BLM Land near Yellowstone National Park

BLM Land Near Yellowstone

Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands are considered public lands. Collectively, they comprise 247.3 million acres and are located primarily in western states. Near Yellowstone, people most frequently look for BLM land for dispersed camping

Camping Near Yellowstone

When camping near Yellowstone National Park, you have three choices:

1. Reserving a Campsite

We recommend you explore Yellowstone National Park’s reservable campgrounds on the Recreation.gov website.

2. Dispersed camping in nearby National Forest

Dispersed camping, also known as boondocking and dry camping, may only be available at designated sites, not just any flat spot you find. Each national forest website (such as Bridger-Teton, Shoshone, and Caribou-Targhee) lists areas with pre-established dispersed sites.

3. Dispersed camping in BLM Land

Camping is allowed on lots of BLM land, whether in established campgrounds or through dispersed camping. BLM-managed campgrounds often include restrooms, potable water, electrical hookups, picnic areas, garbage cans, tent pads, and group shelters. These campgrounds nearly always require nightly fees and/or advance permits. 

If you are looking for established BLM campgrounds, BLM.gov hosts an interactive map showing all its campgrounds. We also have our interactive map below.

Dispersed camping is free and available for most BLM-managed public lands as it does not conflict with other authorized uses or in areas posted “closed to camping.” Dispersed camping is limited to 14 days within a 28 consecutive-day period. Camping limitations can vary greatly by local office, so always check in advance with a field office. Dispersed camping areas are located along most secondary roads and may not be marked. The most popular locations are evident as flat disturbed areas that have been used as campsites before, but not all flat sites are campsites. It’s a best practice to use a previously established camping area instead of creating a new disturbance. 

BLM Area Breakdown

Explore this interactive map below to see the areas outside the park that have the highest concentration of BLM Land

View BLM Land Maps in the field with the following onX Products:

onX Guide to BLM Land Near Yellowstone

Whether you’re looking for established campgrounds or areas available for dispersed camping near Yellowstone, your best resource by far is using one of our onX Apps to evaluate the area. In all of our apps, you can find current information about public and private land ownership, weather, road conditions, and restrictions (including widths and open/closed dates). In our onX Backcountry and onX Offroad apps, you can find nearby hiking, biking, and off-roading trails for the region. In all onX apps, BLM public lands are designated by yellow shading. 

To get a first-person perspective, we asked some of our experts here at onX for tips and tricks for navigating BLM land near Yellowstone National Park.

• Most areas around Yellowstone National Park are considered bear country, so being bear-aware and camping responsibly is a must. In some cases, there are camping areas around Yellowstone that require hardside camping (ie. no tent camping). It’s important to understand the regulations before you go. 
• In busy areas around Yellowstone, it might be worth planning on checking out more than one spot for camping. And in case BLM camping sites are full, you can always explore camping on National Forest Service lands. 
• Cell reception can be spotty around Yellowstone National Park, so make sure you save your BLM Land maps offline before traveling to the park. You can research more information with a map from the Federal Communications Commission detailing LTE coverage based on your provider. Paid members of onX Offroad, onX Hunt, and onX Backcountry, have offline maps included with their subscription.

Resources for finding BLM Land

Whether you’re planning a hiking trip, a camping weekend, e-scouting hunting locations, or just looking for a day out in nature, onX Maps is the ultimate resource for BLM land. See our interactive BLM land map where you can search for BLM land near you at onxmaps.com. You can also find BLM land in the following apps:

• onX Hunt – Our most popular app that can also show you the hunting regulations for the surrounding areas and dozens of other layers.
• onX Offroad – In addition to showing you public lands, our Offroad app can also show you all the Offroad trails nearby for your SxS, 4×4, ATV, dirt bike, and snowmobile.
• onX Backcountry – Jam-packed with other helpful trail data including several activity modes for Hiking, Backpacking, Climbing, Mountain Biking, and Backcountry Skiing.

Other great resources for BLM land are:

• Recreation.gov – Great for making reservations at busy campsites
• BLM.gov – A simple interactive map that shows BLM Land at a very basic level