Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Cottonwood Lakes 04
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 47.18031, -113.38573
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 site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. 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 — Cottonwood Lakes 04 · Lolo National Forest · MT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 477 (Cottonwood Lakes), 60 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as improved native material surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 477 (Cottonwood Lakes), 60 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles May 1 – Nov 30. That season ends after Nov 30.
MVUM record for FR 477 (Cottonwood Lakes): “05/01-11/30” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-27; 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 Cottonwood Lakes 04
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,575 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Cottonwood Lakes 04NIFC · 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 Cottonwood Lakes 04 · Lolo National Forest · MT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- GGrocery4 mi
- +Urgent care4 mi
- FFuel4 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- LLaundry5 mi
- ShShower5 mi
- DDump12 mi
- WWater32 mi
- RxPharmacy35 mi
- OOutfitter35 mi
- MMechanic36 mi
- EVEV fast charger36 mi
- AAir-up36 mi
- PPropane37 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 32-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 36-mi run (and back).
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 — Cottonwood Lakes 04
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
4,575 ft
Ground slope
23.7% · steep
State
MT
Coordinates
47.18031, -113.38573
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Cottonwood Lakes 04 · Lolo National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMountain Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townSeeley Lake · ~4.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~22.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesCory's Valley Market · ~4.3 mi
EV charging — from Cottonwood Lakes 04 · Lolo National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger35.5 mi straight-line SW — Missoula, MT - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 6 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 7 within 50 · 27 within 100 · 37 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS36.3 mi — Missoula Chevrolet, Missoula
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO37.0 mi — Walmart 3259 (Missoula, MT), Missoula
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)32.7 mi — Gray Wolf Peak Casino, Missoula, MT · Blink Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Trixi's Saloon - Tesla Destination, Ovando, 16.6 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- 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 102266 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Cottonwood Lakes 04 · Lolo National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBig Larch Campground Complex · ~5.1 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRiver Point Campground Complex · ~6.1 mi W · USFS
- Flush restroomSeeley Lake Campground Complex · ~6.4 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMorrell Falls Trailhead · ~7.1 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Cottonwood Lakes 04 · Lolo National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Mountain Creek as an intermittent stream, under 0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 23.7% — steep. 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.
- The game's day in this forest These lines are for the whole Lolo National Forest, not for this camp's own spot: a fire restriction is posted by county, and a forecast is for one point in the forest. A camp's own night can differ from that point, most in the mountains. Read when this page loads from the same daily files the game uses; every line says where it came from and when it was read.
- This camp's own spot: sun and fire record Worked out for this camp's recorded point from federal records, not for the whole forest. Every line says where it came from and when.
Sun behind the west ridge: (USGS 3DEP elevation, bare ground, 30-meter steps, finer close to camp; trees not counted; worked out October 15, 2026 for the 15th of each month, in this forest's clock; nobody has stood on it for this.)
- 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.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Cottonwood Lakes 04 elsewhere
Other camps near Cottonwood Lakes 04
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #770~0.6 mi
- Cottonwood Lakes 05~1.0 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #692~1.1 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #299~1.2 mi
The unit that manages Cottonwood Lakes 04
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Cottonwood Lakes 04 are set by Lolo National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Cottonwood Lakes 04
Source
U.S. Forest Service recreation data
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
USFS/BLM authoritative: free & dispersed. Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up).
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 Cottonwood Lakes 04
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 — Cottonwood Lakes 04
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Picking a spot →All field notes →