Agency-listedND Game & Fish · dispersedFree
Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County)
Drive-up · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND · 46.86863, -101.09121
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →North Dakota Game & Fish 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.
CAMPING IS THURSDAY THROUGH MONDAY ONLY here -- Crown Butte Dam is closed to camping on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (except holidays). It is a free North Dakota Game & Fish Wildlife Management Area about 4 miles west of I-94 Exit 147 in Morton County, west of Mandan, built around a small (about 88-acre) dam and reservoir. Free primitive camping is allowed by state rule (NDAC 30-04-02) for up to 10 consecutive days with no fee and no permit -- North Dakota does not require any pass or license just to be on or camp at its WMAs. This is a primitive area, not a developed campground: expect no drinking water, no hookups, and no guaranteed toilet, so come fully self-contained and pack out everything (holding tanks may not be dumped on a WMA, and glass beverage containers are prohibited). There is a fishing spot at the dam -- the reservoir suffered winterkill in 2022-23 and has been restocked with bluegill, largemouth bass and channel catfish. Because rules and closures change, confirm the current camping days and any posted restrictions with ND Game & Fish before you go, and never camp where a 'no camping' sign is posted at the entry.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County)
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 1,941 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County)NIFC · 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 Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel4 mi
- DDump8 mi
- EVEV fast charger8 mi
- GGrocery8 mi
- +Urgent care9 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- MMechanic10 mi
- HHardware13 mi
- LLaundry14 mi
- RxPharmacy14 mi
- WWater36 mi
- OOutfitter55 mi
- AAir-up58 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 36-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 4 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 — Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County)
Access
Drive-up
Land
North Dakota Game & Fish · dispersed
Elevation
1,941 ft
Ground slope
10% · noticeable
Nearest rail line
~3.7 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~0.3 mi · Interstate 94
State
ND
Coordinates
46.86863, -101.09121
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCrown Butte Lake · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial lake or pond
- Nearest townSweet Briar · ~4.3 mi
- Nearest rail line~3.7 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~0.3 mi · Interstate 94
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~3.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~7.9 mi
- GroceriesSuperpumper · ~8.9 mi
- PharmacyThrifty White Pharmacy · ~14.4 mi
- Hospital / clinicVibra Hospital Of Central Dakotas · ~8.9 mi
- HardwareHarbor Freight Tools · ~15.0 mi
EV charging — from Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger8.0 mi straight-line E — NDAREC NDARECL3, Mandan, ND · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach9 within 25 mi · 9 within 50 · 18 within 100 · 26 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)13.6 mi — Bismarck, ND - Tesla Supercharger, Bismarck
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)8.0 mi — NDAREC NDARECL2, Mandan, ND · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- 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 253414 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaApple Creek EB · ~24.1 mi E
- Highway rest areaApple Creek WB · ~24.1 mi E
- Highway rest areaHailstone EB · ~24.2 mi W
- Highway rest areaHailstone WB · ~24.2 mi W
Coming out here — Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County) · North Dakota Game & Fish · ND
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Crown Butte Lake as a perennial lake or pond, under 0.1 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 10% — noticeable. 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 ~3.7 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 94 is mapped ~0.3 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.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- 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 Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County) elsewhere
Other camps near Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County)
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Sweet Briar Lake WMA (Morton County)~8.5 mi
- Morton County WMA (Morton County)~17.6 mi
- Little Heart Bottoms WMA (Morton County)~18.7 mi
- Apple Creek Bottoms WMA (Burleigh County)~19.4 mi
Who holds the land at Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County)
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Crown Butte, manager on record: a state fish and wildlife agency. That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County)
Stay limit
10 nights (camping up to 10 consecutive days)
Area rules
Trailers, campers, motor homes, or tents may not be left on any wildlife management area unless used for daily lodging. Camping is prohibited on those wildlife or fish management areas where posted at public road entry points. Mowing of vegetation for campsites is prohibited on wildlife management areas.
Source
North Dakota Game & Fish (wildlife management areas)
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
FREE by BINDING RULE, not folklore: Crown Butte Dam is a genuine ND Game & Fish WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREA -- it appears in the NDGF WMA GIS layer (gis.dmr.nd.gov Wildlife_Management_Areas/FeatureServer/0, UNIT_NAME='Crown Butte Dam', 88.28 ac, Morton County) AND in the official NDGF WMA listing (gf.nd.gov/wma-listing: 'Crown Butte Dam ... 4 miles west of I-94 Exit 147'). NDAC 30-04-02-01 opens all state game or fish management areas to compatible public use with no license/permit/pass precondition, and 30-04-02-11 permits camping up to 10 consecutive days and creates NO camping fee (dollar figures in the chapter are violation penalties). Same rule basis as the 22 WMAs ingested 2026-07-20. CAMPING RESTRICTION: gf.nd.gov/wma lists 'Crown Butte Lake (Morton County)' -- the same unit; the dam impounds Crown Butte Lake -- among areas CLOSED to camping Tuesdays & Wednesdays (except holidays), open Thursday-Monday. Coordinate: OSM camp_site node/7644889265 (46.868625,-101.091207), the designated camping spot at the dam, corroborated to within 0.07 mi by the WMA polygon centroid 46.867618,-101.091811 (verified inside the polygon) and OSM node/357753657 'Crown Butte State Game Management Area' 46.868050,-101.092360. Confidence high. Sources: ndlegis.gov/information/acdata/pdf/30-04-02.pdf, gf.nd.gov/wma, gf.nd.gov/wma-listing, gf.nd.gov/magazine/2026 fishing waters ('Crown Butte Dam (237)'). Read/verified 2026-07-26.
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 Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County)
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 — Crown Butte Dam WMA (Morton County)
Finding water out here →Cold-weather camping →Stay limits →Off-grid communication →All field notes →