Mapped · not agency-listedPublic land · dispersedFree
Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground
Drive-up · public land · MT · 46.17043, -113.90823
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 →A mapped lead, not an agency listing. Somebody marked this as a campsite; we could not match it to a land-manager record. Worth checking rather than counting on. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,677 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Skalkaho Rye Dispersed 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 Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground · Bitterroot National Forest · MT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- OOutfitter12 mi
- FFuel12 mi
- GGrocery12 mi
- MMechanic12 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- LLaundry13 mi
- +Urgent care13 mi
- RxPharmacy13 mi
- @Mail13 mi
- WWater30 mi
- EVEV fast charger46 mi
- AAir-up49 mi
- PPropane50 mi
- ShShower55 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 30-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 12 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 46-mi run (and back).
Not within 60 mi: Dump. 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 — Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
public land · dispersed
Elevation
4,677 ft
Ground slope
3.1% · gentle
State
MT
Coordinates
46.17043, -113.90823
Cost
Free · dispersed public land, no fee in any source
Nearby & resupply — around Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground · Bitterroot National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureDaly Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townGird Point · ~2.6 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelConoco · ~12.2 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane Services Innovated · ~17.5 mi
- GroceriesLone Pine · ~12.2 mi
- PharmacyBitterroot Drug · ~13.1 mi
- Hospital / clinicBitterroot Health - Daly Hospital · ~13.7 mi
- HardwareMassa Home Center · ~13.6 mi
EV charging — from Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground · Bitterroot National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger46.4 mi straight-line N — L267 EXPP PL PUBLIC2, Missoula, MT · ChargePoint Network · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 3 within 50 · 21 within 100 · 49 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)51.7 mi — Missoula, MT - Tesla Supercharger, Missoula
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO49.7 mi — Walmart 3259 (Missoula, MT), Missoula
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)13.1 mi — Hamilton City Hall · EVGATEWAY · 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 417959 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground · Bitterroot National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletBlack Bear Campground · ~0.7 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletGird Point Lookout · ~2.6 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCrystal Creek Campground · ~8.9 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletWilloughby 40 · ~9.3 mi NW · USFS
Coming out here — Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground · Bitterroot National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Daly 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 3.1% — gentle. 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.
- 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 Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground elsewhere
Other camps near Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Skalkaho-018~0.1 mi
- Black Bear Campground~0.7 mi
- Skalk 072 Road-001~1.1 mi
- Skalkaho Rd- 02~1.2 mi
The unit that manages Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground are set by Bitterroot National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Daly Creek at 5,780 ft, about 3 miles away. It sits about 1,103 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 — Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
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
Contributed, not agency-listed. A mapper marked this as a campsite. We have not matched it to a land-manager record, so it stays at Likely.
What we don’t know about Skalkaho Rye Dispersed 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 — Skalkaho Rye Dispersed Campground
Finding water out here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Dispersed camping tips →All field notes →