Cliff Point (MT)
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $15From, per site
- Sites
- 7All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 7 notices
In the agency’s own words
Cliff Point Campground is located in southwestern Montana on the shoreline of scenic Cliff Lake. It is approximately 43 miles south of Ennis and 35 miles west of Yellowstone National Park. Each site in the small six site campground is equipped with a picnic table and fire ring. There is a centrally located vault toilet and drinking water tap. Some of the sites have partial shade. An undeveloped natural-surface boat launch is very close by and the lake has a no-wake speed limit. Visitors enjoy fishing, boating, and nearby hiking and ATV trails. All campsites are reservation only. Keep reading
With some tight curves and small turn-around loop, the campground may not be suitable for long trailers or RVs. The maximum recommended trailer length is 16 feet. Snow may hamper access during early and late seasons. Site number 6 is reservable two weeks in advance of your arrival date. All other sites have a six month in advance reservation window. Each new day becomes available at 8 A.M. Mountain time.
Recreation
Cliff Lake offers fishing for rainbow and Yellowstone cutthroat trout, as well as boating, canoeing and swimming, despite the cold water. Boats can be rented at Wade Lake Resort. Just five miles away, the world renowned Madison River offers blue ribbon flyfishing . There are hiking opportunities nearby, including the trail to Hidden Lake, beginning at the upper end of Cliff Lake, as well as trails in the nearby Lee Metcalf Wilderness. Off Road Vehicle trails are abundant in the Gravelly range.
Facilities
A vault toilet and drinking water spigot are located in the center of the campground loop. Water is available May to September, exact dates being weather dependent. Picnic tables and fire rings are located in each site. A “bear proof” bin enables compliance with food storage regulations for those without a hard sided camping unit. A natural surface boat launch, suitable for small boats and trailers, is located across the small cove at the Day Use area. Garbage service is provided only from May 15 - September 15.
Natural Features
At an elevation of 6313 feet, the campground and lake lie in the bottom of a forested ravine at the southern end of the Gravelly mountain range. The 600 acre lake is known for it’s beautiful clear aquamarine water. Wade Lake is less than 1 mile away. Moose, deer, eagles, otters, an occasional bear and a variety of waterfowl can be seen in the area .
Nearby Attractions
Wade Lake, Wade Lake Campground and Hilltop Campground are within one mile. The west entrance to Yellowstone National Park is about 35 miles east at West Yellowstone. The Earthquake Lake Visitor Center and Geologic Site is about a ten mile drive. The Lee Metcalf designated wilderness begins about five miles to the northeast. A short drive will bring you to much larger Hebgen Lake to the east and Henry's Lake to the south.
What the agency tells you
Cellular service is not available at the campground
There is a food storage order in place. All food and attractants must be stored in a bear-proof manner when unattended.
There is a 16 consecutive day camping limit at a single site and 32 day cumulative limit, at multiple sites, within a calendar year.
Everything else this campground posts · 4
Garbage service is available May 15 - September 15. Otherwise, it is Pack It In, Pack It Out.
Trailers over 16 feet in length are not recommended due to small camp spaces and tight turns.
Each site is for a single camping unit. Double or group camping is not permitted in a single site
Please cancel your reservation if you do not plan to use the campsite. Reservations may be forfeited, without refund, for failure to occupy campsite on first night and for absences exceeding 24 hours thereafter. For "no-shows", campsite will be made available to other campers at 2PM the following day, for the remainder of the reservation.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 7
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 16 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…fire ring. There is a centrally located vault toilet and drinking water tap. Some of the sites have…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…is a centrally located vault toilet and drinking water tap. Some of the sites have partial shade. An…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Bear boxes
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Non-Motorized Boating
- Night sky · 118th darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 2
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:23 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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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 15:23 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
7 sites
All 7 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. 7 of the 7 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Hilltop Campground (MT)Beaverhead National Forest · 0.5 mi
Wade Lake (MT)Beaverhead National Forest · 0.9 miWade Lake Campground and Picnic AreasBeaverhead National Forest · 0.9 mi
Madison River (MT)Beaverhead National Forest · 5.8 mi
West Fork Madison CampgroundBeaverhead National Forest · 6.3 mi
Riverview CampgroundBeaverhead National Forest · 6.3 miTravel south from Ennis for 38 miles on US Highway 287. As highway curves to east, turn south on Wade and Cliff Lakes road, also signed as Three Dollar Bridge fishing access site. Travel five miles on county road, which becomes Forest road #572, to Wade Lake Recreation Area. Follow signing to campground. When travelling from the east, turn onto Wade and Cliff Lakes road one mile west of US 287 and MT 87 junction. From the south, turn from MT 87 onto Madison County 122 about 2.2 miles north of the Montana/Idaho boundary.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Island Park, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 28°F, day 51°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 4°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
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
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Cliff Point (MT) is in Montana’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Ryan Zinke (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →