Free camping in Montana
50 places on public land — 45 set campsites and 5 open areas you can camp anywhere within. 49 are confirmed free.
Montana is the forest state. Almost all the camping here is in national forest: the Lolo, the Beaverhead-Deerlodge, the Custer Gallatin, the Bitterroot. Expect trees close around you, a river somewhere in earshot, and usually a mountain pass to cross before you arrive.
It is also the most ordinary, in a good way. Nearly everything here is a proper campground that you drive to and stop at. There is very little of the open land where you camp wherever you like. That is the opposite of Idaho and Arizona. Montana is the best recorded state we have as well. More of its sites are confirmed free than anywhere else, a few have drinking water, and one even has a toilet. Utah, Arizona and Idaho manage none between them.
One thing worth saying plainly, because you would find out anyway. Montana’s famous places are not near this camping. Glacier National Park and the Yellowstone corner are both a long way from anything on this page. What is close is the Bitterroot range, Trapper Peak and Lolo Pass, and the quiet country around Thompson Falls, Hamilton, Ennis and Seeley Lake. Montana here is about the driving. The arriving is the smaller half of it.
Going to see something famous?
Montana is the hardest state on this page for famous sights. Nothing famous here has free camping close to it. Glacier National Park comes nearest. One place on this page is about 50 miles from Lake McDonald, and Lake McDonald is inside the park. Yellowstone is much further away.
- Lake McDonald 2 places within 60 miles Closest is Graves Creek Campground, about 50 miles away
Important Note: Distances are along the road and rounded. Each landmark is pinned to a single point on the map. With a big park that point sits somewhere in the middle of it, so the entrance you actually drive to could be a fair bit closer than the number here.
Where in Montana?
Pick a town to see only the places near it. They are grouped by the nearest town that has fuel and a shop, because that is the thing you plan a trip around. Places marked open area are public land where you can camp anywhere inside the boundary, and there are 5 of them here. There is no one set spot to aim for.
Thompson Falls 6
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 1,526 people. These places are 9 to 73 road miles from it, closest first.
Ennis 4
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 1,081 people. These places are 19 to 36 road miles from it, closest first.
Hamilton 4
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 5,383 people. These places are 16 to 45 road miles from it, closest first.
Lame Deer 4
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 1,897 people. These places are 31 to 52 road miles from it, closest first.
Seeley Lake 4
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 1,682 people. These places are 9 to 139 road miles from it, closest first.
Bigfork 3
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 5,118 people. These places are 63 to 92 road miles from it, closest first.
Butte-Silver Bow 3
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 35,480 people. These places are 17 to 38 road miles from it, closest first.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County 2
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 9,811 people. These places are 44 to 107 road miles from it, closest first.
Baker 2
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 1,767 people. These places are 45 to 67 road miles from it, closest first.
Clinton 2
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 1,018 people. These places are 23 to 34 road miles from it, closest first.
Deer Lodge 2
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 3,006 people. These places are 13 to 24 road miles from it, closest first.
Plains 2
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 1,244 people. These places are 16 to 19 road miles from it, closest first.
Salmon 2
Closest town with fuel and a shop, about 3,257 people. These places are 102 to 102 road miles from it, closest first.
Elsewhere in Montana 10
Each of these is on its own. No other free camping we know of shares its nearest town.