Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Madison Gulch Rd-010
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 46.83295, -112.70703
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 — Madison Gulch Rd-010 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 1829-B1 (Madison Gulch), 400 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 1829-B1 (Madison Gulch), 400 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles Jul 1 – Oct 14. That season ends after Oct 14.
MVUM record for FR 1829-B1 (Madison Gulch): “07/01-10/14” 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 Madison Gulch Rd-010
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at the elevation shown above.
Fire & smoke — around Madison Gulch Rd-010NIFC · 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 Madison Gulch Rd-010 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel8 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- @Mail8 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- PPropane24 mi
- EVEV fast charger29 mi
- +Urgent care32 mi
- DDump33 mi
- MMechanic33 mi
- WWater34 mi
- LLaundry35 mi
- OOutfitter36 mi
- RxPharmacy36 mi
- ShShower36 mi
- AAir-up59 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 34-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Madison Gulch Rd-010
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Ground slope
14.5% · noticeable
State
MT
Coordinates
46.83295, -112.70703
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Madison Gulch Rd-010 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureWater · mapped within 1.6 mi
- USGS NHDno named surface water within 1 mi
- Nearest townFinn · ~4.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelExxon · ~8.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~8.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicDeer Lodge Medical Center · ~29.0 mi
- HardwareGrizzly Home Center · ~8.6 mi
EV charging — from Madison Gulch Rd-010 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger29.0 mi straight-line S — Sinclair - Tesla Supercharger, Deer Lodge, MT (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 5 within 50 · 17 within 100 · 39 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS35.7 mi — Target T1282 (Helena, MT), Helena
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO36.4 mi — L146 DC1, Helena
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)30.0 mi — JD Self Service Storage, Deer Lodge, MT (at an office building) · AMPUP · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2023-12-13 · hours: Contact site for information
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Trixi's Saloon - Tesla Destination, Ovando, 23.5 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- Pricing at the fast charger$0.56 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 466520 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Madison Gulch Rd-010 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletStemple Pass Trailhead · ~10.9 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletAspen Grove Picnic Area · ~13.0 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletAspen Grove Campground · ~13.0 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletLost Horse Cabin · ~13.7 mi E · USFS
Coming out here — Madison Gulch Rd-010 · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: 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. USGS maps no named surface water within 1 mi of the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022).
- Ground slope around the pin: about 14.5% — noticeable. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (10 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.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Madison Gulch Rd-010 elsewhere
Other camps near Madison Gulch Rd-010
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Madison Gulch Rd-009~0.4 mi
- Madison Gulch Rd-011~0.5 mi
- Dalton-Rd 329-105~0.7 mi
- Dalton-Rd 329-008~0.8 mi
The unit that manages Madison Gulch Rd-010
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Madison Gulch Rd-010 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 Nevada Ridge at 7,030 ft, about 9 miles away. 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 — Madison Gulch Rd-010
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 'MADISON GULCH RD-010', managing_org 011514, 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."
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 Madison Gulch Rd-010
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 — Madison Gulch Rd-010
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Forest road numbers →Camping with a dog →All field notes →