The Dirt Legal Guide to Off-Roading in Montana: Best Spots and Tips

Why Montana Is An Off-road Paradise

Montana is the fourth largest state in the Union, but falls in the bottom five in population. Not just population density, but overall population. At just a little over 1.1 million, it is very sparsely populated. For comparison, it is only a third the population of also-sparse Kansas, and just a little over half the population of extremely rural Nebraska. 

What does all of this mean? It means that there is a whole lot of land there to do stuff with. Montana is an off-roading paradise, offering all kinds of different offroad environments from the vast, open plains to some of the harshest rocks in the Rockies. Oh, and don’t forget copious sledding opportunities.

But for this installment of the Dirt Legal blog, I’m taking a deep dive into the mudding scene in Montana. 

The Vast Wilderness And Diverse Terrains

So, what makes mudding Montana so rad? In a word, diversity of terrain. Montana has so much to offer. About 60% of the state is made up of wide open prairie, which is home to some of the best mud in the known universe. Especially after spring snow melts, the prairie tends to look like a bowl of peanut butter fudge brownie batter. Gross if you need to get to cattle or into a field for planting, but great if you view mud as nature’s playground. 

The remainder of the state, which is roughly 40% of Montana, is made up of the Rockies. This area isn’t really the classic “mudding” you think of in the Southeast and even the Midwest, but more general off-roading and trailrunning. But man, it’s hard to think of a better place to do your off-roading than a place with these views.

It’s The Perfect Mix Of Off-Roading Challenges

The great thing about off-roading in Montana is that you aren’t limited to one narrow or specific type of off-roading. Yes, we are talking generally about mudding Montana here, but it isn’t really a classic mudding state like Alabama, Florida, Texas, or even California. It’s a little more nuanced. With that said, though, if you are off-roading in the wet seasons in Montana, you will be mudding. 

The Best Spots to Go off-roading in Montana

Okay, so where are the best places to go mudding and/or off-roading in Montana? Let’s look at a few. 

Yellowstone National Park Region

Yellowstone is waiting for you.

Everyone’s heard of Yellowstone. And no, we’re not talking about the fictitious ranch. We’re talking about the world-famous national park, or more accurately, the surrounding area. 

The park itself is off-limits for all off-roading, but the surrounding area is chalk-full of off-roading opportunities. And yes, there will be mud. The mixture of mud and slick rocks is one of the most challenging compositions for off-roaders to tackle, so a UTV, ATV, or a Humvee is a great option and since they are fully street legal in Montana (as long as you title and register them), you can also enter the national park. 

Flathead National Forest

The Flathead National Forest is home to hundreds of miles of OHV trails. These are purely off-road, so you won’t be able to take a street-legal UTV, ATV, or dirt bike on them (even though they are the same vehicle besides paperwork). It is important to note that once an OHV is transferred to street-legal status, it cannot ever be driven on OHV trails again unless the registration status is changed back to being an OHV. So, if you want to run a UTV on Flathead National Forest official trails, it has to be towed there on a trailer and have the OHV registration sticker. Of course, there is nothing against towing your OHV registered UTV to the trails with your street-legal Humvee. 

Flathead is in the Northwest region of Montana, which is all mountains so it’s not really what you would be able to call “mudding,” but it is certainly off-roading. 

Gallatin Canyon

Gallatin Canyon is located near Bozeman and has a long list of OHV trails in the area. Again, OHVs are not allowed on the park roads, as they are legal roads. However, Gallatin Canyon has trails in the national forest that probably number in the hundreds of miles. 

There are probably thousands of miles of great offroad trails in Montana that we can’t even start to scratch the surface on right now. With that said, these are largely OHV only so the accessions are limited. If you have a street legal UTV, you can’t drive it on these. 

But…there are other options. You could tow a lightweight quad or a dirt bike to the trailheads with a street-legal UTV. Or a handful of UTVs to the trailhead behind a street-legal Humvee or LMTV. How cool would that be? The only limit is your imagination. 

Best Vehicles for Off Roading In Montana (And Beyond)

There are a few different kinds of vehicles that work especially well for off-roading. 

UTVs and ATVs

We are very fond of UTVs and ATVs for off-roading. They are compact, light, and extremely formidable. And they have come a long way since earlier generations. 

