Mortimer Campground — Lewis and Clark National Forest

Mortimer sits along the Dearborn River on the eastern flank of the Lewis and Clark National Forest, a legitimate mid-route camp for overlanders working the Rocky Mountain Front between Augusta and the Benchmark corridor. It’s a small, low-key campground — vault toilets, fire rings, a handful of sites in a riverside setting with cottonwood and ponderosa. The Dearborn here is a good-looking trout stream and the canyon walls rising behind camp remind you exactly where you are. Not heavily trafficked compared to some of the better-known USFS camps in the region.

Access from Augusta via Dearborn River Road — gravel, manageable in a stock truck or high-clearance rig. Road can get sticky after hard rain but nothing that should give a properly equipped vehicle trouble. Season runs roughly June through October. No drinking water on-site; treat from the river. No cell coverage. Check current fire restrictions with the Augusta Ranger District before you head out.

Rocky Mountain Front riverside camp, no crowds.