About this place
The Bear Trap Wilderness is one of the four units of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness. It was the first wilderness area the Bureau of Land Management ever managed.
It covers 6,347 acres.
The scenery is fine and the whitewater is famous. The Kitchen Sink rapid, Class IV to V, is the best known part of it, and people have died there.
Cliffs 1,500 feet high border the canyon, and the nine-mile Bear Trap National Recreation Trail runs below them.
That trail follows the river the whole length of the canyon. You can only get onto it at the north end. Campsites line it for the first half of the way.
Watch for rattlesnakes and poison ivy, and carry bear spray.
It is open all year.
The facts
- Cost
- Free to camp
- Type
- Open area. Camp anywhere within it
- When it’s open
- All year
- Managed by
- Bureau of Land Management
Getting there
Boats go in at the south end of the canyon, at the Wilderness Boat Launch. Turn east off US Hwy 287 at McAllister and follow the Ennis Lake road to it. Walkers start at the north end instead. That trailhead is off Highway 84, about 21 miles west of Four Corners. Just before the bridge over the Madison River, turn left onto Bear Trap Road.
Coordinates 45.516582, -111.607837
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
Nothing nationally famous is close. These are the landmarks nearby.
- Madison Buffalo Jump State Park Directions
- Mount Jefferson Directions
- Missouri Headwaters State Park Directions
- Storm Castle Directions
Every distance on this page is the driving distance. A short distance can still take a long time. The road may be closed for the season, covered in snow, or washed out. Many of these roads are dirt. Plan your route before you leave home. Out here there is often no phone signal to look it up on the way.
Nearest town and supplies
- Norris, MT Directions
- Ennis, MT Directions
Ennis is big enough that you’d normally expect fuel and somewhere to buy food. Nobody from here has been to check, so don’t count on it if you’re running low.
Why “at least”: this route is hard to measure. We worked the drive out twice, with two separate mapping tools, and they gave different answers. That usually means there is no road close to the campsite, so the drive doubles back a long way. The figure above is the longer of the two. The real drive could be further still, so check the route before you set off.
Why the drive to town is usually twice what the map says — what we found measuring every campsite in this guide.
When it’s time to move on
On most public land you can camp for 14 days before you have to move on. Check this site’s own limit before you plan a long stay. When you move on, the Bureau of Land Management usually wants you at least 25 to 30 miles away. So the free campsites closest to you are the ones you cannot use.
One in this guide sits inside that 25 miles. The nearest one you could move to is Clover Meadows Dispersed Camping and Picnic Area, Montana — 35 miles in a straight line, but at least a 54 mile drive.
Why “at least”: there is no road right at this campsite, so the drive is hard to measure and the real one could be further. Check the route before you set off.
This guide covers five states and does not list every free campsite, so there may be something closer that we do not hold. Check this site’s own rule before you rely on it.
Have you been here?
Fees and access change, and the records do not always keep up. If you have been, tell us what you found.
Thank you, that is recorded. It helps the next person.
Add road notes for this site
The thing we cannot get from any government record is what the drive in is actually like. If you have done it, this is the most useful thing you can leave behind. We read everything before it appears, and we print a first name with it if you give one.
Thank you. A person will read it before it goes on the page.
Where this information comes from
The description on this page is ours. The facts in it, and the fee and facility details below it, come from the Bureau of Land Management’s own records, read in August 2026; opened and read by a person on 2026-08-27.