Dispersed Camping in Montana?

[Mtn. Lion]

Originally Posted by nomad10th

Invest in bear spray and have a .44cal or larger pistol on your person. Grizzlies and mountain lions are a legitimate threat to humans out here in NW MT. Make sure you are “bear aware” and read up on how to stay safe in grizz country.

I don't have training to handle grizzlies nor mountain lions. That is good to know because I'm in a canvas tent right now. Thanks for the tip.

[Mtn. Lion]

Originally Posted by okmunky

Personally, I think it’s wiser to travel with the seasons. Even the best RVs aren’t designed to be in freezing weather for long periods. And you’ll spend big bucks on fuel just trying to keep everything from freezing.

For cool summers I suggest you consider the Pacific Northwest. I’ll just north of Seattle. Today's high temp is 70*

WA is beautiful for 2-3 months of the year. The Hoh Rain Forest is a must see. I worked in Redmond for 14 years. I've been looking at the drought monitor for a long time and it shows the Olympics having severe drought. Never thought that would happen. Look at CA. Normally, So Cal has been in Exceptional Drought status. Looks a lot like climate change.

[nomad10th]

Originally Posted by diginomad

I don't have training to handle grizzlies nor mountain lions. That is good to know because I'm in a canvas tent right now. Thanks for the tip.

Wasn’t trying to scare anyone. I tent camp with my wife and kids often. Just saying have bear spray and do a simple google search. There are a lot of great videos on how to be bear aware and how to defend yourself in the rare case you might need to

[Agesilaus]

We just got back from there. We planned on taking US 2 all the way across the state and boondocking as much as possible. Their NF all have 'dispersed' camping aka boondocking, and the ranger stations will give you a map. I think you can download those too.


We started at the Hungry Horse reservoir just south of Kalispell. This was midweek and I assumed we'd have no trouble finding a spot. We stopped at the Hungry Horse Ranger station, got a map, talked to the guy at the desk and headed out.



The place was full, at least the first 20 miles (out of 55 miles down the side of the lake). We then made a big mistake and went down a side dirt road without checking it out first. Got about 1.5 miles in to find the road blocked with a pile of dirt. Tried to turn around, newbie mistake, instead of backing out. We have a 30 ft Arctic Fox 25Y. Got stuck in a ditch. Ruined a leveling jack and the rear steps.



In the morning a neighboring camper who was much better at TT maneuvering talked me thru getting turned around and got us out without a tow truck. Another very helpful fellow camper, we run into them everywhere.



Anyway if you have a longer RV, over 25ft or so I would not recommend Hungry Horse. There are some spots for longer units but the place is very popular and likely to be full.


Anyway we headed down the road, stopped at a commercial cg in Shelby. We wanted to boondock at Ft Peck reservoir but that was a long days drive from Shelby. We would get there after 4 PM and looking at the cg there I saw it was full. This was still midweek. I was worried that we'd get there and find no room at the inn. And that is in the middle of nowhere. The boondocking sites are all down long dirt roads well separated and I didn't want to try that late in the afternoon.


So we gave up and headed south thru Great Falls which BTW recorded a record low temp of 38 deg that night.


We camped in another very nice commercial CG in Reed Point just off I-90. Next night we stopped right over the ND border at Camel Hump Lake and boondocked there. That was Friday night and it was a good spot, right on the small lake and there wasn't anyone around near us. Next morning we wake to find the camper surrounded by many locals (fishing) including a portable hot dog stand trailer. This was Saturday morning.



So I suggest sticking to central and southern MT. Looking at some RV blog sites with maps I don't see one reporting stays in north east MT, it is a camping wasteland. Not even any commercial cg and hardly any motels.


Get the dispersed camping maps for the various NF online and you can use Google Maps satellite view to look at the sites ahead of time. I don't think you'll have any problems away from Hwy 2. And avoid Camel Hump lake on a weekend...heh.

[Mtn. Lion]

Originally Posted by nomad10th

Wasn’t trying to scare anyone. I tent camp with my wife and kids often. Just saying have bear spray and do a simple google search. There are a lot of great videos on how to be bear aware and how to defend yourself in the rare case you might need to

Understood. I can have better outcomes with training on how to handle situations before I get in them. Just talking to someone that has experience (close encounters) is enough for me.

Case in point of not having training with wasps on Saturday (yesterday). A week and a half prior to that point, I found an awesome dispersed site near some cave areas. Right by Mammoth in Utah. I encountered a few wasps (Yellow Jackets) on the first day at camp. No problem. Nothing out of the ordinary. They were scavenging and responding passively at my graceful and sometimes aggressive swats to get them away.

A few days later, more wasps were arriving. I started using water (dishes, rinsing) about 100' from camp. They collected there and at camp. I was stung once in the leg. Not a big deal (no allergic reaction), it was just one asshat of many.

A few days later, I noticed the numbers have grown. Still not aggressive, but I was having to brush them off my face frequently (applied sunscreen), they were starting to cling on my body too. They were getting in my tent as I entered. Killing them was a bit nerve racking because of the pheromone release and risk of missing/getting them angry.

I was beginning to dread doing my morning routine after waking and the wasps were more than a nuisance at this point. I had progressed the problem to where it was too late for me to just pack up and leave. There were too many of them. Moving around, unpacking the tent, packing the car all that takes 1.5 hrs at a minimum outside. I didn't want them to turn aggressive while in the middle of packing.

So this is a case where I [Moderator Edit] myself because I didn't predict the upcoming severity of the situation. I decided to wake at 2:00 AM, pack and leave. I ended up just burning the midnight oil. Worked like a charm. I could hear those [Moderator Edit] in the dark, but they weren't in camp.

