Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
Garnet Back Country Byway
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · MT · 46.81637, -113.33360
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 →Bureau of Land Management lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Garnet Back Country Byway
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 6,396 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Garnet Back Country BywayNIFC · 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 Garnet Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · MT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel13 mi
- GGrocery13 mi
- DDump13 mi
- @Mail13 mi
- PPropane14 mi
- ShShower18 mi
- +Urgent care25 mi
- HHardware26 mi
- LLaundry26 mi
- WWater31 mi
- OOutfitter31 mi
- MMechanic31 mi
- RxPharmacy32 mi
- AAir-up32 mi
- EVEV fast charger34 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 31-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 13 mi out, the nearest EV fast charger is a 34-mi run (and back).
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 — Garnet Back Country Byway
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
6,396 ft
Ground slope
28.4% · steep
Nearest rail line
~6.8 mi · passing siding
Nearest highway
~6.8 mi · US Hwy 12
State
MT
Coordinates
46.81637, -113.33360
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Garnet Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featurenone named within 1 mi (USGS NHD)
- Nearest townGarnet · ~0.7 mi
- Nearest rail line~6.8 mi · passing siding
- Nearest highway~6.8 mi · US Hwy 12
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~12.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- GroceriesStore · ~12.9 mi
EV charging — from Garnet Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger33.6 mi straight-line W — L267 EXPP PL PUBLIC2, Missoula, MT · ChargePoint Network · CCS · 2 fast ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reachnone within 25 mi · 8 within 50 · 18 within 100 · 44 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)33.7 mi — Missoula, MT - Tesla Supercharger, Missoula
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO33.7 mi — Walmart 3259 (Missoula, MT), Missoula
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)30.8 mi — UMONTANA UC #1, Missoula, MT · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Trixi's Saloon - Tesla Destination, Ovando, 17.2 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
- 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 417959 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Garnet Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomGarnet Ghost Town Mcdonald Toilet · ~0.6 mi NW · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletGarnet Ghost Town Lower Vault Toilet#2 · ~0.6 mi N · BLM
- Vault / pit toiletGarnet Ghost Town - Upper Parking Lot - Double Vault Toilet #1 · ~0.7 mi N · BLM
- Highway rest areaBearmouth EB · ~7.8 mi S
Coming out here — Garnet Back Country Byway · Bureau of Land Management · MT
- No named surface water mapped within 1 mi of the pin in USGS's National Hydrography Dataset (data refreshed October 2022), and none within about a mile and a half in our OpenStreetMap pull — which is not proof there is none, only that neither map has one. Plan to carry washing water as well as drinking water.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 28.4% — 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 ~6.8 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a passing siding. 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.
- US Hwy 12 is mapped ~6.8 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.
- Practice a first night on real ground in Dispersed 3D, free in the browser. The game's ground is Montana's Lolo, Custer Gallatin and Beaverhead-Deerlodge forests and the Arizona desert at Quartzsite; this camp is not in it.
- 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 Garnet Back Country Byway elsewhere
Other camps near Garnet Back Country Byway
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Road 4257-1~13.7 mi
- Road 4312~14.0 mi
- W.Fk. Tyler Saddle~14.5 mi
- Lodgepole Saddle~15.2 mi
Who holds the land at Garnet Back Country Byway
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as Missoula Field Office, manager on record: Bureau of Land Management (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
Snow, and when this opens
The nearest automatic snow station is Lubrecht Flume at 4,690 ft, about 5 miles away. It sits about 1,706 ft lower 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.
How we know this — Garnet Back Country Byway
Fee note
No fee, per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "No Fee." https://www.blm.gov/visit/garnet-back-country-byway
Source
Bureau of Land Management recreation data
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
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | No fee 2026-09-19: "No Fee." Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/garnet-back-country-byway (worker_W, statement verified on that page).
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 Garnet Back Country Byway
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 — Garnet Back Country Byway
Water on public land →What “dispersed” means here →Dumping grey & black →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →