Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFree
Gibson 008
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 47.62781, -112.85051
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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.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Gibson 008
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,762 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Gibson 008NIFC · 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 Gibson 008 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
- WWater10 mi
- @Mail23 mi
- FFuel34 mi
- GGrocery34 mi
- RxPharmacy34 mi
- LLaundry34 mi
- +Urgent care34 mi
- HHardware34 mi
- MMechanic34 mi
- OOutfitter34 mi
- ShShower43 mi
- DDump50 mi
- PPropane59 mi
- EVEV fast charger71 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 34 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 71-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 — Gibson 008
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
4,762 ft
State
MT
Coordinates
47.62781, -112.85051
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Gibson 008 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSun River (river) · nearby
- Nearest townPackers · ~9.2 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~9.9 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesAllen's Manix Store · ~23.4 mi
EV charging — from Gibson 008 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger71.2 mi straight-line E — Great Falls, MT - Tesla Supercharger (at a hotel) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · none within 50 · 23 within 100 · 28 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS73.1 mi — Great Falls Subaru, Great Falls
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO73.1 mi — Great Falls Subaru, Great Falls
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)33.5 mi — Old Trail Museum Parking Lot, Choteau, MT · CHARGELAB · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- 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 163998 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Gibson 008 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMortimer Gulch Cg · ~4.0 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMortimer Gulch Th · ~4.1 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletGibson Boat Launch · ~4.2 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHome Gulch Cg · ~5.9 mi E · USFS
Open Gibson 008 elsewhere
Other camps near Gibson 008
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Gibson 007~0.2 mi
- S Fk Sun 001~0.5 mi
- Gibson 009~0.6 mi
- S Fk Sun 002~0.7 mi
The unit that manages Gibson 008
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Gibson 008 are set by Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Wood Creek at 5,970 ft, about 13 miles away. It sits about 1,208 ft higher than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. 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 — Gibson 008
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). WATER (fire 1740, batch 4, tier D -- class statement + per-site agency typing): https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/helena-lewisclark/recreation/dispersed-camping -- the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest states: "Dispersed camping means there are no toilets, no picnic tables, no trash cans, no treated water, and no fire grates." (page last updated April 10, 2026). This row is placed inside that class by the forest's own INFRA record, re-queried live this fire: site_name 'GIBSON 008', managing_org 011501, site_type 'CAMPING AREA', development_scale '0', WATER_AVAILABILITY empty (INFRA does not record a water system here); our pin is 0.001 mi from the coordinates INFRA prints for that site. This is NOT a per-site inspection and the value says so -- it is the forest's own statement about dispersed camping, applied to a site the forest itself types as a dispersed camping area rather than a campground. Single publisher (USFS, two of its channels). No field visit backs it. Untreated surface water near this site is not drinking water: the same page states "No untreated water source can be considered safe for consumption."
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 Gibson 008
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.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 — Gibson 008
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Forest road numbers →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →
Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →