Best Dispersed Camping near Lima, MT

Dispersed Camping Area 6100M is a large camping area a short distance off forest road 100 with five established sites. Three of the sites are in the open and two are tucked in the trees along the edge of the Ruby River. The tree sites are very nice, sitting among large fir trees. Rock fire rings can be found at all sites, one of the treed sites along the river has a metal fire barrel. Disperse camping along FS route 100 is only allowed in designated locations in this part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. All forest service disperse camping rules are in affect. Stay is limited to 16 days. No facilities at this site so come prepared. Site is at an elevation of 6567 feet

Coal Creek Disperse Camping Area is a large flat grassy parking area just barely off the main road. Site has a large rock fire ring with plenty of flat areas to set up a tent or park a camper. Site is right next to Coal Creek. Being so close to the road you will have no privacy, but the remoteness of the area should mean little to no traffic at night. Disperse camping along FS route 100 is only allowed in designated locations in this part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. All forest service disperse camping rules are in affect. Stay is limited to 16 days. No facilities at this site so come prepared. Site is at an elevation of 7000 feet

Dispersed Camping Area 6100X is not much to talk about. The location is just barely off the road in a bumpy grassy area along Forest Service route 100. This camping area is wide open, not much of a site, but does have a small rock fire ring. I would suggest not using the fire ring as small sage brush is growing along the edge of the ring, would build a new ring if you wanted a fire. While the ground is a little bumpy you should have no problem find a level enough spot for a tent and a camper should be no problem at all. Disperse camping along FS route 100 is only allowed in designated locations in this part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. All forest service disperse camping rules are in affect. Stay is limited to 16 days. No facilities at this site so come prepared. Site is at an elevation of 7024 feet.

Cow Creek Disperse camping area is a large fairly flat grassy area just off the road. Area is in the wide open on a high spot above the Ruby River meaning less bugs as you are unprotected from any breeze that may be blowing. The site has great views of the surrounding mountains and of the Ruby River below. Site has on large rock fire ring. Plenty of room to fit a large group at this location, with no problem finding flat spots for your tents. Disperse camping along FS route 100 is only allowed in designated locations in this part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. All forest service disperse camping rules are in affect. Stay is limited to 16 days. No facilities at this site(so come prepared. Site is at an elevation of 6428 feet.

A Outhouse!!!. Dispersed Camping Area 6100J is a large camping area a short distance off forest road 100 with four to six established sites depending on how you look at it. But the best thing of all is just across FS road 100 is a vault toilet. The camping area sits between FS 100 and the Ruby River, unfortunately none of the sites are along the river. I said 4-6 sites as a few of the rock fire rings are very close to another fire ring, could fit to groups of campers at these sites, but why would you want to be so close to someone else while disperse camping. Good size fire rings at nice flat locations with plenty of room to set up camp. The vault toilet did not have any paper in it when I visited, but it was after the usual camping season and the middle of hunting season. The site also has 3 tie up rails for horses at the entrance to the camping area. Disperse camping along FS route 100 is only allowed in designated locations in this part of the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. All forest service disperse camping rules are in affect. Stay is limited to 16 days. No facilities at this site(except for the vault toilet) so come prepared. Site is at an elevation of 6472 feet

The BLM's Ruby Reservoir is a disperse camping area. The only facilities at this campground is a double vault toilet. There is no signage on the highway to indicated the campground. After passing the dam look for the first paved turn with a stop sign on the right side of the road, this is your turn, the pavement will stop after a couple hundred feet. Lots of campsite can be found by following the web of roads once the pavement ends. Off road travel is not allowed. Their are no metal fire rings, all the fire rings in the area are made of rocks. Being a primitive camping area this is a trash-in-trash-out site, and you will need to bring your own water. This is a nice area, and I have camped here several times during hunting season. The fishing is decent as well. If you want to find garnets just head to the lake shore and start digging. Small ones can be found on the surface, bring a shovel and dig deeper if you want something decent. If you use a gold pan shake the gravel around for several minutes then flip the pan is the easiest way to find them as the garnets are heavy and will settle to the bottom of the pan. Site is free with a 16 day stay limit.

Coordinartes: 44.16547,-112.90392. Beautiful views. Large dirt and gravel site, right along side to Skull Canyon Road, about a mile from ID Hwy 28. Canyon walls on each side. Rough narrow rocky track to the site from the highway; recommend high clearance. High humps on this track. Small rock fire ring. Grass and sagebrush all around site. Some leveling may be required. Tent camping possible. Very peaceful; can hardly hear road noise from highway. The only vehicle that drove by was a national forest truck. No cell service. There are several boondocking sites, some with vault toilets nearby, along Hwy 28 in the Birch Creek Recreation Area.

Good option for the night the bit windy and not much protection

The turn off to the south is difficult to see at night, it’s just two wheel tracks. The one we took was about two blocks in, the road was a little rutted but the camp area was flat, and very quiet. See the Tetons to the east at sunrise, it’s beautiful.