Agency-listedMontana FWPFree

Beartooth WMA

Drive-up · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT · 46.94523, -111.84363

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Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks lists this site. Someone from the agency inventoried it, so it is a real camp — not a spot we guessed at. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.

SEASONAL -- this WMA is open only May 15 to Dec 1; it is CLOSED the rest of the year to protect big-game winter range. Do not plan a winter or early-spring night here. Beartooth Wildlife Management Area, managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, FWP Region 4. FWP's own site record lists a designated primitive campsite here and its fee table shows no camping fee. IMPORTANT -- THIS IS NOT FREE LAND, even though the camping itself costs nothing: Montana requires a Conservation License of every person aged 12 and older to use an FWP wildlife management area FOR ANY REASON, not just to hunt or fish. It is $8/year for residents, $10/year for nonresidents ($4 for resident youth 12-17 and seniors 62+). Buy it before you arrive. There is no separate per-night camping fee. Camping is allowed only in areas FWP has designated or marked for it (ARM 12.12.107), for no more than 7 nights in any 30-day period statewide. Primitive: pack in / pack out, no hookups and no drinking water; there is a vault toilet. BEAR COUNTRY -- black and possibly grizzly bears use this area. FWP requires food and attractants stored in a vehicle or a certified bear-resistant container. Carry bear spray. Quiet hours are 10 p.m.-7 a.m. and certified weed-free feed is required for stock. We have not visited this site. Confirm the current season dates, the travel plan map and whether camping is still allowed with FWP Region 4 at (406)454-5864 before you go.

USGS topo — contours & terrain

Aerial — USGS / NAIP

Weather outlook — at Beartooth WMA

Loading the latest forecast…

Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,908 ft.

Fire & smoke — around Beartooth WMANIFC · AirNow

Checking active fires & air quality…

Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.

Everything you need — measured from Beartooth WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT

▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.

Nearest of each

WWater5 mi
FFuel11 mi
GGrocery11 mi
@Mail11 mi
DDump14 mi
OOutfitter16 mi
HHardware18 mi
MMechanic22 mi
+Urgent care24 mi
EVEV fast charger24 mi
RxPharmacy24 mi
LLaundry25 mi
ShShower31 mi

≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is basically at camp, fuel & food sit about 11 mi out.

Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.

One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗

The site — Beartooth WMA

Access

Drive-up

Land

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks

Elevation

4,908 ft

Ground slope

35.8% · steep

Nearest rail line

~9.5 mi · main line

Nearest highway

~9.9 mi · Interstate 15

State

Coordinates

46.94523, -111.84363

Cost

Free

Nearby & resupply — around Beartooth WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT (OpenStreetMap)

Water featureElkhorn Creek · ~0.8 mi · USGS: perennial stream
Nearest townNelson · ~9.0 mi
Nearest rail line~9.5 mi · main line
Nearest highway~9.9 mi · Interstate 15
Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.9 mi
FuelExxon · ~11.3 mi
Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
Dump station~14.0 mi
GroceriesCanyon Store · ~11.3 mi
PharmacyBergum Drug · ~26.1 mi
Hospital / clinicOptions Clinic · ~23.9 mi
HardwareProtech Steel · ~20.0 mi

EV charging — from Beartooth WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)

Nearest public DC fast charger23.9 mi straight-line S — Helena, MT - Tesla Supercharger (at a grocery store) · Tesla · NACS (Tesla) · 8 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-06-18 · hours: 24 hours daily. NACS partner enabled. · directions
Public DC fast stations within reach4 within 25 mi · 6 within 50 · 18 within 100 · 35 within 150
Nearest listing CCS23.9 mi — Target T1282 (Helena, MT), Helena
Nearest listing CHAdeMO24.8 mi — L146 DC 2, Helena
Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)24.5 mi — Suds Hut Famous Chicken - Tesla Destination, Helena, MT (at a restaurant) · Tesla Destination · J1772, NACS (Tesla) · 4 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-08-27 · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to all vehicles.
Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 163997 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center

