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Dispersed Camping

North fork Flathead River dispersed camping

14 Reviews

About

National Forest

Flathead National Forest

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Location

North fork Flathead River dispersed camping is located in Montana

Coordinates

48.5692675 N
114.1300813 W

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Access

Drive-In
Park next to your site
Walk-In
Park in a lot, walk to your site.
Hike-In
Backcountry sites.
Boat-In
Sites accessible by watercraft.

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Site Types

Tent Sites
RV Sites
Dispersed
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Features

For Campers

Toilets
Alcohol
Pets
Fires

Enjoy dispersed camping on government land and leave no trace. Pack in and pack out. No (or limited) services at this camping area. Permit may be required.

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Chad R.

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 1, 2023

Nice and quiet spot

Stayed here for a night and didn't have any issues with rafters or boaters, etc. There's not a lot of traffic either. Right on the river bank and it is refreshing water.

Month of VisitOctober

(8) View All

Shayli L.

Guide

Reviewed Jul. 4, 2023

Wonderful spot, but dust and heavy traffic

During the evening and early mornings this place is magical. It gets pretty crowded during the day and when people say the dirt road is dusty, you've never seen anything like this. You can't see 5ft in front of you. There are 3 RV sites and several tent sites down by the river. Place was full every night in July.

Month of VisitAugust

Jess W.

Scout

Reviewed Aug. 26, 2022

Nice views & quiet

Had a great experience here! I found a great spot right next to the river. Peaceful and quiet. They have to main camping arrears: in the open field or in the trees.

Month of VisitAugust

Lizeth M.

Scout

Reviewed Feb. 9, 2022

Rafters try to intimidate

We loved it here and will for sure be back. But the other reviewer mentioning the locals claim to the spot for rafting is spot on. They try to intimidate and we ended up moving spots. But it was still stunning and once we decided to stay out of each other’s way we were fine.

Month of VisitAugust

Mike

Traveler

Reviewed Aug. 30, 2021

Told to move

We thought this was going to be a great place to park our TT while we explored Glacier NP. We had the campsite right by the river. Thought we lucked out. Boy where we wrong, after a long day in the NP we got back to our TT and found a note on our door and written in the dust on our trailer to move. Also found someone had messed with our TT. They turned off the propane and unhooked the hose from the tank. The locals consider this there campsite to port there boats in and out of the water. There is nothing stating this. We felt threatened and would not stay for another night.

Siteby the water

Month of VisitSeptember

grace H.

Scout

Reviewed Aug. 17, 2021

Great spot!

Not today far from glacier, very clean and beautiful area. The gravel road leading to the area is one of the best I have experienced(flat, mostly dirt and few rocks that were worrisome) and the site had pit toilets!

Month of VisitSeptember

Nancy

Traveler

Reviewed Aug. 17, 2021

lovely campsite on the Flathead River.

We stayed for 3 nights on the North fork of the Flathead river. We had been searching around for a First come First served site and hadnt found anything that looked just right. We wanted to have a little space and be on water. We arrived at the Great Northern Flats on Thursday afternoon and found a perfect site for our Bean Trailer. It was not crowded at this point, 2 other groups camping in designated spots and a few tents tucked under the trees by the River. I never ventured over to check out the tent sites, but I would guess they are really nice. during the weekend days, the boat ramp, which is right in campsite area was pretty busy with people putting rafts and kayaks in. this didnt bother us, as we were out fishing or visiting Glacier National Park. The River was perfect for cooling off after being in the sun. One bathroom with no water, outhouse style. Pretty clean. We enjoyed our stay and love this part of Montana.

Month of VisitAugust

Brandon P.

Guide

Reviewed Jul. 9, 2021

Close to glacier, free, and beautifill

Stayed here from july 5-8. We packed our tent down the river a little ways for more privacy but didnt really need it. Dusty rough road but you can go in the back door of glacier and not have to wait in lines and you are on the road to polebridge mercantile. Wish i had stayed longer

Month of VisitAugust

(7) View All

Sable

Traveler

Reviewed Oct. 22, 2020

Great free river Location

Spent 3 nights here. Was awesome to sleep right next to the river. It has 2 pit bathroom whichwas a bonus. Took the back way into Glacier and was convenient especially when the front gate was on lockdown. Highly recommend

Tim

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 27, 2020

Awesome dispersed set of campsites.

Fire pits. Easy access to the river. Ability to have some privacy from other sites. Pit toilet that was fine for a pit toilet. Stayed there sept 9-12, 2020. Right next to the to river and it’s babbling mini rapids. Standard bumpy gravel road access to Glacier national park. Also easy access to the Flathead national forest. Not too crowded while we were there. Couple RVs in the main lot area, ran generators for brief moments at reasonable times. One night only one other tent there. Another there were 5 or 6. A short walk from parking to sites but no big deal. Left our stuff each day while we went to explore glacier and came back to no problems. Limited wood in the area to burn but you can find it - especially if you have a saw/axe.

(4) View All

Jeff K.

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 10, 2020

Great sky view at night

There is no sugar coating it, the road to this site is horrendous. It’s so bumpy but doable. Once there we found a site that is in the wide open. We loved the river and the night sky. It is quiet enough so we loved that.

On the drive in I ran over an Allen wrench which gave me a flat. Another camper, a local, helped me out with some equipment that made it easy to fix. The people in this area are great and Doug and his daughter Hope made this stay a lot easier.

Chad L.

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 2, 2020

Great spot on Flathead

Dispersed campground right on the Flathead river. Great to hear the river at night. Only downsides are it’s a busy boat launch with people coming all day long and it can get loud on the weekends. Free camping with 3 day max stay. The road will likely cause need for a front end alignment as you drive from Columbia Falls. About another 10 miles (of terrible roads) on North Fork road and you are at the west entrance to Glacier and close to Apgar / Lake McDonald. We stayed for 3 days and loved it. Nature at its best.

(4) View All

Denyel B.

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 1, 2020

Glacier Flats

This campground isn't the "most" scenic in the GNP area BUT we really did enjoy the change in scenery and pace. This is a moderately used launching point for floating the river so there are usually vehicles and trailers parked during the day.

At night, it clears out and that's when the magic happens. The stars are so bright and the Milky Way seems so close you could touch it. Sites are rustic but there is a serviceable vault toilet that is regularly maintained.

Gail W.

Guide

Reviewed Jul. 25, 2020

Nice area right on the water

About 5 miles worth of very graded dirt road but if you take it slow should be accessible to all. Fire pits at some but not all sites and water is not visible until you get to the edge however it is a nice area right off of Forest road. Vault toilet available but no other services.