About this place
Van Deriet sits 30 miles west of Augusta, close to the airport. There are 6 sites with a mixture of facilities.
You cannot drive in, and it is not accessible. The MT Aeronautic Division helps maintain it.
Bears come through here. Keep all food out of sight in approved containers, and clear everything away after you eat, because food storage here is not optional.
There is a hand pump for drinking water.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Roads around it
- No vehicle access
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Toilet
- Yes
- Type
- Specific campsite
- Managed by
- Helena-Lewis and Clark 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
There are three things to check before you camp here. The first is which roads and tracks you are allowed to drive on. The second is how food has to be stored. The third is whether fire restrictions are in force. All three are on the page for this site.
Getting there
Coordinates 47.475556, -112.866389
Open in Google Maps Agency page
Nearest town and supplies
- Augusta, MT Directions
- Seeley Lake, MT Directions
Seeley Lake 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.
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.