Antlers Guard Station Cabin
4Heads up4 fires, nearest 12 mi
We don’t think it should be. Every campground should hold some sites for whoever drives up.Tell your representative →
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 16 of the next 16 nights read 16:45 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Antlers Guard Station was built in 1935 for the fire crews who patrolled Wallowa-Whitman National Forest. The Forest Roads were not yet well developed, and it was impractical for crews to travel daily between the remote parts of the forest and the ranger station. The Civilian Conservation Corps built this structure to allow crews to stay where they worked. Antlers Guard Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. Guests who stay at Antlers Guard Station can still get away from it all while enjoying the basic comforts of home. The cabin is accessible by car. Keep reading
Recreation
This cabin is popular with rock hounds, botanists, hikers, mountain bikers, hunters, and ATV riders. Anglers can fish for trout in the North Fork Burnt River.
Facilities
Antlers Guard Station is a cozy, rustic cabin with 2 small rooms. The combined living room and bedroom is furnished with a double futon and 2 sets of bunk beds that sleep 6 people comfortably. The kitchen has a table and chairs, a propane range and refrigerator, and utensils for cooking and eating. A propane fireplace for heating and propane lights are provided. An outhouse and garage are located near the cabin. Water is available from an outside hand pump, and there is a fire ring and picnic tables for outdoor dining. Guests are required to bring garbage bags to pack out their trash, and they are expected to clean the guard station before leaving. Bedding, towels and emergency items like flashlights and first aid kits are not provided.
Natural Features
Antlers Guard Station sits at an elevation of 4,107 feet on the west bank of the scenic North Fork of the Burnt River. The surrounding forest is ponderosa pine. Rattlesnakes, mountain lions and black bears inhabit this area ( information on bear safety ).
Nearby Attractions
The town of Whitney is 2 miles from Antlers Guard Station. This ghost town, once the home of railway and sawmill workers, fell into decline around 1918. Several long-abandoned buildings are still standing. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (541) 519-3993.
Charges & Cancellations
A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation. Late cancellations are subject to additional fees. For full details see NRRS Reservation Policy
What the agency tells you
This cabin requires reservations. Walk-ups are not accepted for this facility.
Entry to the cabin is by combination lock, you will get an Email with a code included.
Arrival time is 1:00 p.m.; departure time is 11:00 a.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Maximum capacity is 6 people
Cell phone coverage is limited in the area
Additional use of RVs, tents and trailers must be within the capacity of the cabin and site usage; guest camping at the site is not allowed
Pets are welcome but must remain outside
Cabin stay duration is limited to 7 days
Vehicle parking is allowed in the driveway, not in cabin yard
Riding and pack stock are not allowed in the cabin yard or premises
Hanging and cleaning of game animals is not allowed on the premises
ATVs are only allowed on designated roads and trails; a State of Oregon ATV permit is required to use ATVs on Forest Service Roads and trails
All Forest Service Cabin rentals are nonsmoking facilities
Click here for more information about Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…and garage are located near the cabin. Water is available from an outside hand pump, and there is a fire ring…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Biking
- Birding
- Fishing
- Historic site
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Mountain biking
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 16:45 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:45 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t
Watch for a cancellation
Watch this campground
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.
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 make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
“A $10.00 service fee will apply if you change or cancel your reservation.” · 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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:45 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 1 of the 1 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| AREA ANTLERS GUARD STATION CABIN | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 14 ftMosquito Creek | $105 |
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Oregon CampgroundWhitman National Forest · 6.6 miYellow Pine CampgroundWhitman National Forest · 7.3 miWetmore CampgroundWhitman National Forest · 7.6 mi
McCully Forks CampgroundWhitman National Forest · 9.4 mi
Southwest Shore CampgroundWhitman National Forest · 11 mi
Millers Lane CampgroundWhitman National Forest · 11 miFrom Unity, Oregon: go northwest 2 miles toward John Day on Highway 26. Turn right (north) on State Road 245 and go past Unity Reservoir. Approximately 2 miles past the reservoir, turn left (north) on County Road 535 (which becomes County Road 529) and go 18 miles to the Antlers Guard Station on your right. Driving time from Unity is approximately 45 minutes.
From Baker City: take State Highway 7 south approximately 38 miles to County Road 529. Turn south at the old Whitney town site. Follow County 529 (approximately 2 miles) along the North Fork of the Burnt River to the Cabin on your left. Driving time from Baker City is one hour.
From John Day: take State Highway 26 east to Austin Jct., turn north on State Highway 7 to County Road 529. Drive approximately 15.5 miles, and then turn south at the old Whitney town site. Follow County Road 529 (approximately two miles) along the North Fork of the Burnt River to the cabin on your left. Driving time from John Day is approx. 1 hour.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sumpter, OR
Typical weather
Typical October night 28°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 15°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
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.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Antlers Guard Station Cabin is in Oregon’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Cliff Bentz (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
Who can change it · 3
Two offices, two different asks. The draft to the agency asks it to set aside a published share of the sites here for whoever drives up. The draft to Congress asks why that share is zero and presses for a published minimum at the campgrounds it funds.
- The member who votes the moneyCliff BentzU.S. Representative · Oregon’s 2nd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJeff MerkleyU.S. Senator · Oregon
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRon WydenU.S. Senator · Oregon
Read the draft, or change the wording
For the camper who turned up, or tried to book, and couldn’t get in. Every draft is written from this campground’s own record (its agency, its unit, its site count and its own weekend) and the buttons above copy whichever wording is selected here.
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Antlers Guard Station Cabin, Whitman National Forest, Oregon
Dear Cliff Bentz, I’m a constituent in Oregon’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Antlers Guard Station Cabin, Whitman National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Antlers Guard Station Cabin are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Antlers Guard Station Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Antlers Guard Station Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Antlers Guard Station Cabin (Whitman National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Antlers Guard Station Cabin, Whitman National Forest, Oregon
Dear Jeff Merkley, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Antlers Guard Station Cabin, Whitman National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Antlers Guard Station Cabin are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Antlers Guard Station Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Antlers Guard Station Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Antlers Guard Station Cabin (Whitman National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com
Asks them to put the question to the agency in writing, and to press for a published minimum share of walk-up sites across the campgrounds they fund.
Subject Walk-up camping at Antlers Guard Station Cabin, Whitman National Forest, Oregon
Dear Ron Wyden, I’m a constituent in Oregon. I tried to camp at Antlers Guard Station Cabin, Whitman National Forest, Oregon, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Antlers Guard Station Cabin are reservable, and the agency's own record lists none held back for somebody who drives up. On Saturday, October 17, the one site recreation.gov was offering there was already booked. 1,623 of the 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Antlers Guard Station Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Antlers Guard Station Cabin. I’m asking you to put it to the U.S. Forest Service in writing: why is the share of first-come sites there zero, and what would a published minimum share cost? Please press for that minimum at the federal campgrounds you fund. The people who open these campgrounds, collect the fees and keep the water running are seasonal positions. At GS-5, base pay plus the government's own 36.25% benefit factor, one costs about $47,414 a year. One percent of the $13.3 billion the USS Gerald R. Ford cost to procure would pay for about 2,800 of them for a year. Both figures are the government's own (a Congressional Research Service report and an OPM pay table), and I’m glad to send them. Sent about Antlers Guard Station Cabin (Whitman National Forest, Oregon) via campanac.com