Hidden Wilderness Roadside Camp #1

The entrance road is hard to find - Drive to the Indian Hot Springs facility in Idaho Springs, take Montane Road. It turns into Hidden Wilderness Road when the pavement ends.

As already stated by others, this is a Jeep trail. Do not attempt without 4WD at any time of year. It’s dangerous to turn around, and the trails kinda busy. You could get in a bind here if you’re not careful.

There are multiple campsites along the road, one at each switchback, and at least a dozen on top of the mountain. Campsites on top are large, wooded, and spread out. The switchback spots aren’t as good. I was able to find a flat spot up top big enough for a 10x10 tent, but I had to look around a bit.

If you keep following the main “road”, it eventually ends at a private gate, and you’ll need to turn around and backtrack about a quarter mile to get a camping spot.

I spent 2 weeks here in a full size 4x4 pickup with stock suspension, drove up and down the mountain about 5 times, slowly, without issue. I probably wouldn’t drive up there in a Subaru, but I did in fact see several Subarus up there on weekends.

This is a popular place for locals to shoot guns and ride dirt bikes. There are brass shell casings on the ground literally everywhere, and a LOT of shooting most days. More traffic than you would think on such a treacherous road, almost all locals coming up for the day.

Saw a couple of NFS maintenance trucks, no rangers or other staff. Peaceful spot at night. I’m a remote worker, and Starlink and Verizon both have good signal. Firewood everywhere. No water, rivers or lakes, but otherwise no complaints.

First off the campsite locations for hidden wilderness roadside camp is somewhat misleading. Once you get to where # 1 is marked on the map, there are essentially spots scattered along that road all the way past wilderness camp #3. It’s not just a group of campsites at anyone location. This is one of those places where you kind of think you’re lost the entire time but then every couple minutes you’ll pass another campsite. Now please note well you might pull this off in a 2 Wheel Dr. I would seriously recommend four-wheel-drive. This is a very rocky steep Jeep trail essentially. From the paved road, we slowly drove a solid 30 minutes up this road before we picked a campsite. There are campsites ever so often both on the left and right side of the road that are marked only by a pull off area with a fire pit. If you pick the right spot, there are absolutely beautiful views, and it is very spread out and secluded. It says you need a permit, but we didn’t bother. I would recommend this to anyone who wants an adventure and not just some regular campground. Our campsite didn’t have much even ground, but we strung up hammocks so that wasn’t really an issue. There are no facilities at all to ever so you will need to pack in and pack everything out yourself .