About this place
Bighorn sits right on Rock Creek, in the Rock Creek drainage, in old growth ponderosa pine and Douglas fir.
The creek is a blue ribbon trout stream and the canyon around it is rugged.
It is open all year, weather permitting. Between October and April there is nothing here at all.
The road in is narrow and rough, so trailers, motorhomes and tow vehicles are all a bad idea.
The campground was rebuilt in 2024. The access road was rebuilt, new campsites were added, and there are new vault toilets, fire rings and picnic tables. The Great American Outdoors Act paid for it.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- Narrow and rough. Trailers, motorhomes and tow vehicles are not recommended
- Type
- Specific campsite
- When it’s open
- All year
- Managed by
- Lolo National Forest
The roads around this place are not maintained for a regular car. That comes from the US Forest Service, who grade every road by the kind of vehicle it is looked after for. Those records cover the roads nearby. They do not cover the last stretch in to the campsite, and nobody has checked that part. Treat this as a warning. We are not promising what you will find when you get there. If you have driven it, tell us what it was like and we will say so here.
Rules and restrictions
This is bear country, and the Forest Service has rules about how you store food. They spell them out on their own page for this campground, so read that before you leave home.
The rule is nearly always the same. Food, trash and anything with a smell has to go inside a hard-sided vehicle, or hang well off the ground. Toothpaste and dog food count as things with a smell. Most people forget both.
Getting there
Coordinates 46.384921, -113.658933
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
Nothing is close to this one. Everything below is a long drive away, and each line says how far.
- Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Directions
- Mount Sentinel Directions
- Lolo Peak Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Philipsburg, MT Directions
- Stevensville, MT Directions
Stevensville is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. This is Forest Service land, and each forest sets its own rule for how far you have to go, so check before you travel.
The nearest other free campsite in this guide is Garnet Back Country Byway, Montana — 34 miles in a straight line, but a 63 mile drive. Two more sit closer than 25 miles, if the rule here allows them.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Forest Service’s own records, read in August 2026.