Bear Creek Campground - MT
- Right now
- OpenInside the published season, our reading
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
- Season
- June 1Opens June 1. No closing date published.
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Bear Creek Campground is a First Come - First Served facility located at the base of the western slope of the Madison Range in southwest Montana. It's part of an administrative site that also includes the Bear Creek and Bear Creek Bunkhouse rental cabins and a trailhead for entry to the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area. The small campground features 12 campsites, 6 on each side of the creek. The six sites north of the creek include facilities for horses/stock, while those south of the creek are non-horse use only. This is the only campground on the west side of the Madison mountain range so it can be expected to be crowded and busy during hunting season. There is very little firewood available anywhere near the campground. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, horseback riding and hunting are very popular activities by visitors to this campground and parking may be difficult to find during peak season. The Middle Fork and Trail Fork trailhead is located only steps away. Because the trails lead to designated Wilderness, no motorized or mechanized use is allowed on the trails. The trailhead is the starting point for those climbing Sphinx Mountain. From December 2 until noon of May 15, the Wildlife Management Area just north of the campground is closed to all entry except to those who stay strictly on the trail and are only passing through to Forest lands. It is open for recreational use the remainder of the year.
Facilities
The campground will be undergoing improvement installations in the spring/early summer of 2023. Each campsite will have a parking site, picnic table and fire ring. There are two centrally located water hydrants, with water usually being available fro mid-May through September and a centrally located bear box for food storage. There are two SST outhouses, one on each side of the creek. Campsites 7 - 12, on the north side of the creek, are equipped with hitchrails and corrals for horses. Horses are not permitted at Campsites 1 - 6. Additional corrals are planned to be installed at the trailhead but there may not be a corral guaranteed for each campsite.
Natural Features
At the base of the Madison mountain range, the campground is situated in a draw between hills on the edge of the National Forest. The Lee Metcalf Wilderness is immediately to the east and a State wildlife management area to the north. The trailhead, at the site, provides access to the Middle Fork and Trail Fork trails, as well as access to ascend Sphinx Mountain, a prominant peak in the range. Most campsites are shaded by Douglas fir and aspen trees.
Nearby Attractions
The Lee Metcalf Wilderness is adjacent to the campground. The west entrance to Yellowstone National Park is about 70 miles to the southeast. Lewis and Clark State Caverns is about 60 miles to the north. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (406) 682-4253.
What the agency tells you
There is a food storage order in place from March 1 to December 1. All food, attractants and game carcasses must be stored in a bear resistant manner when unattended.
There is no cellular service, though a limited signal may be available on top of the hill to the north.
The camping limit is 16 consecutive days. Upon reaching the limt, campers may not relocate within a 5 mile radius for the next 7 days.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Fines may be issued for non payment of camping fees.
No garbage service is available. Pack it in, Pack it out
A campsite may not be left unattended for a 24 hour period and must be occupied the first night.
All hay, straw and horse feed must be certified weed seed free.
Firewood is very scarce in the campground area.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Backpacking
- Birding
- Climbing
- Cross Country Skiing
- Hiking
- Horse Camping
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Recreation Residence
- Wilderness access
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 14:25 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $15 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 14:25 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | Bear Creek Campground | standard nonelectric | $15 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Timber Camp CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 1.1 mi
Eagle Creek Campground - Custer Gallatin National ForestExecutive Order No. 3053 Federal Game Refuge Withdrawal · 6.1 mi
Mammoth Campground (Yellowstone)Yellowstone National Park · 11 mi
Snowbank CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 13 mi
Snowbank Group CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 13 mi
Mill Creek CabinGallatin National Forest · 13 miFrom Ennis MT, travel south on US Highway 287 eleven miles to Cameron. Turn left onto Bear Creek Road and travel on pavement for 3 miles, turn right and pavement ends. Travel 1.5 miles and turn left. Travel one mile and turn right. Travel just under one mile and turn left at the old school house. Finally travel 2.3 miles to the campground. All turns have Bear Creek signs and, along the last 2.3 miles, landowner signs indicate private roads. Coming from the south, follow US Highway 287 to Cameron and follow previous directions from there.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Jardine, MT
Typical weather
Typical June night 42°F, day 70°F.
Coldest night of the open season: typical June night 42°F. Bring the bag rated for it.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or moreOutside the published season
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Bear Creek Campground - MT is in Montana’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Troy Downing (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →