American Adventurer
Agency-listedMontana FWPFree

Blackleaf WMA

Drive-up · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT · 48.00863, -112.63897
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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. Blackleaf 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; no toilet is listed. 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)271-7033 before you go.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Blackleaf WMA
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Blackleaf WMA
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Weather outlook — at Blackleaf WMA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,870 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Blackleaf 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 Blackleaf WMA · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 38 miWPropane · 40 miPExxon · Fuel · 25 miFMountain Front Market · Grocery · 25 miGPharmacy/Drugstore · Pharmacy · 25 miRxAce Hardware · Hardware · 25 miHDesh's Tire & Automotive · Mechanic · 25 miMLaundromat · Laundry · 25 miLHeart Butte Clinic · Urgent care · 21 mi+Buck's Sporting Goods · Outfitter · 25 miODupuyer Post Office · Mail · 14 mi@Great Falls, MT - Tesla Supercharger · EV fast charger · 70 mi (beyond the 60-mi ring)EV
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • @Mail14 mi
  • +Urgent care21 mi
  • GGrocery25 mi
  • FFuel25 mi
  • LLaundry25 mi
  • RxPharmacy25 mi
  • OOutfitter25 mi
  • HHardware25 mi
  • MMechanic25 mi
  • WWater38 mi
  • PPropane40 mi
  • EVEV fast charger70 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is a real 38-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 25 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 70-mi run (and back).

Not within 60 mi: Dump. 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 — Blackleaf WMA

Access
Drive-up
Land
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Elevation
4,870 ft
State
MT
Coordinates
48.00863, -112.63897
Cost
Free

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

  • Nearest townRockport Colony · ~8.5 mi
  • Drinking waternone within 10 mi
  • FuelExxon · ~25.0 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • GroceriesMountain Front Market · ~24.8 mi
  • PharmacyPharmacy/Drugstore · ~25.1 mi
  • Hospital / clinicHeart Butte Clinic · ~21.2 mi
  • HardwareAce Hardware · ~25.4 mi

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

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

Open Blackleaf WMA elsewhere

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Other camps near Blackleaf WMA

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

Snow, and when this opens

The nearest automatic snow station is Dupuyer Creek at 5,740 ft, about 7 miles away. It sits about 870 ft higher than this camp, so treat it as a guide rather than a reading for this spot. We do not repeat a depth here, because any number we stored would be stale by the time you read it — the station publishes today's.

Dupuyer Creek snowpack, from NRCS →

How we know this — Blackleaf 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=39753632 ('Pack in/Pack out Primitive Campsite'). 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=39753632 -- Montana FWP's own site record for this WMA itemises its Facilities as "Pack in/Pack out / Primitive Campsite". 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 Blackleaf 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.

Before you go — Blackleaf WMA

Water on public land →Dumping grey & black →Cold-weather camping →Off-grid communication →All field notes →
Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →