Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Telegraph-04C
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 46.47285, -112.35038
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 — Telegraph-04C · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 495 (Telegraph), 130 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface and maintenance level 3 – suitable for passenger cars.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 495 (Telegraph), 130 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 495 (Telegraph): “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 Telegraph-04C
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 5,971 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Telegraph-04CNIFC · 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 Telegraph-04C · 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
- FFuel7 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- @Mail7 mi
- MMechanic16 mi
- +Urgent care16 mi
- HHardware16 mi
- WWater17 mi
- OOutfitter17 mi
- LLaundry17 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- EVEV fast charger18 mi
- DDump29 mi
- ShShower34 mi
- AAir-up34 mi
- PPropane40 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 7 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 — Telegraph-04C
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
5,971 ft
Ground slope
11.4% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~6.2 mi · main line
State
MT
Coordinates
46.47285, -112.35038
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Telegraph-04C · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureTelegraph Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townRimini · ~5.0 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.2 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~7.1 mi
- FuelElliston Gas Station · ~7.2 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~28.9 mi
- GroceriesElliston Country Store · ~7.2 mi
- PharmacyBergum Drug · ~18.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicVeterans Administration Medical Center · ~15.5 mi
- HardwareMontana Shed Center · ~19.3 mi
EV charging — from Telegraph-04C · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger18.3 mi straight-line W — Sinclair - Tesla Supercharger, Deer Lodge, MT (at a gas station) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-14 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach5 within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 26 within 100 · 38 within 150
- Nearest listing CCS18.4 mi — L146 DC1, Helena
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO18.4 mi — L146 DC1, Helena
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)16.8 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 charger$0.56 per kWh (as listed by AFDC)
- 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 466520 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Telegraph-04C · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletMoose Creek Campground · ~5.8 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletMoose Creek Cabin · ~5.9 mi NE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletCdnst Trailhead · ~6.2 mi N · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletTen Mile Picnic Area · ~6.4 mi NE · USFS
Coming out here — Telegraph-04C · Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Telegraph 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 11.4% — noticeable. 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.
- Rail line mapped ~6.2 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. 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.
- 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 Telegraph-04C elsewhere
Other camps near Telegraph-04C
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Telegraph-03~0.4 mi
- Telegraph-01~0.5 mi
- Telegraph-07~0.8 mi
- Telegraph-08~0.9 mi
The unit that manages Telegraph-04C
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Telegraph-04C 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 8 miles away. It sits about 549 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 — Telegraph-04C
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). WATER (fire 1740, batch 4, tier D -- class statement + per-site agency typing): https://www.fs.usda.gov/r01/helena-lewisclark/recreation/dispersed-camping -- the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest states: "Dispersed camping means there are no toilets, no picnic tables, no trash cans, no treated water, and no fire grates." (page last updated April 10, 2026). This row is placed inside that class by the forest's own INFRA record, re-queried live this fire: site_name 'TELEGRAPH-04C', managing_org 011512, site_type 'CAMPING AREA', development_scale '0', WATER_AVAILABILITY empty (INFRA does not record a water system here); our pin is 0.001 mi from the coordinates INFRA prints for that site. This is NOT a per-site inspection and the value says so -- it is the forest's own statement about dispersed camping, applied to a site the forest itself types as a dispersed camping area rather than a campground. Single publisher (USFS, two of its channels). No field visit backs it. Untreated surface water near this site is not drinking water: the same page states "No untreated water source can be considered safe for consumption."
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 Telegraph-04C
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 — Telegraph-04C
What “dispersed” means here →Forest road numbers →Reading a forest MVUM →Reading your camp page →All field notes →