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Dispersed camping · Montana

Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest dispersed camping rules

You can camp up to 16 days on this forest, anywhere that isn't posted closed. The card below is the whole rule set — every line links the order or page it came from, and all of it was checked on .

16 days stay limit

Northern Region Order R1-2025-01 (effective August 1, 2025 through July 31, 2030) prohibits "camping or otherwise occupying a single site for over 16 consecutive days within a calendar year" and "camping or otherwise occupying any number of sites over 32 cumulative days within a calendar year" on all national forests in Montana. The order defines a "site" as "the campsite or place that is occupied and all NFS lands within 1/2 mile radius" - moving less than half a mile does not start a new site.

Where you can camp

Allowed unless posted

"Dispersed camping is generally allowed anywhere except where posted closed, where overnight parking is prohibited, or within 200 feet of developed road, trail or facility such as campgrounds, picnic areas or trailheads." source

Keep your distance

  • 200 ft — No dispersed camping within 200 feet of a developed road (forest dispersed-camping page - the same sentence that allows camping "anywhere except where posted closed"). source
  • 200 ft — No dispersed camping within 200 feet of a trail. source
  • 200 ft — No dispersed camping within 200 feet of a developed facility "such as campgrounds, picnic areas or trailheads." source
  • 1,000 ft — Our Lake area only (Rocky Mountain Front): Order 01-15-00-25-01 prohibits "camping within 1000 feet of Our Lake." The same order restricts camping year-round in the Chinese Wall area east of the Continental Divide between Salt Mountain and Cliff Mountain. source

Roads and vehicle access

Check the motor vehicle use map

The forest's dispersed-camping page: "Some roads are closed to protect wildlife or because they are not safe for travel. You can find out about road closures by using the Motor Vehicle Use Maps and by calling the local ranger station." No official page read today ties dispersed-camping vehicle access or an off-route parking distance to the MVUM specifically.

Fires right now

We don't watch this forest's fire orders yet — check its own site before you light anything. Here's what stage 1 and stage 2 mean when an order is up.

Closures and special orders

Rules checked against the pages linked above — the full list is below the card.

Rules change by forest order and posted signage — confirm with the Forest Supervisor's Office, Helena at (406) 449-5201 before you go.

How to read these rules

Dispersed camping means camping outside a developed campground — no fee, no table, no toilet, no water. You pick an already-used spot, pack out everything you brought, and the rules above are the whole deal you're agreeing to. The stay limit counts the way the card says it counts, not the way it counts on the forest next door: some places count per spot, some across the whole forest, some inside a radius, and moving a short distance often doesn't restart the clock.

Distance rules come in two shapes. Keep-away rules ("at least 100 feet from water") protect the thing you're camping near; stay-close rules ("within 300 feet of the road") keep vehicles on ground that can take them. A line marked recommended on the card is the office's guidance, not an order — the rest are enforceable rules, and a posted sign at the site beats everything on this page.

The motor vehicle use map is the legal answer to "can I drive in there to camp" — if a road isn't on it, that road is closed to your vehicle, and many forests only allow roadside camping along the roads the map marks for it. It's a free PDF; download it before you lose signal.

Fires are a separate rule with a separate clock. Nothing on this page says you can light one — the card's fire line says where that answer lives today. If a fire is allowed when you get there, buy your wood near camp — hauling firewood from home is how tree-killing pests reach new forests, and the BTU chart says what that local bundle is actually worth.

Where these rules come from

Every rule above was read on the forest's own pages and orders on the dates shown — nothing here is borrowed from another forest or an old guidebook. The managing agency is U.S. Forest Service, Northern Region (R1).

Before you go