DH and I will be going over the Lolo Pass from Missoula and looking for campgrounds near or along Hwy. 12 in late July or early August. I noticed that there are several NFS CGs along the Hwy. However, only two look like they would work for our 38 ft. fiver, Wendover and Wilderness Gateway. Our trailer is 13’4”” tall, we need good area for maneuverability and some open sites. An old Coleman NFS CG directory states that there are both wooded and open sites in both. Does anyone have knowledge of these campgrounds or any privately owned campgrounds that they would recommend along this route between Missoula and Kooskia. Thanks in advance for your help.

Pretty drive. I usually use Google satellite view to find pull off spots, but that road doesn't show too many of those. Must be hilly.

Check the lolo square dance campground. We stayed there a few years back.

Fulltimers wrote:Check the lolo square dance campground. We stayed there a few years back.That is a good idea. Get an early morning start and enjoy the drive.

I have stayed at Wilderness gateway several times. I am only 26 ft. There are a lot of open sites and there appear to be many that will take larger RVs. It is a beautiful spot and I always look forward to our time there fishing the Lochsa River.

Our FW is 36' and 12'10" tall. We stayed at Wilderness Gateway. There are several pull throughs in the first loop, probably the roomier of the two. Go to Campendium, create a login and you'll be able to see a few good photos of Wilderness Gateway under the Kooskia listing in Idaho. Also go to this full-timer's web site, scroll down to 2010, to the Lochsa and Clearwater Rivers North Central ID link. Jerry Johnson campground is another possibility for you. The information is listed. In case the link doesn't work the address is https://www.fulltime.hitchitch.com/Yes, there are wooded and open sites, at least in the first loop for sure. Not sure of the second as we did not see it.

Campgrounds along or near Hwy 12 in Idaho | Good Sam Community

Texas_Roadrunn1
Explorer
Nov 01, 2019
hornet28 wrote:
Older thread but here's a nice one right on 12. The fee of $9 with full hookups for seniors is a real savings. The camp host was very friendly also. https://www.blm.gov/visit/pink-house-recreation-site
.

Thanks so much for this info, we didn’t make it to this area last summer as we had planned. It is still on our radar, so I will take a look at this cg. Thank you so much!
hornet28
Explorer
Oct 26, 2019
Older thread but here's a nice one right on 12. The fee of $9 with full hookups for seniors is a real savings. The camp host was very friendly also. https://www.blm.gov/visit/pink-house-recreation-site
Supercharged
Explorer
Oct 25, 2019
2oldman wrote:
Pretty drive. I usually use Google satellite view to find pull off spots, but that road doesn't show too many of those. Must be hilly.
Very few, we stay at a place, ok, poorly run this summer.
ReneeG
Explorer
Jun 20, 2019
mittshel wrote:
Sorry for not responding sooner. No all the spots are not big rig friendly. We just happened to get a big pull thru spot.

Thanks!
mittshel
Explorer
Jun 20, 2019
Sorry for not responding sooner. No all the spots are not big rig friendly. We just happened to get a big pull thru spot.
ReneeG
Explorer
Jun 13, 2019
mittshel wrote:
We stayed at Powell with big FW. Was fine. We could walk to the lodge. They had the best onion rings we have ever had, anywhere.

Are most or all of the sites big rig friendly? We missed the turn off so we ended up staying at Wilderness Gateway. Are all the sites big rig friendly?

Thanks.
kknowlton
Explorer II
Jun 13, 2019
We loved Powell. We were there about 30 years ago with our popup, before they added hookups. Just a beautiful spot - and the lodge was a bonus! Hoping to get back there next year.
mittshel
Explorer
Jun 08, 2019
We stayed at Powell with big FW. Was fine. We could walk to the lodge. They had the best onion rings we have ever had, anywhere.
Texas_Roadrunn1
Explorer
Jun 03, 2019
Thanks for the info on Hwy 12. I think we are going to give it a try. I am really looking forward to it!
ken56
Explorer
Jun 02, 2019
It's not a bad pull really. We did it with our 30 ft. trailer with no problem but your rig is heavier I know. The problem I found with the pullouts is they come up quite fast with no signs to tell you one is ahead. You will be past one before you can brake and pull over to use it. State law is to let other cars pass if you start holding up traffic.