Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Initial Creek
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 45.40428, -109.95404
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 — Initial Creek · Custer Gallatin National Forest · MT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 2846B (Initial Creek Campground), 10 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 2846B (Initial Creek Campground), 10 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 2846B (Initial Creek Campground): “01/01-12/31” 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 Initial Creek
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,202 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Initial CreekNIFC · 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 Initial Creek · Custer Gallatin National Forest · MT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail22 mi
- FFuel25 mi
- GGrocery25 mi
- +Urgent care26 mi
- WWater27 mi
- HHardware30 mi
- EVEV fast charger30 mi
- MMechanic34 mi
- OOutfitter34 mi
- LLaundry34 mi
- RxPharmacy34 mi
- ShShower38 mi
- DDump53 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 27-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 25 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 — Initial Creek
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
6,202 ft
Ground slope
7.8% · gentle
State
MT
Coordinates
45.40428, -109.95404
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Initial Creek · Custer Gallatin National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureInitial Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townMountain View · ~2.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSinclair · ~26.6 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesStillwater Market · ~26.0 mi
- Hospital / clinicPioneer Medical Center · ~29.3 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~29.7 mi
EV charging — from Initial Creek · Custer Gallatin National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger29.8 mi straight-line N — Big Timber, MT - Tesla Supercharger (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 4 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 · 3 within 50 · 21 within 100 · 39 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS44.7 mi — Gardiner, MT, Gardiner
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO45.9 mi — GARDSINCLAIR DC FAST LEVEL 3, Gardiner
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)34.1 mi — LEWIS STREET STATION 1, Livingston, MT · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Super 8 by Wyndham - Cooke City, Cooke City, 26.5 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for guest use only; see front desk for access · 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 102260 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Initial Creek · Custer Gallatin National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletInitial Creek · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWest Fork Stillwater Trail · ~0.9 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletStillwater · ~4.4 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWoodbine · ~4.5 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Initial Creek · Custer Gallatin National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Initial Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.1 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 7.8% — gentle. 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 Custer Gallatin 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.
- 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 Initial Creek elsewhere
Other camps near Initial Creek
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #55~0.2 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #588~0.8 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #369~0.8 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #400~1.5 mi
The unit that manages Initial Creek
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Initial Creek are set by Custer Gallatin National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Placer Basin at 8,790 ft, about 7 miles away. It sits about 2,588 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 — Initial Creek
Stay limit
16 nights (There is a 16 day stay limit for all Beartooth Ranger District campgrounds.)
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: Custer Gallatin National Forest's own site page for Initial Creek Campground, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/custergallatin/recreation/initial-creek-campground (read 2026-08-13; page "Last updated" April 30, 2026), "Facility and Amenity Information > Water": "Potable water is not available at this site.". Corroborated by the USFS EDW Recreation Sites layer (apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecInfraRecreationSites_02/MapServer/0, queried 2026-08-13), WATER_AVAILABILITY = "No drinking water is available". Both channels agree; nightshift fire 610.
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 Initial Creek
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 — Initial Creek
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →