Agency-listedUSFS · dispersedFreeRoad season: open (MVUM)
Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · MT · 47.66233, -113.77565
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 — Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 9769 (Upper Lion Creek), 20 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 9769 (Upper Lion Creek), 20 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 9769 (Upper Lion Creek): “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 Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,598 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, MontanaNIFC · 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 Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel6 mi
- @Mail6 mi
- GGrocery7 mi
- MMechanic16 mi
- LLaundry16 mi
- +Urgent care16 mi
- RxPharmacy18 mi
- HHardware18 mi
- ShShower24 mi
- WWater32 mi
- EVEV fast charger42 mi
- OOutfitter45 mi
- DDump49 mi
- AAir-up55 mi
- PPropane60 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 32-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 6 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 42-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 — Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service · dispersed
Elevation
3,598 ft
Ground slope
1% · flat
State
MT
Coordinates
47.66233, -113.77565
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureDry Lake · ~0.6 mi · USGS: intermittent lake or pond
- Also mapped (OSM)Lion Creek (stream) · mapped within 1.6 mi
- Nearest townSalmon Prairie · ~2.3 mi
- Rail & highwaynone mapped within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelSinclair · ~6.5 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesMission Mountains Mercantile · ~6.6 mi
- PharmacySt. Ignatius Tribal Health Pharmacy · ~28.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicLogan Health Primary Care · ~16.3 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~17.8 mi
EV charging — from Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger41.9 mi straight-line NW — CLARK HYUNDAI SALES CUSTOMER, 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 · 4 within 50 · 19 within 100 · 41 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)47.4 mi — Kalispell, MT - Tesla Supercharger, Kalispell
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)12.9 mi — East Shore Smoke House - Tesla Destination, Polson, MT · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
- Also listed, not counted aboveLevel 2, restricted access — Fox Lane Cottage, Polson, 20.3 mi · J1772 · hours: 24 hours daily; for guest use only · AFDC lists it “Free with room”
- 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 227236 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletVan Lake Campground · ~2.5 mi N · USFS
- RestroomOld Condon · ~5.6 mi S · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletEast Foothill Th # 192 · ~11.5 mi SE · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletBlair Flats · ~14.2 mi N · USFS
Coming out here — Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Dry Lake as an intermittent lake or pond, ~0.6 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 1% — flat. 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 Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana elsewhere
Other camps near Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #21~0.5 mi
- Lion Creek Outfitter~0.8 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #204~0.8 mi
- 9882-4 Van Lake Rd~1.4 mi
The unit that manages Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana are set by Flathead National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Moss Peak at 6,760 ft, about 9 miles away. It sits about 3,162 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 — Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
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 Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
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 — Dispersed camp #653, Flathead National Forest, Montana
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Forest road numbers →How to read this page →All field notes →