Spotted Bear Campground
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 41 mi
This is how it should work.
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $13From, per site
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there
In the agency’s own words
This is a fee campground for $13 per night/$5 per extra vehicle (no fee 9/30 - 5/15) located 55 miles south of the town of Hungry Horse on the gravel East Side Reservoir Road #38. The campground is located at an elevation of 3,800 feet and is maintained from May 15 through September 30. Spotted Bear Campground is situated next to the Spotted Bear and South Fork Flathead Rivers just off the East Side Reservoir Road #38. The 13 unit campground is set back from the road and most of the campsites are located above the river. The site is located in a second growth stand of trees. Keep reading
It is a high use site that often has open campsites mid week. It is often used as a base for huckleberry picking or fishing in the summer. The South Fork Flathead River can be accessed by walking or driving ¼ mile to the Spotted Bear Ranger Station, and then crossing the footbridge across the river, that accesses the sandy beach and river. Campsites can accommodate tents and trailers up to 32 feet in length. All campsites have tables and metal fire rings. There are accessible vault toilets. There is no potable water after 9/30 - 5/15. Stock is not allowed in the campground. No garbage service 9/30 - 5/15. The site is operated on a first come, first served basis. There is a food storage order in effect on all national forest land that requires that human and stock food, garbage, and other attractants be kept unavailable to bears. Your stay may not exceed 14 days. This is a remote location and there is no cell phone service in the area. The closest public phone is located 1/4 mile south at the Spotted Bear Ranger Station. Phone, gas, and food are located 55 miles north in the town of Hungry Horse. Spotted Bear campsite Drinking water access - No potable water 9/30 - 5/15.
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…metal fire rings. There are accessible vault toilets. There is no potable water after 9/30 - 5/15. Stock…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “There is no potable water after 9/30 - 5/15.”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, River, Beach
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- None
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 38 km away
- No change
Nothing to book, just show up
One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $13 with nothing added. 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.
Every line of the receipt · 5
What you actually pay
“$13 per night $5 extra vehicle” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own fee record
Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($13), 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 · 6
record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this
Getting there
the map and the coordinate
Where it is
Silvertip CabinFlathead National Forest · 11 mi
Swan Guard StationFlathead National Forest · 14 miDevil's Corkscrew CampgroundFlathead National Forest · 15 mi
Swan Lake CampgroundFlathead National Forest · 15 miThe weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Swan Lake, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 38°F, day 55°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 25°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

Spotted Bear 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
“…14 days. This is a remote location and there is no cell phone service in the area. The closest public phone is located 1/4 mile…”