Big Larch Campground
1Heads up1 fire 29 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 5653 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Big Larch Campground is located on the east shoreline of Seeley Lake within the Lolo National Forest in Montana. A great place to cool off on a hot day, it has a beach and a boat ramp, as well as ample shade for those who just want to relax and enjoy nature. The campground is a favorite of locals, with plenty of space for camping, picnicking and recreating on the water. Recreation • The campground is popular for swimming, fishing, biking, paddling and boating. Anglers cast for a variety of freshwater fish including Kokanee salmon, bass, whitefish, pike, trout and perch, among other species. Keep reading
Water skiing is a popular activity on the lake. • The Clearwater Canoe Trailhead just North of Seeley Lake offers excellent flat water for viewing wildlife such as blue herons and river otters. The water trail is popular with canoeists and kayakers as it stretches 3.5 miles, or a couple of hours, down the river. • The Morrell Falls National Recreation Trail on the East side of the valley offers an incredible day hike exploring recent burns, dense forests, and a large waterfall.
Facilities
Two group camping areas, 29 individiual RV/tent campsites, and three bicycle campsites are available for reservation the Friday before Memorial Day to Labor Day. These campsites will transition to first-come/first-serve outside of these dates. 19 individual sites are available on a First-Come/First-Serve basis . These campsites can be paid for onsite by scanning a QR Code using the Recreation.gov mobile app. Visitors will need to download the free recreation.gov mobile app through Android or iOS. This is best done prior to arrival All campites are each equipped with picnic tables, campfire rings with grills, and a large paved parking area. Accessible vault toilets, drinking water and trash receptacles are avaliable throughout the campground. Campground hosts on site 24 hours a day. The campground also offers a spacious day use area that includes a roped-off swimming beach, a boat ramp, a dock, boat trailer parking, and several picnic areas. Day use facilities are open year-round from 6 a.m. - 10 p.m. daily. No fees or reservations are required for day use.
Natural Features
Big Larch Campground is located on the east shoreline of Seeley Lake, a 1,025 acre, glacial-formed lake within the "Chain of Lakes" - through which the Clearwater River flows. The campground is nestled in a mixed conifer forest, including plenty of tall larch and pine trees. While there is ample space between sites, the lack of understory makes for minimal privacy. At an elevation of about 4,000 feet, temperatures are pleasant throughout most of the summer months. The area contains a wide variety of wildlife and is home to white-tailed deer, elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, moose, grizzly and black bears (learn about bear safety ). Both the bald and golden eagle reside in the forest, along with trumpeter swan, herons and dozens of varieties of ducks. Nearby Attractions • The town of Seeley Lake, MT on the southeastern tip of the lake offers a variety of recreation services such as boat, canoe, and kayak rentals as well as guide services and resorts. Services like gas, groceries, restaurants, and lodging can also be found in town. Access to a variety of forests, sweeping views, mountain lakes, and rugged peaks can be discovered just a short drive up any of the nearby Forest Service roads. • Just a day trip away from Seeley Lake, Glacier National Park is known for a variety of opportunities to explore alpine landscapes, active glaciers, and view unique wildlife. Contact the park for current conditions. • About an hour from Seeley Lake, Missoula is one of Western Montana’s outdoor recreation hubs. Missoula is a full-service city with 2 hospitals, an international airport, and access to services, hotels, and outdoor activities.
What the agency tells you
Notice: Beginning in 2024, check out time is at 1:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Check-in is at 3:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Please check-out on time so that attendents may prepare the campsite for the next guest.
Bears frequent the area; please store all food and attractants in a locked vehicle, or in a certified bear resistant container. Click here for more information.
Bear resistant trash and food containers must be closed and secured by users after depositing items. Failure to secure containers could result in a citation.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Campfires must be completely extinguished before leaving campsite unattended.
Parking is allowed in the designated parking spur for each campsite only. Vehicles that do not fit will be charged an additional vehicle fee of $5.00 and must park in the day-use area. No parking along roadways.
Quiet hours are 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. This includes external and onboard gas-powered generators.
No utility hookups are available.
Dogs must be leashed while in campgrounds.
