Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Muchwater Camping Area
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 47.31244, -114.85043
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 — Muchwater Camping Area · Lolo National Forest · MT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 18295 (Muchwater Loop), 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 18295 (Muchwater Loop), 10 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 18295 (Muchwater Loop): “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 Muchwater Camping Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,544 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Muchwater Camping AreaNIFC · 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 Muchwater Camping Area · 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
- @Mail6 mi
- RxPharmacy8 mi
- FFuel8 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- HHardware10 mi
- DDump17 mi
- LLaundry22 mi
- MMechanic22 mi
- +Urgent care37 mi
- ShShower41 mi
- WWater43 mi
- OOutfitter48 mi
- AAir-up50 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 43-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 8 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 — Muchwater Camping Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
2,544 ft
Ground slope
1.1% · flat
Nearest rail line
~0.1 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~8.1 mi · Interstate 90
State
MT
Coordinates
47.31244, -114.85043
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Muchwater Camping Area · Lolo National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureClark Fork · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townQuinns · ~2.4 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~8.1 mi · Interstate 90
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~10.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~16.6 mi
- GroceriesTown Pump · ~9.9 mi
- PharmacyMineral Pharmacy · ~8.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicMineral Community Hospital · ~8.9 mi
- HardwareStuds Building and Home · ~10.0 mi
EV charging — from Muchwater Camping Area · Lolo National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.5 mi straight-line S — Superior, 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 reach3 within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 26 within 100 · 86 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS11.6 mi — St. Regis, MT, St. Regis
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO48.2 mi — Walmart 3259 (Missoula, MT), Missoula
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)40.6 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
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Alpine Falls Ranch - Tesla Destination, Superior, 9.3 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 102264 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Muchwater Camping Area · Lolo National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMuchwater Camping Area · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCascade Campground · ~1.3 mi E · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletFerry Landing Day Use · ~2.0 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMurphy Creek Trailhead · ~9.0 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Muchwater Camping Area · Lolo National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Clark Fork 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 1.1% — flat. 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 Lolo 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.)
- Rail line mapped ~0.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Interstate 90 is mapped ~8.1 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- 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.
- Practice a first night on real ground in Dispersed 3D, free in the browser. The game's ground is Montana's Lolo, Custer Gallatin and Beaverhead-Deerlodge forests and the Arizona desert at Quartzsite; this camp is not in 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 Muchwater Camping Area elsewhere
Other camps near Muchwater Camping Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Cascade Campground~1.3 mi
- Peninsula _North-001~1.8 mi
- Peninsula_001~2.1 mi
- Peninsula -004~2.1 mi
The unit that manages Muchwater Camping Area
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Muchwater Camping Area are set by Lolo National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Muchwater Camping Area
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 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 2376101, site "MUCHWATER CAMPING AREA" (recreation area "Muchwater Flat Campground"), WATER_AVAILABILITY = "River water available". 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.
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 Muchwater Camping Area
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 — Muchwater Camping Area
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →