Agency-listedUSFSFreeOpen today
Hidden Lake Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 47.14390, -113.56292
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.
Can I go now? — Hidden Lake Campground · Lolo National Forest · MT
Open today Year-round per the agency record. Snow or weather can close the road.
U.S. Forest Service record: “Open year-round, snow dependent.” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-18; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Hidden Lake Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,318 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Hidden Lake CampgroundNIFC · 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 Hidden Lake Campground · Lolo National Forest · MT
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
- FFuel4 mi
- GGrocery4 mi
- LLaundry4 mi
- ShShower4 mi
- +Urgent care4 mi
- HHardware4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- DDump13 mi
- EVEV fast charger27 mi
- OOutfitter27 mi
- WWater28 mi
- MMechanic28 mi
- RxPharmacy28 mi
- AAir-up28 mi
- PPropane39 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 28-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 4 mi out.
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 — Hidden Lake Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
4,318 ft
State
MT
Coordinates
47.14390, -113.56292
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Hidden Lake Campground · Lolo National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureHidden Lake (water) · nearby
- Nearest townSeeley Lake · ~4.4 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~17.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesMontana gas N shop · ~4.4 mi
- PharmacyMontana Compounding Pharmacy · ~27.8 mi
- Hospital / clinicPlanned Parenthood · ~27.7 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~27.5 mi
EV charging — from Hidden Lake Campground · Lolo National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger27.2 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 · 26 within 100 · 36 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS27.9 mi — Missoula Chevrolet, Missoula
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO28.8 mi — Walmart 3259 (Missoula, MT), Missoula
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)24.0 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, 22.4 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 Hidden Lake Campground · Lolo National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletRiver Point Campground Complex · ~3.7 mi NE · USFS
- Flush restroomSeeley Lake Campground Complex · ~3.9 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBig Larch Campground Complex · ~4.3 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletClearwater River Canoe Trailhead · ~5.8 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Hidden Lake Campground · Lolo National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: Hidden Lake (water). That is wash water at best, and nobody has checked it for you — a creek can be dry and a tank can be mud. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- 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 Hidden Lake Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Hidden Lake Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Boles 08~1.6 mi
- River Point Campground Complex~3.7 mi · fee
- Seeley Lake Campground Complex~3.9 mi · fee
- Boles 07~4.1 mi
The unit that manages Hidden Lake Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Hidden Lake Campground are set by Lolo National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is North Fork Jocko at 6,110 ft, about 13 miles away. It sits about 1,792 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 — Hidden Lake Campground
Open season
Open year-round, snow dependent.
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
Free but developed (not dispersed) - review WATER (fire 1740, batch 3, tier C): https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/lolo/recreation/hidden-lake-campground "Hidden Lake Campground" -- "Facility and Amenity Information > Water": "Potable water is not available at this site." (page last updated April 17, 2026; our pin is 0.001 mi from the coordinates that page prints, name match: exact). USFS EDW RecInfra carries no WATER_AVAILABILITY for this site, so it could not corroborate. Single-channel. Written because lolo is one of only two Montana forests whose pages actually maintain this field: "not available" agreed with EDW 16/17 (94%) there this fire, against 121/180 (67%) across all six forests. Kootenai, Helena-Lewis and Clark, Beaverhead-Deerlodge and Flathead did not clear the bar and their negatives were left blank. The page's "Seasons of Use" line reads "Open year-round, snow dependent." -- that is the season of the SITE, not of the tap, so it is not folded into the value.
Season
Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.
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 Hidden Lake Campground
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
- 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 — Hidden Lake Campground
Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Off-grid communication →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 →