Bureau of Land Management · Dillon Field Office · MT

Red Mountain (MT)

ReservableOut of season, no booking; November 1 opens May 1.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
A night
$20From, per site
Sites
18All of them booked ahead
80 ftLongest rig
4,480 ftElevation
832 ftWater · Madison River
14 miSW of Churchill, MT
0%Tree cover

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 5 notices

In the agency’s own words

The Dillon Field Office is unable to make reservations for you. Please call Recreation.gov (877-444-6777) to book a reservation or book online. Campsites are available for reservation for the Peak-Season times of May 1st through September 15th. From September 16th through April 30th, all sites are first-come-first-serve. Red Mountain Campground is adjacent to the lower Madison River and provides good access for camping, fishing and floating. The campground has 19 camp sites, 11 available for reservations. The campground has a volunteer seasonal campground host. There is no boat launch available at this site, but there are several in the vicinity. The campground serves as a great central location to access the lower Madison River. During peak season you can expect the campground to be full on weekends with lighter use during the work week. Keep reading

Recreation

The Madison River is well known for its robust trout fishery. The lower Madison River is a very popular destination for non-angling floaters (tubers) during the warm summer months. Red Mountain sits roughly half way between Warm Springs boat launch and Black's Ford Fishing Access Site.

Facilities

19 campsites, 3 accessible vault toilets, drinking water, horseshoe pit, and picnic tables. Firewood is available for purchase when the volunteer campground host is present.

Natural Features

Madison River Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (406) 683-8000.

Nearby Attractions

Lower Madison River, Bear Trap Canyon unit of the Lee Metcalf Wilderness Area, Norris Hot Springs For additional information please visit; https://www.blm.gov/visit/red-mountain-campground Charges & Cancellations Failing to arrive on the first night of your reservation will result in a forfeiture of your reservation and your site may be made available to someone else.

What the agency tells you

Rule

Campsites are available for reservation for the Peak-Season times of May 1st through September 15th. All sites are first-come-first-serve from September 16th through April 30th. Reservations are available on a rolling 6-month basis.

Rule

Additional Vehicles are $5 each. Maximum vehicle limit is 3 per campsite. Truck and camper trailer count as one vehicle. Additional vehicles must be paid for on-site.

Rule

Campsites must be occupied nightly

Everything else this campground posts · 2
Rule

Failing to arrive on the first night of your reservation will result in a forfeiture of your reservation and your site may be made available to someone else.

Rule

Firewood is available for purchase when the volunteer campground host is present. Collecting or cutting wood is prohibited on BLM administered lands throughout the lower Madison River corridor.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
18
Hookups
None
Longest rig
80 ft
Accessible sites
None listed
Pets
Allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 18 of 18 campsite records
Drinking water
Yes
ACCESSIBLE DRINKING WATER on 18 of 18 campsite records
Boat ramp
Yes
Firewood
Sold here
Stay limit
14 nights
recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Water, toilets and showers: counted from this campground’s own campsite records, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

On the water
Hot springs, River
Boating
Fishing
Non-Motorized Boating
Scenic drives
Tubing
Night sky · 417th darkest of 501 in MT
Bortle 3
Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 33 km away
Past peak
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (33 km) · Oct 8, 2026

No reading yet, book on recreation.gov

Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.

No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On November 1, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through May 1, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
Max stay14 nightsthe facility record
A night$20plus $8 to reserve, once per bookingthe agency’s rate schedule
A weekend$48DerivedFriday and Saturday, everything includedours, from the lines above
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservation; this campground publishes its own terms toorecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itBureau of Land ManagementBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
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’ll write once, when the season that starts Sat, May 1 2027 is open for booking.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 15

What you actually pay

The sign priceBureau of Land Management
A night$20
Campsites$20
These are next season’s rates, May 1, 2027 to Sep 30, 2027. The campground is between seasons now.
Site per night .$12
Truck and camper trailer count as one vehicle.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What this campground addsits own record
Extra vehicle$5

“Additional vehicles are $5 per vehicle. 3 vehicle max per campsite.” · the Bureau of Land Management’s own fee record

What a stay costs
One nightDerived$28
A weekend, Friday and SaturdayDerived$48

Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $20 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.

If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

“Failing to arrive on the first night of your reservation will result in a forfeiture of your reservation and your site may be made available to someone else.” · this campground’s own terms

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 · 7

rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

18 sites · which ones have room · the site map

The sites, ranked

from 18 mapped sites
123 ftbetween you and the next site, typically
Least roomLoop A 10 70 ftLoop A 9 70 ftLoop A 11 74 ft

All 18 sites

18 of 18 sites located
Standard18
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
SleepsTakes aUp to

The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 18 of the 18 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.

A1standard nonelectric75 ft137 ft407 ft$20
A10standard nonelectric45 ft70 ft343 ft$20
A11standard nonelectric45 ft74 ft416 ft$20
A12standard nonelectric50 ft81 ft636 ft$20
A2standard nonelectric43 ft119 ft297 ft$20
A3standard nonelectric72 ft127 ft173 ft$20
A4standard nonelectric80 ft152 ft138 ft$20
A5standard nonelectric80 ft143 ft119 ft$20
A6standard nonelectric80 ft143 ft99 ft$20
A7standard nonelectric40 ft146 ft86 ft$20
A8standard nonelectric25 ft149 ft175 ft$20
A9standard nonelectric45 ft70 ft321 ft$20
B13standard nonelectric50 ft81 ft646 ft$20
B14standard nonelectric50 ft96 ft546 ft$20
B15standard nonelectric50 ft96 ft453 ft$20
B16standard nonelectric50 ft184 ft326 ft$20
B17standard nonelectric50 ft119 ft324 ft$20
B18standard nonelectric50 ft149 ft459 ft$20

Getting there

the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Coordinate45.60939, -111.56972
The phone406-683-8000
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From Bozeman; Head west on MT Hwy 84 (Norris Road). Continue on MT Hwy 84 for 20.5 miles. Turn right (North) at South Bear Trap Canyon Road. If you cross the Madison River you have just passed the turn. 

From Norris; Head East on MT Hwy 84 (Norris Road) travel for 8 miles and turn left at South Bear Trap Canyon Road after you cross the Madison River.

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Overnight39°Partly Cloudy
Saturday72°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night36°Partly Cloudy
Sunday62°Mostly Sunny

NWS forecast for Norris, MT

Typical weather

Typical October night 39°F, day 60°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical December night 24°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

90°32°10°

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: NORRIS MADISON PWR HOUSE, MT (USC00246157), 9 miles away and 265 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

who answers for it

Who answers for this land

Ryan Zinke, official portrait

Red Mountain (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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: Bureau of Land Management publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
Fall color: More Than Just Parks foliage tracker, joined to this campground by distance (33 km) · Oct 8, 2026
Cell signal: the BLM’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: Norris, MT, 6 mi ENE (a census designated place). Straight line.