Agency-listedUSFSFreeOpen todayRoad season: open (MVUM)
Reservoir Creek Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · ID · 44.67668, -113.15818
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.
Can I go now? — Reservoir Creek Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID
Open today Opened May 15; the record gives no closing date.
U.S. Forest Service record: “5/15” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Reservoir Creek Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 60222 (Little Bear C.G.), 20 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 60222 (Little Bear C.G.), 20 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 60222 (Little Bear C.G.): “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 Reservoir Creek Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,877 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Reservoir Creek 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 Reservoir Creek Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail10 mi
- FFuel23 mi
- GGrocery23 mi
- EVEV fast charger23 mi
- WWater23 mi
- DDump26 mi
- MMechanic45 mi
- LLaundry45 mi
- ShShower48 mi
- +Urgent care50 mi
- OOutfitter50 mi
- RxPharmacy54 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 23-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 23 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 — Reservoir Creek Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
6,877 ft
Ground slope
12.2% · noticeable
State
ID
Coordinates
44.67668, -113.15818
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Reservoir Creek Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureHawley Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townHildreth · ~5.8 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelCenex · ~22.7 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~26.2 mi
- GroceriesDell Merc · ~22.7 mi
EV charging — from Reservoir Creek Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger22.7 mi straight-line E — Dell Mercantile (Dell, MT) · Electrify America · CCS · 4 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach1 within 25 mi · 2 within 50 · 19 within 100 · 58 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)28.0 mi — Lima, MT - Tesla Supercharger, Lima
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO89.7 mi — Island Park City Offices, Island Park
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)44.7 mi — UMW #1 STATION 1, Dillon, MT · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · 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 121712 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Reservoir Creek Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletReservoir Creek Campground · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHawley Creek Upper Campground · ~1.2 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletHawley Creek Lower Campground · ~1.7 mi W · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSmokey Cub Vault Toilet · ~6.9 mi W · BLM
Coming out here — Reservoir Creek Campground · Salmon-Challis National Forest · ID
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Hawley Creek as a perennial stream, under 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 12.2% — 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.
- 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 Reservoir Creek Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Reservoir Creek Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Hawley Creek Upper Campground~1.2 mi
- Hawley Creek Lower Campground~1.7 mi
- Smokey Cubs Recreation Site~6.8 mi
- Top Elk Stalk End Road~7.1 mi
The unit that manages Reservoir Creek Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Reservoir Creek Campground are set by Salmon-Challis National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is JL Meadow at 8,750 ft, about 7 miles away. It sits about 1,873 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 — Reservoir Creek Campground
Open season
5/15
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
Free but developed (not dispersed) - review || Water: Salmon-Challis National Forest's own site page for Reservoir Creek Campground, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r04/salmon-challis/recreation/reservoir-creek-campground (read 2026-08-24; page "Last updated" February 18, 2025), "Facility and Amenity Information > Water": "Potable water is not available at this site.". Corroborated by the USFS EDW Recreation Sites layer (apps.fs.usda.gov/arcx/rest/services/EDW/EDW_RecInfraRecreationSites_02/MapServer/0, re-queried live 2026-08-24 for SITE_ID 82275 / MANAGING_ORG 041308), WATER_AVAILABILITY = "No water is available". Page "Seasons of Use": "5/15" -- that is the season of the SITE, not a statement about when the water is turned on. No natural water anywhere near this site is claimed to be potable. Agency record only -- not field-verified. Nightshift fire 1680 (Idaho batch 2).
Season
Read from the agency's own season / closure text in this record (data/conditions.py) and checked against the calendar. The words we read are printed under the verdict at the top of the page.
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 Reservoir Creek 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
- 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 — Reservoir Creek Campground
Winter vs summer roads →Camping near a reservoir →Finding water out here →Off-grid communication →All field notes →