Agency-listedUSFSFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Josephus Lake Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · ID · 44.54890, -115.14265
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 — Josephus Lake Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 40008 (Beaver Creek), 130 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as native material surface and maintenance level 2 – high-clearance vehicles.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 40008 (Beaver Creek), 130 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 40008 (Beaver Creek): “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 Josephus Lake Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 7,025 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Josephus 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 Josephus Lake Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel25 mi
- GGrocery25 mi
- ShShower26 mi
- LLaundry30 mi
- @Mail33 mi
- WWater43 mi
- HHardware44 mi
- MMechanic44 mi
- RxPharmacy44 mi
- OOutfitter44 mi
- +Urgent care45 mi
- DDump48 mi
- EVEV fast charger53 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 43-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 25 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 53-mi run (and back).
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 — Josephus Lake Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
7,025 ft
Ground slope
3.2% · gentle
State
ID
Coordinates
44.54890, -115.14265
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Josephus Lake Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureFloat Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Also mapped (OSM)Sulphur Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesMountain Village Mercantile · ~25.2 mi
- Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Josephus Lake Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger53.0 mi straight-line NW — MCCALL CHARGEPO MC CHARGE 1 · ChargePoint Network · CCS, NACS (Tesla) · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · none within 50 · 34 within 100 · 52 within 150
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO53.0 mi — MCCALL CHARGEPO MC CHARGE 4, McCall
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)22.0 mi — Stanley RV and Camp (at a campground) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 1 Level 2 port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-10-13 · hours: 24 hours daily
- 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 325580 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Josephus Lake Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletDagger Falls Campground · ~7.2 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBoundary Creek Campground Complex · ~7.5 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMiddle Fork Trailhead · ~7.9 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMarsh Creek Transfer Camp Trailhead · ~9.7 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Josephus Lake Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Float Creek as a perennial stream, under 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 3.2% — 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.
- 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 Josephus Lake Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Josephus Lake Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Dagger Falls Campground~7.2 mi · fee
- Boundary Creek Campground Complex~7.5 mi · fee
- Middle Fork Transfer Camp & Trailhead~7.8 mi
- Beaver Creek Campground~9.2 mi · fee
The unit that manages Josephus Lake Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Josephus Lake Campground are set by Salmon-Challis National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Josephus Lake Campground
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
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 Josephus 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.
- 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 — Josephus Lake Campground
Winter vs summer roads →Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →