Agency-listedUSFSFeeSeason: check firstRoad season: open (MVUM)
Summit Cg
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 48.31890, -113.35057
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.
Can I go now? — Summit Cg · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
Season: check first Season stated, but not plainly enough to read as a date.
U.S. Forest Service record: “Varies-late spring to early fall. Contact District Office to verify status.” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — Summit Cg · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 9232 (Summit Campground North Loop), 50 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as paved surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 9232 (Summit Campground North Loop), 50 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 9232 (Summit Campground North Loop): “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 Summit Cg
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,217 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Summit CgNIFC · 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 Summit Cg · 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
- WWater7 mi
- GGrocery10 mi
- PPropane11 mi
- FFuel11 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- @Mail11 mi
- +Urgent care24 mi
- ShShower30 mi
- OOutfitter32 mi
- DDump33 mi
- HHardware38 mi
- RxPharmacy38 mi
- MMechanic41 mi
- EVEV fast charger44 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 10 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 44-mi run (and back).
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 — Summit Cg
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
5,217 ft
Ground slope
3.2% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~0.1 mi · main line
State
MT
Coordinates
48.31890, -113.35057
Cost
Fee
Nearby & resupply — around Summit Cg · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureSummit Creek · ~0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townSnowslip · ~5.8 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterWater · ~7.0 mi
- FuelBear Track Travel Center · ~10.6 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane · ~10.6 mi
- GroceriesGlacier Park- Trading Company · ~10.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicHeart Butte Clinic · ~23.7 mi
EV charging — from Summit Cg · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger44.4 mi straight-line W — CLARK HYUNDAI SERVICECUSTOMER, Kalispell, 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 · 8 within 50 · 8 within 100 · 30 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)45.2 mi — Kalispell, MT - Tesla Supercharger, Kalispell
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)22.2 mi — Blackfeet Nation - Glacier Peaks Hotel, Browning, MT (at a public site) · RIVIAN_WAYPOINTS · J1772 · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Apgar Visitor Center Charger, West Glacier, 32.4 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily with park pass; maximum 2 hours per session · 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 227212 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Summit Cg · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletSummit Cg · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMarias Pass Historic Site · at this camp · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletSummit Th · ~1.6 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletZip'S Place Cabin · ~4.9 mi SW · USFS
Coming out here — Summit Cg · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Summit Creek 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 3.2% — 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.
- Rail line mapped ~0.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. The atlas also records Amtrak service on it. 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.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be 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 Summit Cg elsewhere
Other camps near Summit Cg
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Pike Cr Rd-06~0.2 mi
- Pike Cr Rd-04~0.9 mi
- Pike Cr Rd-02~1.1 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #737~5.7 mi
The unit that manages Summit Cg
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Summit Cg 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 Pike Creek at 5,930 ft, about a mile away. It sits about 713 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 — Summit Cg
Open season
Varies-late spring to early fall. Contact District Office to verify status.
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. | Fee 2026-08-22: $20 per night for a single unit. The page contradicts itself on the extra vehicle: its fee table says $10 per night and its own sentence below says $5 per night. Budget the higher $10 and ask. Source: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/helena-lewisclark/recreation/summit-campground. || Water: Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest's own site page for Summit Campground, https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/helena-lewisclark/recreation/summit-campground (read 2026-08-24; page "Last updated" May 20, 2026), "Facility and Amenity Information > Water": "Potable water is 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, queried 2026-08-24), WATER_AVAILABILITY = "Yes, drinking water is available from a hand pump". Page "Seasons of Use": "Varies-late spring to early fall. Contact District Office to verify status." -- that is the season of the SITE, not a statement about when the water is turned on. Channels agree; nightshift fire 1660.
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 Summit Cg
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 — Summit Cg
What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →How to read this page →All field notes →