Agency-listedMontana FWPFree
Threemile WMA
Drive-up · Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks · MT · 46.59033, -113.89065
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 →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. Threemile Wildlife Management Area, managed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, FWP Region 2. 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. 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 2 at (406)363-7141 before you go.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Threemile WMA
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 4,726 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Threemile 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 Threemile WMA · Bitterroot National Forest · MT
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- FFuel9 mi
- GGrocery9 mi
- HHardware9 mi
- MMechanic9 mi
- RxPharmacy10 mi
- +Urgent care10 mi
- @Mail10 mi
- LLaundry11 mi
- OOutfitter18 mi
- EVEV fast charger18 mi
- WWater19 mi
- AAir-up20 mi
- ShShower28 mi
- PPropane36 mi
- DDump38 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 9 mi out.
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 — Threemile WMA
Access
Drive-up
Land
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Elevation
4,726 ft
Ground slope
15.2% · steep
Nearest rail line
~8.5 mi · main line
State
MT
Coordinates
46.59033, -113.89065
Cost
Free
Nearby & resupply — around Threemile WMA · Bitterroot National Forest · MT (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureLeft Fork Three Mile Creek · ~0.8 mi · USGS: intermittent stream
- Nearest townBitterroot Court · ~9.1 mi
- Nearest rail line~8.5 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelFuel · ~8.9 mi
- Propane / LPGPropane Services Innovated · ~19.7 mi
- GroceriesGary & Leo's Fresh Foods (IGA) · ~9.4 mi
- PharmacyFlorence Pharmacy · ~9.5 mi
- Hospital / clinicThe Aesthetic Co. · ~17.9 mi
- HardwareFlorence Ace Hardware · ~9.4 mi
EV charging — from Threemile WMA · Bitterroot National Forest · MT — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger18.4 mi straight-line NW — 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 reach6 within 25 mi · 7 within 50 · 18 within 100 · 48 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)23.4 mi — Missoula, MT - Tesla Supercharger, Missoula
- Nearest listing CHAdeMO21.5 mi — Walmart 3259 (Missoula, MT), Missoula
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)18.9 mi — UMONTANA BECKWITH #1, Missoula, MT · 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 417959 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Threemile WMA · Bitterroot National Forest · MT — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Flush restroomHarrys Flat Campground · ~7.6 mi SE · USFS
- Flush restroomDalles Campground · ~8.9 mi E · USFS
- Flush restroomBitterroot Flat Campground · ~10.0 mi SE · USFS
- RestroomFederal restroom · ~10.2 mi W · FWS
Coming out here — Threemile WMA · Bitterroot National Forest · MT
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Left Fork Three Mile Creek as an intermittent stream, ~0.8 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as intermittent — expect it dry for part of the year. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 15.2% — 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 ~8.5 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.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be 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 Threemile WMA elsewhere
Other camps near Threemile WMA
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Cinnamon Bear Saddle-04B~2.8 mi
- Cinnamon Bear Saddle-03~2.9 mi
- Cinnamon Bear Saddle-02~3.5 mi
- USFS dispersed camp — MT #671~3.7 mi
The unit that manages Threemile WMA
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at Threemile WMA are set by Bitterroot National Forest, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — Threemile 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=39754073 ('Bike Trail Garbage Bins Hiking Trail Horseback Riding Trail Information Kiosk/Map Pack in/Pack out Parking Picnic Table 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 0.0007 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=39754073 -- Montana FWP's own site record for this WMA itemises its Facilities as "Bike Trail / Garbage Bins / Hiking Trail / Horseback Riding Trail / Information Kiosk/Map / Pack in/Pack out / Parking / Picnic Table / 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 Threemile 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 — Threemile WMA
Water on public land →Reading a forest MVUM →Dumping grey & black →Reading the aerial →All field notes →