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, and the Kitchen Sink rapid, Class IV to V, is the best known part of it.
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.
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 of the canyon instead.
Coordinates 45.516582, -111.607837
Open in Google Maps Agency page
What is near here
There is another spot of ours within reach, and some better-known places further out.
- Madison Buffalo Jump State Park Directions
- Mount Jefferson Directions
- Missouri Headwaters State Park Directions
- Ruby Mountain SRMA 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.
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.