I had dealt with Bees in California the same way (but didn't need to leave). The bees were a bit annoying and grew in numbers, but they did not grow in numbers like wasps after a 14 day stint. Both areas didn't have any water around and that is what they were attracted to.

If I were to make a mistake around a brown bear, I may have bigger consequences than leaving camp at an inconvenient time. As for Mountain Lions, I've done a lot of camping in the PNW where they frequent. Lots of evidence of them (scat) while out and about. The NFS has training on them. A crash course, even though when they attack it can be from behind and they go for the neck.

[Mtn. Lion]

Originally Posted by Agesilaus

We just got back from there. We planned on taking US 2 all the way across the state and boondocking as much as possible. Their NF all have 'dispersed' camping aka boondocking, and the ranger stations will give you a map. I think you can download those too.


We started at the Hungry Horse reservoir just south of Kalispell. This was midweek and I assumed we'd have no trouble finding a spot. We stopped at the Hungry Horse Ranger station, got a map, talked to the guy at the desk and headed out.



The place was full, at least the first 20 miles (out of 55 miles down the side of the lake). We then made a big mistake and went down a side dirt road without checking it out first. Got about 1.5 miles in to find the road blocked with a pile of dirt. Tried to turn around, newbie mistake, instead of backing out. We have a 30 ft Arctic Fox 25Y. Got stuck in a ditch. Ruined a leveling jack and the rear steps.



In the morning a neighboring camper who was much better at TT maneuvering talked me thru getting turned around and got us out without a tow truck. Another very helpful fellow camper, we run into them everywhere.



Anyway if you have a longer RV, over 25ft or so I would not recommend Hungry Horse. There are some spots for longer units but the place is very popular and likely to be full.


Anyway we headed down the road, stopped at a commercial cg in Shelby. We wanted to boondock at Ft Peck reservoir but that was a long days drive from Shelby. We would get there after 4 PM and looking at the cg there I saw it was full. This was still midweek. I was worried that we'd get there and find no room at the inn. And that is in the middle of nowhere. The boondocking sites are all down long dirt roads well separated and I didn't want to try that late in the afternoon.


So we gave up and headed south thru Great Falls which BTW recorded a record low temp of 38 deg that night.


We camped in another very nice commercial CG in Reed Point just off I-90. Next night we stopped right over the ND border at Camel Hump Lake and boondocked there. That was Friday night and it was a good spot, right on the small lake and there wasn't anyone around near us. Next morning we wake to find the camper surrounded by many locals (fishing) including a portable hot dog stand trailer. This was Saturday morning.



So I suggest sticking to central and southern MT. Looking at some RV blog sites with maps I don't see one reporting stays in north east MT, it is a camping wasteland. Not even any commercial cg and hardly any motels.


Get the dispersed camping maps for the various NF online and you can use Google Maps satellite view to look at the sites ahead of time. I don't think you'll have any problems away from Hwy 2. And avoid Camel Hump lake on a weekend...heh.

Quite the adventure you had Sounds like there are good people up there. That was a big save to get unstuck and turned around without a tow truck.

A Ranger had said to me that road numbers having 3 digits are the roads to be weary of. Like road name 1234-123 or just 123. It turns out to be true some of the time. The 3 digit roads seem a lot less maintained.

38F in August? Unexpected. That is pretty damn cold for summer time!

[Agesilaus]

Heh well I don't want to give the idea that all our boondocking was problematic. We had a great spot near the Tetons--Shadow Mountain which had an absolutely fantastic view of the mountain from our campsite. And we stopped at other places like Burning creek in ND and had a good time. More boondocking is high on our list.


As for bear spray, Amazon won't deliver it to this part of Florida. I need to get some when we are up there, I did see it in a store once this summer but the price was outrageous, $60 a can or somesuch. I'll get Amazon to ship some in when we stop for a few days.

[nomad10th]

You can rent a can for much cheaper. I’ve never had to but a lot of people do. A lot of the sporting goods stores have this service.

[camper8251]

Little late on this post, I live in MT and work for an agency that does a lot in regards to bears (conservation, Tracking, yada yada)


Bears are no joke out here, there are some campgrounds that do not allow soft side campers in them and leaving a cooler out overnight even if it doesn't have food in it is a no no...


Other than that lots of places to boon dock. just be bear aware.......

[McRod]

Originally Posted by diginomad

I'm looking to travel to Montana to camp outside of designated camping areas within the National Forest and away from people.

I know that stopping by the Ranger station within my target area would be the way to go, but I'm hundreds of miles from there and don't want to travel up there if they are strict with stay limits like California and some other states.

I haven't been camping there, does anyone have experience to share on dispersed camping in the Montana NF?

Yeah, boondocking don't mean living in the woods on public lands. Don't ruin it for the rest of us please. 14 days is all you get. Move on!

[Pyropete]

Originally Posted by McRod

Yeah, boondocking don't mean living in the woods on public lands. Don't ruin it for the rest of us please. 14 days is all you get. Move on!

lol?

[Mtn. Lion]

Originally Posted by Pyropete

lol?

The things that make you go hummm

[Mtn. Lion]

Originally Posted by camper8251

Little late on this post, I live in MT and work for an agency that does a lot in regards to bears (conservation, Tracking, yada yada)


Bears are no joke out here, there are some campgrounds that do not allow soft side campers in them and leaving a cooler out overnight even if it doesn't have food in it is a no no...


Other than that lots of places to boon dock. just be bear aware.......

Beary good to know. Thanks for that. Any ideas on where can people get training (crash course?) on being around bears? I'm confident it is only a matter of time before coming across a grizzly out in the wild.

[RunningHard]

Boondocked all over Montana for years and have never had any problems finding a spot or with animals. Just got home from fly fishing the big horn river a week ago. Grew up here in PNW and our coach is fully prepared for 2 and 4 legged creatures. Good luck!😎