ‘A whole lot of nothing.’ But if you are lucky, you have time. You sit, observe, and listen to that nothingness. You don’t even know it but it works its way into you and you start to find there is a lot to nothingness. That’s the mystery that gets revealed to you. This ‘nothingness’ is full, and being on the Upper Missouri River Breaks and American Prairie Reserve, I was blessed with the opportunity to learn this.” ****

Some of my “nothingness” is the silence that persists from Al. It’s been going on for a very long time, and I haven’t figured out how to resolve it. We spent more time here, trying to talk about all that is before us. I don’t think Al got as much from reading it or from the experience of staying there. He seems trapped, unable to see all of the opportunities around him, afraid to say or do most anything for fear what others may think or that it may be misunderstood as offensive. Whatever his battles are, they strain our relationship terribly making me feel like I’m hanging from a threadless rope. I try to give him suggestions or tools to help get beyond them, but he will not use them and makes no attempts or suggestions to better the situations. His problems become my problems. I try my best to live with them, but some days I wonder why I’m still here. I do hope Al finds resolution, that he finds he deserves and can have happiness, as I do for everyone fighting their own demons... well, except for the sonofabitch holding that damn voodoo doll of me.

The cities of Malta and Lewistown are about 70 miles away in opposing directions, so I would make sure you have any foods and essentials before arriving. Zortman and Landusky are tiny former mining towns. We drove 20-25 miles to Hays and Mission Canyon on the Fort Belknap Reservation, and while signs said they have a gas station, we did not see it. It may have been on a side road we did not travel.

For an actual campground, it is extremely quiet and peaceful. Many nights we were the only guests. Laurie & Misty were generous hosts, great for conversation, helpful and informative.

There are many dispersed campsites along the Auto Tour Route in the Charles M Russell National Wildlife Refuge, which starts two miles north of Antelope Creek. Knowing that now and if the temperatures weren’t so hot, I would likely have chosen to spend my time there.

For the opportunity to meet Laurie & Misty and that we were able to run the air conditioning to not cook or melt in the heat, I am very grateful to have stayed at Antelope Creek and look forward to staying there again.

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