Nearby restrooms — around Beartooth WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Vault / pit toiletDeparture Point Mens Vault Toilet · ~4.6 mi W · BLM
Vault / pit toiletDeparture Womens Vault Toilet · ~4.6 mi W · BLM
RestroomLog Gulch Campground Group Mens Toilet (East Toilets) · ~4.8 mi W · BLM
RestroomLog Gulch Campground Group Womens Toilet · ~4.8 mi W · BLM

Coming out here — Beartooth WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT

Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Elkhorn Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.8 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
Ground slope around the pin: about 35.8% — steep. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
Rail line mapped ~9.5 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
Interstate 15 is mapped ~9.9 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.

Open Beartooth WMA elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

Other camps near Beartooth WMA

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

Who holds the land at Beartooth WMA

USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Beartooth Wildlife Management Area, manager on record: Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, Region 4 (state). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.

How we know this — Beartooth WMA

Stay limit

7 nights (Stay limit 7 nights)

Source

Montana FWP (wildlife management areas)

Confidence

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

How it was placed

Montana FWP WMA. Camping flag: fwpLands WMA Locations layer (fwp-gis.mt.gov/arcgis/rest/services/fwplnd/fwpLands/MapServer/7), CAMPING='Yes'. Designated campsite independently confirmed by the Facilities list on FWP's own site page myfwp.mt.gov/fwpPub/landsMgmt/siteDetail.action?lmsId=39753622 ('Pack in/Pack out Primitive Campsite Toilet (Vault)'). No camping fee: that page's structured `sitefees` table lists only Conservation License rows -- no 'FAS Camping' row (which is $12/$18 per the 2025 FAS Annual Rule where it applies). Conservation License required for any use of an FWP WMA per FWP's conservation-license page and the 2026 Fishing Regulations ('for any reason'). Stay limit 7 nights/30 days per ARM 12.12.107. Coordinates cross-checked between two independent FWP channels -- GIS geometry and the detail page's stated Latitude/Longitude -- agreeing to 0.0006 mi. Open season per FWP: May 15 to Dec 1. Nightshift ingest 2026-07-20 21:28:38. WATER (fire 1740, batch 3, tier F): https://myfwp.mt.gov/fwpPub/landsMgmt/siteDetail.action?lmsId=39753622 -- Montana FWP's own site record for this WMA itemises its Facilities as "Pack in/Pack out / Primitive Campsite / Toilet (Vault)". Absence is read as no drinking water because FWP's Facilities vocabulary does carry water items and does use them: "Drinking Water" / "Water (Pump)" / "Water (Pressurized)" appear on 10 of the 23 FWP state-park pages read this fire through the same widget. This is a single-channel value -- FWP publishes no second per-site water channel, and no field visit backs it.

EV chargers

US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.

Field check

On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.

What we don’t know about Beartooth WMA

A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.

Road surface & last-mile access
How many rigs actually fit
Cell coverage by carrier
Seasonal & winter access
Current fire restrictions
Whether any water here is drinkable
Shade & wind exposure
Noise and who else shows up
Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it

Before you go — Beartooth WMA

Cold-weather camping →Fire rules & restrictions →Camping with a dog →Reading your camp page →All field notes →

Is this page wrong about Beartooth WMA?

This page was built from a public land record, not from a visit. If you have actually pulled in here and it does not match, that is worth more than anything we can read off a map. Tell Dave what is off — it goes to him, not onto the page.

Anything else, in your own words (optional)Your email — optional, and only so Dave can ask you a follow-up. It does not go on a list, and nobody is promising you a reply.

A reader report is not a fact, and this one will not change a word of this page by itself. Dave reads it and checks it against the agency’s own record, because that record is what this site says. If reader reports are ever shown here they are labelled “reader report, unverified” with the date, and they are never merged into the agency fields.