This weekend I returned to the roots of what I enjoy doing: riding a lot and spending the night in the woods for free. I rode up to Kingston, Idaho, on I-90, filled up the bike, filled up my stomach, and proceeded to ride northwards towards Prichard, Idaho. At Prichard, I hung a right onto NF-9 and stayed on that road until I reached Thompson Pass, 16 miles away. I rode through the parking lot and to the trailhead for Revett Lake, but there were a lot of cars, not a lot of space to set up a camp, and I decided that I just was not feeling like doing a hike, so I continued on to my destination. NF-9 becomes Montana Secondary Highway 471 at the summit. I followed this road for another 22 miles towards Thompson Falls, Montana. At this point my GPS was all sorts of confused but that was alright because I thought I knew where I was going from here anyways.
At the junction of MSH 471 and Montana Highway 200 I made a left and headed towards White Pine. I continued on for about 9 miles and turned left onto Beaver Creek Road/NF152. After about 10 more miles, of which maybe a little over half are gravel, I finally arrived at Jack Pine Flats Campground.

The road into the campground is a little difficult to spot as the signs face parallel to the direction of travel. Look for the little mile post like sign that says 152G and that will make it a little easier to spot. There is a eastern and western entrance and the road goes pretty straight through the campground area. There is only one campsite, but there is a fire pit, picnic table, and bear box at the site. There is also a vault toilet a short walk away. I have seen pictures where there are short trailers in this site, but I think you could probably get away with just pulling a big trailer onto the main campground road and blocking off the road if you really wanted to. There are no amenities like garbage or water, so bring what you need and pack it out with you when you are done. The creek was very dry, but there is a tiny stream bubbling away about 20 feet from the picnic table for some mild ambiance.

I awoke to 40 °F weather and a perpetual dawn. I do not know how long it took for the sun to reach into the valley that I was camped in, but it was a significant amount of time. I broke camp and repacked the bike before eating a spot of breakfast. I had hoped that temperatures would rise but they did not come up very much. Unsure of what the rest of the road was going to be like and how long it would take for me to traverse it, I left camp cold. NF152 heads up and over the state line and back into Idaho. Google maps and I are having a bit of a disagreement about what the road designation actually is. According to the signage that I saw, going pretty much straight about a half-mile to a mile from the campground is NF152/ Big Beaver Road. The US Forest Service Geospatial Data Discovery map also says that it is NF152/ Big Beaver Road. Google maps tries to call it National Forest Develop Rd 2258 Trail. At any rate, stay the straighter course and you are on the correct road to reach the pass and access to the Idaho Centennial Trail.

There is a warning that the road is not maintained for cars or trailers pretty soon after the intersection. There was a lot of baseball to softball sized loose rock as well as a lot of embedded rock in the road. The rutting was not horribly bad, and I thought that perhaps a properly equipped SUV could make it up the road with a little bit of effort and attention. Pickups would have little issue, but I would not try to drag a trailer up the mountain. It was steep and narrow and had a few switchbacks that would pose problems to long vehicles. There are some great views to be had, but few flat-ish spots to take photos from so I mostly stuck to just getting the bike up the mountain.
At the summit of the road you can pick up the Idaho Centennial Trail if you feel like hiking. There were a few trucks parked and there appeared to be room for maybe a half dozen vehicles. The ride down the Idaho side, which is still NF152 but has been renamed to Eagle Creek Road, was much easier to travel and better taken care of. It is a hard pack dirt/gravel section with fewer switchbacks. There are still some sharp corners, but traffic was very light (I saw one vehicle in the two to three hours I spent on the road). There are also a few rock slide areas that should be paid attention to for recent falls.

Overall, Jack Pine Flats Campground offers a pretty nice little camping experience that any vehicle that can travel on a gravel road can get to. The price is free, which makes the trip cost whatever gas and food costs for you. I recommend going in late spring, early summer as the creek will be more likely to hold some water and the wildflowers will be in full bloom. There were nary a flower to be seen until I neared the divide on this trip, another sign that fall is indeed on the way. Both of the roads that I took over the mountains this trip are closed once the snow gets flying, so do not make this a winter trip unless you just plan on camping at Jack Pine Flats and accessing it from Montana Hwy 200.
Get out there while you still can and happy adventures!

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