Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Rd 494 Site 2
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 48.71192, -115.14706
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 — Rd 494 Site 2 · Kootenai National Forest · MT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 494 (Sutton Ridge Swamp Cr), 40 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 494 (Sutton Ridge Swamp Cr), 40 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 494 (Sutton Ridge Swamp Cr): “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 Rd 494 Site 2
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,888 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Rd 494 Site 2NIFC · 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 Rd 494 Site 2 · Kootenai National Forest · MT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- WWater9 mi
- @Mail12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- DDump13 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- +Urgent care29 mi
- HHardware29 mi
- RxPharmacy29 mi
- OOutfitter42 mi
- EVEV fast charger44 mi
- ShShower55 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 12 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 44-mi run (and back).
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 — Rd 494 Site 2
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
5,888 ft
Ground slope
9.2% · noticeable
State
MT
Coordinates
48.71192, -115.14706
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Rd 494 Site 2 · Kootenai National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townTrego · ~10.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~8.6 mi
- FuelConoco · ~12.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~13.0 mi
- GroceriesFortine Mercantile · ~12.2 mi
- PharmacyNorthwest CHC Pharmacy (Highway 2) · ~29.3 mi
- Hospital / clinicNorthwest Community Health Center · ~28.6 mi
- HardwareCardinal Hardware · ~28.8 mi
EV charging — from Rd 494 Site 2 · Kootenai National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger43.7 mi straight-line SE — TOWN PUMP WF#2 STA 1, Whitefish, 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 reachnone within 25 mi · 6 within 50 · 16 within 100 · 68 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)49.7 mi — Kalispell, MT - Tesla Supercharger, Kalispell
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)42.4 mi — City of Whitefish Parking Garage (at a hospital) · Non-Networked · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2025-06-06 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — 22 - Tesla Destination, Whitefish, 42.3 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 204514 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Rd 494 Site 2 · Kootenai National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletPeck Gulch Boat Ramp · ~7.4 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPeck Gulch · ~7.4 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletPeck Gulch Picnic · ~7.4 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRocky Gorge · ~8.6 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Rd 494 Site 2 · Kootenai National Forest · MT
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 9.2% — 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.
- 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 Rd 494 Site 2 elsewhere
Other camps near Rd 494 Site 2
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #710~1.6 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #835~2.0 mi
- Rd 494 Site 3~2.3 mi
- Upper Pinkham Creek~3.8 mi
The unit that manages Rd 494 Site 2
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Rd 494 Site 2 are set by Kootenai National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Rd 494 Site 2
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).
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 Rd 494 Site 2
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 — Rd 494 Site 2
What “dispersed” means here →Forest road numbers →Reading a forest MVUM →Reading your camp page →All field notes →