Spring Gulch
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 21 mi
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 11All of them booked ahead
- Season
- May 1Opens May 1. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Spring Gulch Campground is a well-maintained campground located about 50 feet from the highway, on the banks of the scenic Bitterroot River. Visitors enjoy a variety of recreational opportunities, including hiking, mountain biking, fishing and swimming. The campground provides accessible sites and amenities, making it a comfortable spot for anyone to relax in the mountains of southwestern Montana. Keep reading
Recreation
A number of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails can be accessed near the campground. The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail can be accessed not far from the campground, as well as trails that lead to the area's numerous mountain peaks. A variety of natural hot springs exist in the area, including Lost Trail Hot Springs, which is approximately seven miles south of the campground. The springs are popular places for swimming. A general store and lodging are located nearby. Rafting, canoeing, kayaking and fishing on the Bitterroot River are also popular activities. A short paved path meanders along the river and an accessible fishing dock is located within the campground. Anglers can expect to find mainly cutthroat trout, but other freshwater species are available.
Facilities
The campground offers single and double-family campsites, some of which are accessible. Picnic tables and campfire rings with grills are provided, as are accessible vault toilets and drinking water. RV hookups are not available.
Natural Features
Located on the banks of the Bitterroot River, the campground is nestled in a ponderosa pine forest. It is easily accessible from Highway 93 and sits at an elevation of about 4,300 feet in the Bitterroot National Forest. A variety of wildlife, including big game like mule and white-tailed deer, elk and moose, makes its home in the area.
Nearby Attractions
The small town of Sula is less than five miles from the campground, offering gas and a post office.
What the agency tells you
Potential closures may occur due to springtime flooding
Click here for more information on the Bitterroot 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
- 11 · 1 tent-only
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 65 ft
- Paved pads
- 8 of 11
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Shade
- 7 of 8 sites
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…grills are provided, as are accessible vault toilets and drinking water. RV hookups are not available.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER on 1 of 12 campsite records
- Store
- Nearby
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, River
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Night sky · 170th darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
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 · 14
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $15 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
12 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 9 mapped sitesAll 12 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 11 of the 12 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| GULC | 001 | standard nonelectric | 52 ft | 110 ft | 148 ft | $15 | |
| GULC | 002 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | yes | 110 ft | 69 ft | $15 |
| GULC | 003 | standard nonelectric | 65 ft | 39 ft | 123 ft | $15 | |
| GULC | 004 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 39 ft | 160 ft | $15 | |
| GULC | 005 | standard nonelectric | $15 | ||||
| GULC | 006 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | 52 ft | 109 ft | $15 | |
| GULC | 007 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 52 ft | 151 ft | $15 | |
| GULC | 008 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 94 ft | 146 ft | $15 | |
| GULC | 009 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | 94 ft | 55 ft | $15 | |
| GULC | 010 | tent only nonelectric | 20 ft | 122 ft | under 10 ft | $15 | |
| GULC | 011 | standard nonelectric | $15 | ||||
| GULC | Group Picnic | day use | 157 ft |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Crazy Creek CampgroundBitterroot National Forest · 3.9 mi
Medicine Point LookoutBitterroot National Forest · 5.5 mi
Twogood CabinBitterroot National Forest · 7.0 mi
Indian Trees CampgroundBitterroot National Forest · 7.8 mi
Jennings Camp CampgroundBitterroot National Forest · 10 miThe campground is located in southwestern Montana, approximately 75 miles south of Missoula. From Sula, travel three miles northwest on Highway 93.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sula, MT
Typical weather
Typical May night 33°F, day 64°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical May night 33°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
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
Spring Gulch 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 →