U.S. Forest Service · Lolo National Forest · MT

Fishtrap Lake Campground

2Heads up2 fires, nearest 21 mi
Wildfire
Deer Creek fire · 21 mi away · 1,099 acres · 100% contained · updated Oct 13, 2026
Wildfire
Nugget Hill fire · 48 mi away · 45 acres · updated Oct 17, 2026
First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
FreeNo camping fee
Drawn from the record · 4,130 ft · 43% tree cover · Cool Creek within reach · Bortle 2 sky
4,130 ftElevation
314 ftWater · Cool Creek
18.6 miNE of Thompson Falls, MT
43%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 162nd darkest of 501 in MT

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

This is an open, sunny site with scattered trees on a flat bench above Fishtrap Lake. Non-motorized boating and lake fishing permitted. A hiking trail is available nearby. Fish Your National Forests: Fish available include: Trout, Native Trout; Types of fishing available include: Wade, Shore, Float tube, Fly, Spin, Bait.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Lake
Source: Stated in the agency description

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and it costs nothing at all. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

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.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A nightFreeNo camping feethe agency’s fee record
A weekendNothingDerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 4

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Camping feeFree
No fee required.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
A night, and a whole weekendDerivedNothing

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s own record says there’s no camping fee, and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

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

Today58°Sunny1% rain
Tonight36°Mostly Clear
Sunday54°Sunny
Sunday Night38°Partly Cloudy

NWS forecast for Happys Inn, MT

Typical weather

Typical October night 27°F, day 52°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical January night 15°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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: LIBBY 32 SSE, MT (USC00245020), 7 miles away and 690 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

critical
Roadless
Cube Iron623 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Cataract25,446 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 4, 2026

Who answers for this land

Ryan Zinke, official portrait

Fishtrap Lake 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 →

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 publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate.
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: Happys Inn, MT, 12.4 mi SSW (a census designated place). Straight line.