U.S. Forest Service · Lewis & Clark National Forest · MT

Many Pines Campground

First come, first servedNo reservation, and none to be had: the sites go to whoever pulls in first.

This is how it should work.

Right now
Listed not openA database flag with no reason and no date
A night
$15From, per site
Drawn from the record · 6,050 ft · 40% tree cover · Belt Creek within reach · Bortle 2 sky
6,050 ftElevation
142 ftWater · Belt Creek
46.5 miSE of Malmstrom AFB, MT
40%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 75th darkest of 501 in MT

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there

In the agency’s own words

Many Pines Campground is in a stand of Lodgepole Pine directly off US Highway 89 in the Little Belt Mountains. The 23 campsites are located along Belt Creek, which offers opportunity for fishing for trout. Please follow Cutthroat Trout mandatory catch and release rules. The campground is usually open late May through October. The largest slot for a trailer is 51 feet in length. Many Pines Campground is the most convenient for campers with large RVs along the US Highway 89 corridor. Approximately one mile to the north is the Memorial Falls trailhead, a popular day hike. Keep reading

All campgrounds on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest are first-come, first-served. Reservations are not available. Camping is limited to 16 consecutive days in one location. A campground fee is required. Please pay at the self-serve campground fee station. Campsites cannot be reserved by simply paying for the site; camper must be present. A food storage order is in effect from March 1st to December 1st to prevent human-bear conflicts on the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. Store all unattended food and attractants properly. Please see Food Storage Order for specifics. Open and close dates can vary depending on snowfall conditions. Please call the local district office or check our website. Leashed dogs are welcome. Horses are not allowed in campgrounds. Motorized OHVs must stay on the campground road. The campgrounds include access to potable water during the warmer months, and all have at least one handicap accessible vault toilet. Each campsite has a fire ring and/or grill, and a picnic table. Even if water is unavailable, campground fees are still required.

Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…have at least one handicap accessible vault toilet. Each campsite has a fire ring and/or grill, and a…”
Drinking water
Yes
“…road. The campgrounds include access to potable water during the warmer months, and all have at least one…”
Source: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Creek
Source: Stated in the agency description

Nothing to book, just show up

One of 1,623 federal campgrounds where the site still goes to whoever pulls in first, and a night costs $15 with nothing added. Get there before noon on a summer weekend.

recreation.gov publishes no availability for a campground you can’t reserve, so there’s no thirty-night reading to draw here. The season bar above is what the agency does publish.

BookingNo reservationsNothing to book, and no release date to wait forthe record
A night$15Per site, fromthe agency’s fee record
A weekend$30DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
Runs itU.S. Forest Servicethe agency’s record
Every line of the receipt · 5

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
A night, from$15
Night for single unit$15
The booking feerecreation.gov
Nothing. This campground takes no bookings, so there’s no reservation fee to pay.
What a stay costs
One night, fromDerived$15
A weekend, Friday and Saturday, fromDerived$30

Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($15), and no booking fee, because this campground takes no reservations. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.

How we know this receipt · 5
Source: USFS Enterprise Data Warehouse · Aug 24, 2026

record Aug 24, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Getting there

the map and the coordinate

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

This Afternoon53°Sunny
Tonight37°Partly Cloudy
Saturday55°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night32°Partly Cloudy1% rain

NWS forecast for Neihart, MT

Typical weather

Typical October night 28°F, day 53°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical February night 12°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°0°

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.

Measured at: LEWISTOWN 42 WSW, MT (USW00004140), 19 miles away and 980 ft lower

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

Roadless
Big Baldy43,135 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Middle Fork Judith Wsa81,131 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Middle Fork Judith9,714 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 5, 2026

Who answers for this land

Troy Downing, official portrait

Many Pines Campground 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service’s own recreation database flags it not open and publishes no reason and no date. That’s a flag, not a notice.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Neihart, MT, 1.9 mi SE. Straight line.