Agency-listedUSFSFeeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Park Lake Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 46.44278, -112.16862
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 — Park Lake Campground · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 4015 (Park Lake Cpgd), 30 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as asphalt surface and maintenance level 5 – high degree of user comfort.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 4015 (Park Lake Cpgd), 30 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 4015 (Park Lake Cpgd): “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 Park Lake Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,391 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Park 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 Park Lake Campground · 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
- @Mail8 mi
- WWater12 mi
- +Urgent care12 mi
- OOutfitter12 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- LLaundry12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- HHardware12 mi
- RxPharmacy12 mi
- EVEV fast charger14 mi
- DDump25 mi
- ShShower30 mi
- AAir-up35 mi
- PPropane49 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 12 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 — Park Lake Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
6,391 ft
Ground slope
7.2% · gentle
Nearest highway
~7.7 mi · Interstate 15
State
MT
Coordinates
46.44278, -112.16862
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Park Lake Campground · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurePark Lake · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townRimini · ~5.2 mi
- Nearest rail linenone mapped within 10 mi
- Nearest highway~7.7 mi · Interstate 15
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelConoco · ~12.3 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~24.7 mi
- GroceriesB & B Market · ~11.8 mi
- PharmacyWalgreens · ~12.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicMegan M. Gittings · ~11.7 mi
- HardwareCapital City Granite · ~12.3 mi
EV charging — from Park Lake Campground · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger13.5 mi straight-line NE — L146 DC1, Helena, MT · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 26 within 100 · 34 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)14.3 mi — Helena, MT - Tesla Supercharger, Helena
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)11.8 mi — Jackson Street Parking Garage, Helena, MT (at a parking garage) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-04-14 · 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 354435 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Park Lake Campground · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletPark Lake Campground · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPark Lake Day Use Area · ~0.2 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMoose Creek Cabin · ~7.0 mi NW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMoose Creek Campground · ~7.1 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Park Lake Campground · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Park Lake as a perennial lake or pond, ~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 7.2% — gentle. 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 is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026) — abandoned, lifted and out-of-service track excluded, so a rail-trail does not count as one.
- Interstate 15 is mapped ~7.7 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.
- 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 Park Lake Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Park Lake Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Park Lake Rd 1878 001~1.2 mi
- Clancy Gfa - Corral Gulch~1.2 mi
- Park Lake Rd 1878 002~1.4 mi
- Chessman Rd 299 006~2.3 mi
The unit that manages Park Lake Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Park Lake Campground 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 Frohner Meadow at 6,520 ft, about a mile away. That is about the height of this camp, so it is a fair proxy. 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 — Park 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
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 2368737, site "PARK LAKE CAMPGROUND" (recreation area "Park Lake Campground"), WATER_AVAILABILITY = "Yes, drinking water is available from a hand pump". 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. | Fee 2026-08-24: $15 per night for a single unit plus $5 per night for an extra vehicle, with a two-vehicle limit per site. Season mid-May to October. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/helena-lewisclark/recreation/park-lake-campground.
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 Park 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 — Park Lake Campground
Camping near a reservoir →Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →