The agency doesn’t say how you get a siteIts record carries no access type, so treat it as a place to phone before you drive.
Right now
Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
Drawn from the record · 3,930 ft · 0% tree cover · Canyon Ferry Lake within reach · Bortle 3 sky
3,930 ftElevation
2,167 ftWater · Canyon Ferry Lake
12.8 miN of Townsend, MT
0%Tree cover
Bortle 3Night sky · 415th darkest of 501 in MT

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Coulter Campground offers 5 boat-in campsites on the east side of Upper Holter Lake and adjacent to the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. Approximately 1 mile north is a large day-use area (Meriwether Picnic Site) with wilderness access and boat docks. A scenic river trail provides access between the campground and picnic site. The campground, located within a scenic river canyon, provides excellent opportunities for wildlife viewing. Fish Your National Forests: Fish available include: Trout, Walleye; Types of fishing available include: Shore, Motorized boat, Spin, Bait;

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, River
Source: Stated in the agency description

Phone before you drive

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

Booking window6 months outBooking opens 6 months ahead; today unlocks arrivals through April 16, 2027. The agency publishes no reservable season in the record we hold, so the window may close earlier than that.recreation.gov
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 4

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
The U.S. Forest Service publishes no per-night rate for this campground that we can read, so there’s no sign price to print. That’s a gap in the record, not a free campground.
Free
The booking feerecreation.gov
We hold no recreation.gov booking record for this campground, so we can’t say whether a booking fee applies.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s no total to show.
How we know this receipt · 4
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

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Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight42°Partly Cloudy
Saturday68°Sunny
Saturday Night41°Partly Cloudy1% rain
Sunday62°Mostly Sunny

NWS forecast for Winston, MT

Typical weather

Typical October night 32°F, day 59°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 14°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°0°

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.

Measured at: TOWNSEND 3SE, MT (USC00248324), 15 miles away and 34 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Troy Downing, official portrait

Coulter Campground is in Montana’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Troy Downing (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service’s own recreation database flags it not open and publishes no reason and no date. That’s a flag, not a notice.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Winston, MT, 4.7 mi ENE (a census designated place). Straight line.