There is limited access during the winter months as snowplowing is done on an intermittent basis and only from the entrance directly to the boat launch for winter recreation access.
Click here for more information on the Lolo National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 56 · 2 group
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 51 ft
- Paved pads
- 50 of 56
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 58 of 58 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 49 of 58 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 58 of 58 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE DRINKING WATER on 49 of 58 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 32 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, River, Beach
- Amphitheater
- Beachcombing
- Berry Picking
- Biking
- Birding
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Ice Fishing
- Jet Skiing
- Kayaking
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Night sky · 404th darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 3
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- Yes
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 16:36 UTC
recreation.gov lists 53 of the 56 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 18
What you actually pay
“Vehicles that do not fit must deposit an additional vehicle fee of $5.00 and must park in the day-use area.” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:36 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
58 records · the site map
All 58 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 2 of the 58 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
| 1 | BL Bike Site 1 | standard nonelectric | Vault Toilets listed | |||
| 1 | BL Bike Site 2 | standard nonelectric | Vault Toilets listed | |||
| 1 | BL Bike Site 3 | standard nonelectric | Vault Toilets listed | |||
| 1 | BLS01 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | Vault Toilets listed | ||
| 1 | BLS02 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | Vault Toilets listed | ||
| 1 | BLS03 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | Vault Toilets listed | ||
| 1 | BLS04 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | Vault Toilets listed | ||
| 1 | BLS05 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 1 | BLS06 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 1 | BLS07 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 1 | BLS08 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 1 | BLS09 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 1 | BLS10 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS14 | standard nonelectric | 32 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS15 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS16 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS17 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS18 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS19 | standard nonelectric | 23 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS20 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS21 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS22 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS23 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS24 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS25 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS26 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS27 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 2 | BLS28 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS34 (Host Site) | host pad | 20 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS35 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS36 (Host Site) | host pad | 20 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS37 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS38 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS39 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS40 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS41 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS42 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS43 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS44 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS45 | standard nonelectric | 42 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS46 | standard nonelectric | 51 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS47 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS48 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 3 | BLS49 | standard nonelectric | 43 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 4 | BLS11 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 4 | BLS12 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | yes | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | |
| 4 | BLS13 | standard nonelectric | 27 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 4 | BLS29 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 4 | BLS30 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 4 | BLS31 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 4 | BLS32 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 4 | BLS33 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| 4 | BLS50 | standard nonelectric | 29 ft | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | ||
| BLUA | 00A | group standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 828 ftSeeley Lake | 402 ft |
| BLUB | 00B | group standard nonelectric | 20 ft | yes | 960 ft | 282 ft |
| S&P | Bike Campsite | type not stated | Vault Toilets listed | |||
| S&P | Group Campsite | type not stated | 20 ft | yes | Accessible Vault Toilets +1 listed | |
| S&P | Standard Campsite | type not stated | 20 ft | Vault Toilets listed |
The agency files 2 more records here that aren’t sites for the night. It names them host pads. They’re in the table above, marked for what they are, and none of them is counted as a site.
25 of 58 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
River Point Lolo Campground (MT)Lolo National Forest · 1.0 mi
Seeley Lake Lolo Campground (MT)Lolo National Forest · 1.2 mi
Double Arrow LookoutLolo National Forest · 2.6 miHidden Lake CampgroundLolo National Forest · 4.9 mi
Lake Inez Point 6 (Group Camp Site)Lolo National Forest · 7.6 mi
Lakeside Campground8.7 mi- From I-90: take exit 109 for MT-200 E and travel for 32.3 mi. Turn left onto MT-83 N and travel 14.0 mi to Seeley Lake, MT. Continue north on Highway 83 for 1 mile. The campground entrance is located on the west side of the highway.
- Directions to Group Sites: Continue straight at the first fork and the group sites will be on the left.
- To Sites in Loop 1 (sites 1-10): Turn left at the fork, then turn right at the first intersection.
- To Sites in Loop 2 (sites 14-28): Turn left at the fork, then turn right at the second intersection.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Seeley Lake, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 56°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 12°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Big Larch Campground is in Montana’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Ryan Zinke (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“the agency's own site records list "CELL PHONE SERVICE" on 58 of 58 campsites here”