RM 11 · 48.5696° N, 114.1298° W

360° · Terrain360 · Great Northern Flats Boat Launch

Measured in the field by FRA

25.9%

steepest grade on the route to the water

Parking area to the water

Max grade: 25.90%
Max cross slope: 7.60%
Min tread width: 3.0ft
Hard surface: 75.6%

Great Northern Flats River Access

This access is located at a National Forest camp site and features a vault toilet and designated trailer parking but no vehicle access to the river. The access has been user-eroded into a dirt and cobble riverbank and leads down to a cobble shoreline.

The survey

FRA field survey

Measurement	Average	Worst case
Running grade	3.00%	25.90%
Cross slope	3.00%	7.60%
Tread width	8.3ft	3.0ft
Elevation change, parking to water	+0.4ft	-11.5ft

Surface, parking area to river 75.6% hard 13.1% firm

View the original survey sheet

Access concerns

Verbatim from the survey

No vehicle/trailer access to water level. Users must carry or drag watercraft on highly uneven footing down the hill to water level.

Photographs

Terrain360 · July 2026

Another view of the access at Great Northern Flats on the North Fork.

Field photography Terrain360, July 2026 · site photos courtesy Flathead Rivers Alliance

Getting there

Drive 7.3 miles north on the North Fork Road from its intersection with Blankenship Road, then turn right.

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Access site lens

Supporting evidence · FRA access sheet · Jul 2026 + 12 Terrain360 panoramas

Derived from the 360 imagery, not measured on site. Where it disagrees with the survey above, the survey is correct.

Launch profile

FRA access description: Unimproved ramp Dirt slope, cobble shore
Kayaks + canoes: Difficult
Paddleboards: Difficult
Carry to the water: 50–150 ft
Carry terrain: Steep slope
Carry obstacles: Rocks, mud

Safety + condition

Safety interpretation: Fair
Overall condition: Fair
Access hazards: Steep banks · Unstable footing · Submerged hazards likely
Water obstacles: Rocks
Deferred maintenance signal: Observed

Accessibility observations

Mobility device interpretation: Not suitable
Designated accessible parking: None
Route shown in sheet: Not observed
Route obstacles: Steep grades, rough surface
Observed barriers: Steep grades, rough surfaces, no curb cuts
Accessible water feature: Not observed

Visitor management

Parking estimate: Not assessable from the source imagery
Simultaneous launch capacity: Single
Launch queue evidence: None
Designated camping indicated: Observed
Registration infrastructure: None identified in the source sheet

Experience indicators

Setting: Semi primitive
Recreation character: Lightly managed
Development in view: None
Social trails: Isolated
Informal campsite evidence: Not observed
Use-conflict evidence: None observed in the source

Recreation profile

Observed recreation: Fishing shore, wildlife viewing, walking hiking
Water skill interpretation: Intermediate
Physical ability interpretation: Difficult
Wear patterns: Moderate
Heavy-use signals: Bare soil, rutting
Privacy: Secluded

360° sequence evidence

Coverage + route

Assigned coverage: 12 panoramas across 1 capture session
Scene roles: Launch area (4) · Parking (8)

Visible conditions

Surfaces by scene: Gravel lot (12)
Safety classification: No visible hazard (12)

Setting + use

Crowding by scene: Light (12)
Naturalness by scene: High (12)

Hazards observed

Scattered large boulders near path Scene 8

Facilities observed

Gravel parking/turnout area Scene 2 Scene 11
Gravel turnaround/parking area with parked vehicles Scene 9
Small vault toilet / shelter structure Scene 2
Vehicle parking area Scene 8
Dirt turnout/parking clearing Scene 10
Informal parking turnout Scene 6

8 further single-scene observations in the full sequence.

Curated RAPG fields are interpreted from the FRA access sheet and its photographs; sequence evidence summarizes only the assigned panoramas. Conditions may extend beyond every photographed view. FRA’s field measurements in the Measured access card remain the authority for access type, grades, widths, surfaces, gaps, and accessible parking.

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Audio description

A narrated walk-through of this site: the ramp, the gaps, the surfaces, and the hazards, read from the survey and the 360 imagery.

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Read the transcript

Great Northern Flats, on the North Fork of the Flathead, at river mile 11.

Upstream from here is Big Creek. Downstream is Glacier Rim.

Drive 7.3 miles north from the intersection of the Blankenship and North Fork Roads, then turn right.

The parking area is packed dirt.

There is no designated accessible parking.

The route from the parking area to the river averages 3 percent grade, steepening to 25.9 percent at its steepest point.

Cross slope, the sideways tilt that matters most in a wheelchair, averages 3 percent, with a maximum of 7.6 percent.

The path averages 8.3 feet wide, narrowing to 3 feet at its tightest.

Underfoot it is 75.6 percent hard, and 13.1 percent firm.

You drop about 11.5 feet on the way down to the water.

The launch itself is unimproved ramp dirt slope, cobble shore.

What the 360 imagery shows, from the 12 panoramas photographed here in July 2026. These are observations from the pictures, not field measurements.

Underfoot, the scenes mostly show a gravel parking lot.

Noted in individual panoramas: scattered large boulders near path.

Visible in the imagery: gravel parking and turnout area, small vault toilet and shelter structure and dirt turnout and parking clearing.

The setting reads as natural throughout the sequence, with little or no visible use.

What to watch for, in the survey crew's own words:

No vehicle and trailer access to water level. Users must carry or drag watercraft on highly uneven footing down the hill to water level.

Facilities: Vault toilet.

Conditions on the Three Forks change quickly. Check the gauge the morning you float.

Parking + facilities

Vault toilet
Packed dirt parking
No designated accessible parking
No accessible route to the water

Safety

The next take-out downstream is Glacier Rim, 7.2 miles. Conditions change rapidly on all three forks.

Neighbor sites

The river flows this way →

Upstream · RM 15.3 ← Big Creek

GREAT NORTHERN FLA.
RM 11 · you are here

Downstream · RM 3.8 Glacier Rim →

‹ Upstream put-in Big Creek River Access 4.3 mi float · 6 ft min tread

Downstream take-out › Glacier Rim River Access 7.2 mi float · 3 ft min tread

North Fork · where this site sits

3,973 ft RM 58.2 872 ft of drop · 14.9 ft per mile average 3,102 ft confluence

Elevation sampled from USGS 10m along the Wild & Scenic centerline. Hover or focus a site to see the panorama closest to the water.

Homelands

The river system flows through the traditional homelands of the Ql'ispe (Kalispel or Pend d' Orielle) Ktunaxa/Ksanka (Kootenai), and Séliš (Salish or "Flathead") Nations, who have long cared for this landscape, and the Amskapii Pikuni (Blackfeet) Peoples who often traveled in the river corridor.

About the homelands FRA's own acknowledgment language appears here verbatim.