Agency-listedUSFSFeeSeason: check firstRoad season: open (MVUM)
Lake Alva Campground Complex
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 47.32479, -113.58209
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 as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Can I go now? — Lake Alva Campground Complex · Lolo National Forest · MT
Season: check first Year-round with exceptions in the record — read it.
U.S. Forest Service record: “Loop A: Open year-round.” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Lake Alva Campground Complex · Lolo National Forest · MT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 1098-A (Lake Alva Camp Loop A), 140 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 4 – moderate degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 1098-A (Lake Alva Camp Loop A), 140 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 1098-A (Lake Alva Camp Loop A): “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 Lake Alva Campground Complex
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,118 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Lake Alva Campground ComplexNIFC · 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 Lake Alva Campground Complex · 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
- FFuel11 mi
- HHardware11 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- ShShower11 mi
- @Mail11 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- DDump24 mi
- RxPharmacy24 mi
- MMechanic28 mi
- WWater35 mi
- EVEV fast charger35 mi
- OOutfitter36 mi
- AAir-up37 mi
- PPropane50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 35-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 11 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 35-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 — Lake Alva Campground Complex
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
4,118 ft
Ground slope
4.3% · gentle
State
MT
Coordinates
47.32479, -113.58209
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Lake Alva Campground Complex · Lolo National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLake Alva · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townSeeley Lake · ~12.1 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelConoco · ~11.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~24.4 mi
- GroceriesMontana gas N shop · ~11.9 mi
- PharmacySt. Ignatius Tribal Health Pharmacy · ~24.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicHospital · ~12.2 mi
- HardwareRovero's Ace Hardware · ~11.2 mi
EV charging — from Lake Alva Campground Complex · Lolo National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger35.4 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 · 23 within 100 · 35 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS36.2 mi — Missoula Chevrolet, Missoula
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO37.3 mi — Walmart 3259 (Missoula, MT), Missoula
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)28.5 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
- 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 Lake Alva Campground Complex · Lolo National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletLake Alva Campground Complex · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRainy Lake Campground · ~1.0 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLakeside Campground · ~1.3 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLake Inez Campground Complex · ~2.2 mi S · USFS
Coming out here — Lake Alva Campground Complex · Lolo National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Lake Alva as a perennial lake or pond, ~0.2 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 4.3% — 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 Lake Alva Campground Complex elsewhere
Other camps near Lake Alva Campground Complex
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Uhler Creek 06~0.6 mi
- Colt Creek 01~0.8 mi
- Richmond Ridge 04~0.9 mi
- Uhler Creek 04~1.0 mi
The unit that manages Lake Alva Campground Complex
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Lake Alva Campground Complex 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 9 miles away. It sits about 1,992 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 — Lake Alva Campground Complex
Open season
Loop A: Open year-round.
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
Developed FEE campground (not free) - review | auto:usfs-fee 2026-08-20: US Forest Service developed campground, agency coordinates, agency states a fee. No dollar amount in the agency record -- expect a charge and confirm the current rate before you go. Not field-verified. | Fee 2026-08-23: $20 per night in peak season (Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day) for a single site, and that price includes two vehicles; each additional vehicle is $5 per night, and the two group sites (#42 and #43) are $50. Loop 1 is reservable the Friday before Memorial Day to the Tuesday after Labor Day and is first-come outside those dates. The forest page is the only live channel here: recreation.gov's campground feed returns HTTP 400 for the Lake Alva listing (234347) and its rate feed comes back empty. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/lolo/recreation/lake-alva-campground. || Water: Lolo National Forest's own site page for Lake Alva Campground, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/lolo/recreation/lake-alva-campground (read 2026-08-24; page "Last updated" July 24, 2026), "Facility and Amenity Information > Water": "Potable water is 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 2026-08-24), WATER_AVAILABILITY = "Yes, drinking water is available from a hand pump". Page "Seasons of Use": "Loop A: Open year-round." -- that is the season of the SITE, not a statement about when the water is turned on. Channels agree; nightshift fire 1660.
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.
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 Lake Alva Campground Complex
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
- 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 — Lake Alva Campground Complex
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Getting unstuck →All field notes →