Homestake Pass Dispersed Camping

We camped here in July 2021 in a 40’ Motorhome.

There is one main, open camping area up the hill and on the left. That’s where we camped because our Motorhome is huge. But we explored further up the road in our Jeep and there are some much cooler and more private sites if you have a smaller or more capable vehicle.

It was tough to get leveled, probably the most amount of blocks we’ve ever used.

The smoke was really bad when we were there, but obviously that depends on the fire season.

There’s not much to this place, but we enjoyed the proximity to Butte and did a couple of the mining tours in town.

Cell signal was good, not great. But useable for work most of the time.

It was pretty packed and there were definitely some camps setup to stay much longer than the stay limit.

Easy access off the I-90 just a bit of washboard and a little hill to get out to the campsite. Not much road /highway noise.

Check out our video of the mining tours if you’re interested: https://youtu.be/vsdff2gx6Xs

Enjoy!

It's convenient but a bit trashed. There are a number of side roads leading off the main gravel road. Many are rutted and would be rough for lower clearance vehicles. The two areas that would accept any sized rigs are close to the interstate. One is right at the on-ramp to I-90 west. Its just a big gravel lot, though it is close to the lake. The other is maybe a half-mile back in and has some wide open areas. This latter area does seem more popular with longer term campers and we noticed a bit of a garbage issue when we were there. But on a Monday night, the campers were quiet (the interstate highway is not quiet). Do be aware that this area also has free range cattle, so you might wake up surrounded by the herd, as we did.

Great spot with some really neat ATV trails. The road is washborded in spots but it wasn't so bad that we couldn't get our 42ft rig up. We parked in a big pull off under some power lines and there was a nice little fire pit there as well. There was quite a bit of trash around so we picked up what we could but other than that we really enjoyed it.

We've stayed here a night or two each August the past couple of years. We love it so much, we keep coming back to it. The dirt road can be pretty washboardy and bumpy but the views are spectacular. There are usually already several RVs set up in the first main area off the road, but we've never had any trouble finding a spot (even the first year when we arrived after dark). If you're more adventurous in your rig, there are plenty of places farther up the main road as well.

This area is very popular with ATV'ers, and most of the RV'ers seem to travel with their ATVs. This area also accesses the Continental Divide Trail, if you want to do some hiking or trail running. It is gorgeous!

There are cell towers nearby, so phone signal is pretty great. We have both T-Mobile and Google phones and had no problem streaming in the evenings.

This is a great spot with a ton of options for all size rigs and camping set ups.
We stayed here for five nights at the first large pull off on Homestake Pass Rd with about 10 other rigs and a couple of car campers. There was plenty of room for privacy and nice mountainside views.
It seems the majority of larger rigs pull off into the first landing, which is at the top of the first hill about 0.5 mile in and has great views and great cell tower access (you can see the towers on the hilltop across the highway from the site), with no problems.
During our stay we could hear all the traffic (cars, trucks, ATVs) coming and going to the lake and late at night some of the highway traffic with the windows open. It stayed busy late into the evening on the weekend, with cars and ATVs driving around as late as 2am (I was awake reading and watched two different groups go by) but they were respectful and as quiet as they could be (no yelling or loud music).
We also had cows passing trough our campsite and moseying down the road as we drove down to the lake. Plenty of rabbits and chipmunk holes but we didn't see many out and about.
It was also very cool in the evenings and occasionally gusty.
Homestake Pass Rd connects to Delmoe Lake Rd and goes back about 10 miles to Delmoe Lake. There is a campground back at the lake but we only saw a couple of tents, so not sure if RVs are allowed. The lake is super low, btw.
There are dozens of pull offs on both roads almost all the way back to the lake that would work for any size rigs. Both roads are one lane gravel, but wide enough for two truck to pass and well maintained with a little bit of wash-boarding that makes it uncomfortable to drive fast. For the most part if it is dry you should be able to pull up most of the hills without the need for 4x4 if you take it slow.
We saw several large tow rigs as far back as around the 6 mile marker on Delmoe Lake Rd when we drove back to check out the lake. We didn't come across any washouts or hills on the road itself that would prevent pulling something as big as 35ft-40ft to the large group sized pull outs we saw at mile 2, 4, and 6 (there are two big spots just before and after marker 6) as long as you have the patience/tolerance for a little wash-boarding and slow hill climbing. Everything we was was a tow so I don't know how well a ClassA would do. Hubby says it could be done, but you would need patience (and if you had a wife like me, some earplugs to cut off the commentary) on some of the hills.
Some of the FS roads that branch off are pretty washed out rock-crawler scary and would be prohibitive if you don't have good clearance, but all of the big pull offs were pretty flat. We didn't check the cell service at any of the sites farther back.
This site was great for family exploring and hiking with two young kids and active dogs. We loved the views and the access to the lakes and to Butte. We would definitely camp here again.

The road getting up to the camp area was OK a little bumpy with some washboard. We did not stay in the main camp area it was a little tight and crowded. We wanted a little more privacy. We drove up the road a bit and found a beauitful large site. There was a massive fire ring but lots of broken glass but not really trash. We had beauitful views and the moon coming up was spectacular. Plenty of places to walk. We had our furry friends, the chipmunks and they expected to become part of the family. There were some 4 wheelers but not bad. No water, trash or toilets.
Would come again.