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Fort Bidwell California Map

Explore Fort Bidwell, California, with this interactive street and satellite map.

This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.

Interactive Map of Fort Bidwell, California

How to Use This Fort Bidwell, California Map

This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Fort Bidwell, California. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of California or beyond.

Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).

TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Fort Bidwell.

Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.

Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.

City	Fort Bidwell
State	California (CA)
County	Modoc County
Country	United States of America
Timezone	Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles)

Latitude	41.860446
Longitude	-120.151339
Population	180
Density	21.7 /km²
Incorporated	N/A
ZIP Code	96112
Area Code	530
County Seat	Alturas
School District	Surprise Valley Joint Unified School District

🌦 Goto Fort Bidwell Weather Page: Fort Bidwell, California — Weather Warnings, Forecast, Radar, Satellite & Current Conditions

About Fort Bidwell, California

Fort Bidwell is a locality in Modoc County, California, United States. It is a small community with a population of 180. The population density is 21.7 people per km². Fort Bidwell is located at 41.8604°N, 120.1513°W. It observes the Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles) timezone. ZIP code: 96112.

Fort Bidwell occupies a quiet, high-desert expanse where the arid air holds the scent of sagebrush and cooling basalt. It lies 103.1 miles north-northeast of Susanville, CA (from Susanville, CA: bearing 14°T), and is situated 24.8 miles south-southeast of Lakeview. Bidwell Creek carves a persistent, silver thread through the valley floor, providing a vital pulse of water that sustains the local landscape before eventually passing near the shimmering, shallow basin of Upper Lake. To the west, the Larkspur Hills rise in jagged, shadowed silhouettes against the expansive sky, marking the boundary of a terrain defined by stark clarity rather than lush abundance. Beyond the immediate reach of the creek, the land transitions into the rugged, timbered reaches of Modoc National Forest, where the silence is broken only by the sudden, sharp shift of wind through the pines.

History lingers in the weathered wood of the old military structures, remnants of a period when Fort Bidwell functioned as a sentinel post in a vast, frontier territory. The local economy remains anchored to the rhythms of the earth, dictated by the cycles of ranching and the slow, deliberate work of agriculture that has persisted in the shadow of Coyote Flat for generations. Those who traverse the region might find a different pace of existence, perhaps hiking the remote stretches of Mill Creek Trail, where the ground beneath one's boots feels ancient and untethered from the frantic velocity of modern life. It is a place where the light at dusk turns the dry grasses to a pale, brittle gold, illuminating a geography that asks for little and offers a singular, desolate beauty to those who remain.

Nearby Outdoor Places

Modoc National Forest (National Forest) — 2.4 mi, 335° NW · 1.7M acres
California State Lands Commission (State Resource Management Area) — 6.0 mi, 090° E
Fremont National Forest (National Forest) — 9.3 mi, 360° N · 1.2M acres
Emigrant Trails Area of Critical Environmental Concern (Area of Critical Environmental Concern) — 10.1 mi, 264° W
Twelvemile Creek (Wild & Scenic River) — 10.4 mi, 030° NE · 2,504 acres
Three Corners Monument (Monument) — 12.1 mi, 040° NE
Rahilly-Gravelly Area of Critical Environmental Concern (Area of Critical Environmental Concern) — 14.1 mi, 048° NE
Crane Mountain Viewpoint (Viewpoint) — 15.5 mi, 342° N
Fortynine Camp (Historic Ruins) — 21.4 mi, 147° SE
Massacre Rim Wilderness Study Area (Wilderness Study Area) — 22.4 mi, 125° SE · 101k acres
Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge Proposed Wilderness Area (Wilderness Study Area) — 24.5 mi, 090° E · 325k acres
Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge (National Wildlife Refuge) — 24.5 mi, 090° E · 1.2M acres
Alger Theatre (Cinema) — 24.8 mi, 336° NW
Black Rock Desert / High Rock Canyon National Conservation Area (National Conservation Area) — 25.9 mi, 139° SE · 816k acres
South Warner Wilderness (Wilderness Area) — 27.1 mi, 185° S · 70k acres
Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge (National Wildlife Refuge) — 36.8 mi, 026° NE · 552k acres
Hart Mountain Hot Springs (Attraction) — 50.2 mi, 028° NE
Japanese Balloon Bomb Memorial (Monument) — 53.6 mi, 318° NW
Royal Peacock Opal Mine (Attraction) — 54.4 mi, 095° E
Battle of Dry Lake (Registered Battlefield) — 60.2 mi, 260° W
Canby's Cross (Monument) — 62.4 mi, 272° W
Petroglyph Point (Attraction) — 63.8 mi, 269° W
Paisley Five Mile Caves (Historic Ruins) — 65.6 mi, 342° N
Hospital Rock (Attraction) — 68.0 mi, 269° W

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