UTVs are especially well suited for this because it is their sole purpose. Street-legal driving is really not what they were designed for, but they are capable of doing it. 

Surplus Military Trucks (LMTVs, FMTVs, Humvees)

The military purposefully buys trucks that can operate on paved roads, but if we’re being honest, are not really purpose built for roads. 

Convoys are generally limited to about 50 mph with Army trucks because they just don’t go all that fast. They are geared low, and one look at the tires on an LMTV will tell you that they aren’t really made for highway use. 

But, they are fine for getting around on highways and have plenty of low end torque to tow about any trailer you can hook up to it. And, old surplus Army trailers make great overlanding conversions. Well, these trailers are already perfectly suited for a Humvee or larger because they were made for it. 

How to Prepare for Off-Roading in Montana

Okay, so how should you prepare for mudding and off-roading in general in Montana? Here are a few tips. 

Vehicle Preparation and Modifications

The first thing you need to do is make sure your rigs have the right tires. This is really important. Here is one drawback for a street-legal UTV: DOT-approved tires. These will end up being like an all-terrain or off-road truck tire and you can still have aggressive tread but not to the level of a stock OHV tire. 

This is one major advantage of keeping a UTV for offroad use exclusively (you can always keep a spare set of tires but then you’d have to trailer the rig and that kinda defeats the purpose). As for street legal vehicles on trail runs, off-road tires are a common accessory to bring along and it is totally common to trailer Jeeps and other serious trail rigs to the trailhead so it’s not the end of the world to do the same with a UTV. But again, check the trails to make sure there aren’t certain rules that would preclude you from taking your street-legal ride on offroad trails. 

Whether you use it as a dedicated OHV or a street-legal ride, a good winch is one of the first things to consider, along with straps, block and tackle, and shackles. A good collection of winch accessories and a winch will get you out of a lot of binds. Oh, and throw a decent tow strap in there. Make sure to get one rated for more than anything you’ll ever drive or tow out of a sticky spot. 

Finally, auxiliary lights. The last 10-15 years have been a boom for offroad lights with the serious advancements and perfection in LED lights. Now, any trail rig regardless of size and electrical capacity can equip their rig with enough candlepower to light up the dark side of the moon. Not really, but I dig the album and modern LED offroad lights are phenomenal. They’re light, they have almost no draw, and they are so, so bright. Invest in some. 

"Where are your off-road lights mounted?" by PhoenixFrictionProducts is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Legal Requirements for Street-Legal Off-Roading

Alright, so we have talked about this quite a bit already but let’s clear it up again. 

Number 1: a street-legal UTV, ATV, or dirt bike is no longer any of those things in the definition of the law. It is a street legal vehicle, a motorcycle or quadricycle. It can only be driven in areas designated for street-legal vehicles or where both are allowed. 

Number 2: an OHV UTV, ATV, or dirt bike is still any of those things. It has to be registered as an OHV in Montana through the state registration process. These have full access to OHV-sanctioned trails in the state. 

Now, the cool thing is that a street legal UTV may now be able to drive on OHV-specific trails but it can drive anywhere else in the state. And it can drive on roads in other states. We hesitate to say all states because there have been a few states that have been harsh against street-legalized OHVs (check out our Nationwide Street Legal UTV Guide), but most states have been overall friendly to street-legal OHVs. 

Parting Thoughts

The biggest takeaways for this are:

1. Know whose land you are on. Montana is wide open, but private landowners hold a lot of it. So make sure you know where the public land is, or if you have permission for private trails, be in the right place. 

2. Know what land requires what kind of registration. If street-legal are allowed, then you can take your street-legal OHV, Jeep, truck, or even surplus Army truck on them (unless otherwise specified). And you cannot have an OHV sticker on a street-legalized OHV; it can only wear one type of registration. 

3. Outfit your vehicle for the conditions you expect to be in (and prepare for conditions that are even worse). 

And, if you have an OHV that you’d like to get registered in Montana, you know we’re your one-stop-shop. MCO, SF-97, or even a bill of sale and we’ve got you covered. And this isn’t just for the trailer rig! If you have a toy hauler, get it registered in Montana! Flatbed trailer? You know what to do. And of course the tow rig as well. 
Best of all, you can register them all under the same Montana LLC.