Big Sky Camp Paw 2027 has upcoming dates to be announced at Hellgate Campground.
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From attendees
A year-by-year record of this convention
Open an edition to see the details that belong to that year.
Camp 2026 ran Thursday July 16 to Monday July 20 at Hellgate Campground. Camp opened at noon on the Thursday with registration from 3pm and a DJ set that night; Friday brought a morning hike, karaoke, a talk on the history of the Canyon Ferry area and the opening ceremony; Saturday added a presentation from a National Park Service ranger, croquet, the camp group photo and the camp dinner; and closing ceremony fell on the Sunday. Organisers warned campers to store food in their cars overnight and to check the lake for algal blooms before swimming. No attendance figure, charity or guest of honour was announced, which is the normal shape of a Camp Paw year.
The 2025 edition ran August 7 to 11 at Hellgate Campground, with sponsor registration closing in early July and standard registration running to the end of that month. Organisers asked campers for donations of firewood for the communal fires at each pavilion. As in other years the convention published no theme, guest of honour, charity or headcount, and the edition is best documented by its own photo gallery.
Trends
Compare dates, themes, attendance, charity, and guests across the record.
2027
Dates TBA
2026
Jul 16-20
2025
Aug 7-11
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3 quirks & policies that don't fit the highlights grid.
Federal dam-reservoir camping, not wilderness
Hellgate Campground sits on Bureau of Reclamation land, the same federal agency that runs Hoover Dam, on the west shore of Canyon Ferry Reservoir, the 25-mile Missouri River impoundment east of Helena. Elevation 3,848 ft; the campground occupies an open valley between the Big Belt Mountains and the Elkhorns, 30 miles east of Helena via MT Highway 284.
Montana permitless carry meets a federal no-discharge zone
Camp Paw operates inside an unusual regulatory split. Montana is permitless-carry for anyone 18+ legally allowed to possess a firearm, but the Bureau of Reclamation explicitly prohibits "discharge of firearms, including bow & arrows, air guns and fireworks" within the Canyon Ferry recreation area.
No themes, no Guests of Honor, no charity, by deliberate design
Camp Paw has never announced a theme, GoH, or charity beneficiary in the years we have documented. The small camping format is the reason: there is no stage to build a theme around and no vendor hall to raise charity money in, so those fields stay empty by choice rather than by oversight. The published 2026 programme is the evidence: it lists every event down to the half-hour, from a morning hike to a Canyon Ferry history talk to the group photo, and there is no auction, no honoured guest and no theme anywhere in it.
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