Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Buttermilk
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · ID · 44.43040, -111.42515
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Buttermilk · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 20337-B (Buttermilk Cg Loop B), 210 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 4 – moderate degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 20337-B (Buttermilk Cg Loop B), 210 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 20337-B (Buttermilk Cg Loop B): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Buttermilk
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,314 ft.
Fire & smoke — around ButtermilkNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Buttermilk · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel3 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- EVEV fast charger3 mi
- MMechanic4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- ShShower22 mi
- DDump22 mi
- LLaundry22 mi
- WWater22 mi
- HHardware22 mi
- OOutfitter22 mi
- +Urgent care29 mi
- RxPharmacy34 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 22-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 3 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Buttermilk
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
6,314 ft
Ground slope
10.8% · noticeable
State
ID
Coordinates
44.43040, -111.42515
Cost
Fee · priced on the land manager's own page (recreation.gov, read 2026-09-18)
Nearby & resupply — around Buttermilk · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureIsland Park Reservoir · under 0.1 mi · USGS: reservoir, no flow class
- Nearest townIsland Park · ~2.7 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~9.4 mi
- FuelSinclair · ~2.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~22.1 mi
- GroceriesC-store · ~2.7 mi
- Hospital / clinicOld Faithful Clinic · ~29.3 mi
EV charging — from Buttermilk · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger2.7 mi straight-line E — Island Park City Offices (at a municipal building) · Non-Networked · CHAdeMO, CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-08-12 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach2 within 25 mi · 5 within 50 · 30 within 100 · 48 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)22.4 mi — West Yellowstone, MT - Tesla Supercharger, West Yellowstone
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)1.3 mi — SpringHill Suites Island Park Yellowstone · Blink Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Pricing at the fast charger$0.48 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 316912 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Buttermilk · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletButtermilk Campground · ~0.3 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMill Creek Boat Ramp · ~1.2 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBox Canyon Boat Ramp · ~1.8 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletIsland Park Boat Ramp · ~1.8 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Buttermilk · Caribou-Targhee National Forest · ID
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Island Park Reservoir as a reservoir (no flow class in the record), under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). The record carries no flow class for it. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 10.8% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- No rail line and no interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin. Checked against the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) and the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). Both are national files and both are maps of what is built, not counts of what moves on it.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Buttermilk elsewhere
Other camps near Buttermilk
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Buttermilk Campground~0.3 mi · fee
- Mccrea Bridge Campground~2.5 mi · fee
- Buffalo Campground~2.8 mi · fee
- Box Canyon Campground~3.0 mi · fee
The unit that manages Buttermilk
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Buttermilk are set by Caribou-Targhee National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Island Park at 6,300 ft, about 2 miles away. That is about the height of this camp, so it is a fair proxy. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.
How we know this — Buttermilk
Fee note
$25-$32 a night by site type and season per the Recreation.gov page, read 18 Sep 2026: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233826
Reserve
https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233826
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
auto: drive (road/trail right there) | Fee 2026-09-18: $25-$32 per night, by site type and season (Recreation.gov rates table). Source: https://www.recreation.gov/api/camps/campgrounds/233826/rates (fee_backfill, figure verified on that page).
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Buttermilk
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Buttermilk
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Cold-weather camping →Power off-grid →All field notes →