Agency-listedUSFSFee
Madison River Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 44.87875, -111.57286
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.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Madison River Campground · Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest · MT
No road within 1 mi of the pin in the national MVUM layer — and that layer carries no data at all for this forest (unit 0102), so this is the layer's silence, not the ground's. Access may be a county road or unmapped.
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 River Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,909 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Madison River 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 Madison River Campground · Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest · MT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel21 mi
- WWater23 mi
- @Mail23 mi
- LLaundry27 mi
- GGrocery28 mi
- HHardware28 mi
- ShShower28 mi
- DDump28 mi
- OOutfitter28 mi
- EVEV fast charger28 mi
- MMechanic31 mi
- +Urgent care47 mi
- RxPharmacy60 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 23-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 21 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 — Madison River Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,909 ft
Ground slope
12.6% · noticeable
State
MT
Coordinates
44.87875, -111.57286
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Madison River Campground · Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureMadison River · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial river
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelExxon · ~20.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~27.7 mi
- GroceriesRobins Roost · ~27.5 mi
- HardwareWestmart · ~27.5 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
EV charging — from Madison River Campground · Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger27.9 mi straight-line SE — West Yellowstone, MT - Tesla Supercharger (at an other entertainment) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 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 · 5 within 50 · 27 within 100 · 48 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS33.0 mi — Island Park City Offices, Island Park
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO33.0 mi — Island Park City Offices, Island Park
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)29.3 mi — BSCO BASE BASE, Big Sky, 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 aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Holiday Inn West Yellowstone - Tesla Destination, West Yellowstone, 27.5 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 102267 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Madison River Campground · Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMadison River Campground · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRiverview Campground · ~0.3 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWest Fork Campground · ~0.8 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletKirby & Eagle'S Nest Fishing Access Sites · ~1.0 mi SE · USFS
Coming out here — Madison River Campground · Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Madison River as a perennial river, ~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 12.6% — noticeable. 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 Madison River Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Madison River Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Riverview Campground~0.3 mi · fee
- Forest Rd 6209A~0.5 mi
- Forest Rd 209~0.6 mi
- Forest Rd 6209A~0.6 mi
The unit that manages Madison River Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Madison River Campground are set by Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Tepee Creek at 7,950 ft, about 9 miles away. It sits about 2,041 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 — Madison River Campground
Stay limit
16 nights (16-day stay limit)
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. || Water 2026-08-24 (nightshift fire 120): USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse Recreation Sites layer (apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecInfraRecreationSites_02/MapServer/0), extract cached locally as data\_mt_water_edw.json, objectid 2366875, site "MADISON RIVER CAMPGROUND" (recreation area "Madison River (MT)"), WATER_AVAILABILITY = "Drinking water is available from a hydrant May 15 - Sptember 15.". Matched to this camp on coordinates (0.0007 mi from the agency point). Agency record only -- not field-verified, and no natural water here is claimed to be potable. Agency site page: https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234904 | Fee 2026-08-24: $15 per night for a single site. Bring cash or a check and bring it exact -- the forest says there is no change available. recreation.gov publishes the same $15 for the 2026 season (May 15 - Sep 15). Open late May through mid-October, weather dependent, with a 16-day stay limit and no garbage service. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/beaverhead-deerlodge/recreation/madison-river-campground and https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/234904.
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 River 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
- Seasonal & winter access
- 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 River Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Camping with a dog →All field notes →