Crandall Creek Cabin
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 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:42 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 19 notices
In the agency’s own words
A historic cabin known as Bennett Creek Cabin was located over a mile from this site, but it was recently replaced with the current Crandall Creek Cabin, a traditional log structure. This cabin offers rustic accommodations with limited amenities, so guests should be prepared to bring most of the supplies and gear they need for a comfortable stay. Access to the cabin is via a semi-primitive dirt road. Four-wheel drive is suggested on this road from June 16 to Dec. 1. Guests who arrive after Dec. 1 must get to the cabin by hiking, snowshoeing, skiing or snowmobiling seven miles from the end of the plowed road to the cabin. No off-road vehicles or motorcycles are allowed beyond the Shields River Loop gate from Dec. 2 to June 15. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety. Keep reading
Recreation
Activities in the area include hiking, mountain biking, birding, hunting, horseback riding and during the summer months, ATV's and motorcycles may be used on the main roads if street legal. Winter activities include snowshoeing, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing. Excellent fishing is available in the nearby creeks. Hunting is also a popular pastime in this area each fall.
Facilities
The cabin can sleep up to six people, in three available bunk beds with mattresses. A table with benches, a wood stove for heat , a propane lantern and propane cookstove are provided. There is a mop and bucket for cleaning the cabin. FIREWOOD IS NOT AVAILABLE FROM JUNE 1ST THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30TH. PLEASE BRING FIREWOOD OR GATHER FROM FOREST DURING SUMMER. DO NOT BURN PROVIDED FIREWOOD FOR OUTDOOR FIRES,EVER, AS IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO REPLACE. Firewood is available during winter months as long as supplies last. An axe and splitting maul are also supplied. Both the cabin and adjacent vault toilet are wheelchair accessible. There is a campfire ring and picnic table outside. No water, electricity or propane canisters for the lantern or stove are provided. Guests need to provide their own water supply as well as bring propane canisters or battery-operated lanterns or flashlights. A propane two-burner cookstove is provided for cooking. A table is available to set up the propane camp stove. Guests need to bring bedding, matches, toilet paper, first aid kit, cookware, dishes, utensils and newspaper for starting woodstove and propane canisters for lantern and Coleman stove for a comfortable stay. A stock corral is provided for four animals. If the corral is used for stock, it must be cleaned before leaving. Feed must be Certified Weed Seed Free and out-of-state horses must have a current Coggins test. Water for the horses can be obtained from a creek nearby.
Natural Features
Crandall Creek Cabin is tucked beneath the foothills of the Crazy Mountains. The front porch of the cabin offers a majestic view of Target Rock and spectacular star gazing on a clear night. The cabin is situated at an elevation of approximately 6,400 feet, near several creeks and the Shields River. This area is home to bears, elk, deer and moose, among other wildlife species. Birders may spot a variety of birds.
What the agency tells you
5 night maximum stay limit
The cabin remains locked: to get the combination for the cabin, guests must CHECK their confirmation letter. When operating the combination locks, line up the numbers and squeeze the handle and base together. The lock will pop open.
ARRIVAL ON 1st DAY OF RESERVATION 2:00 p.m. DEPARTURE ON THE LAST DAY OF YOUR RESERVATION 12:00 p.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 16
Water is not available in the cabin; water obtained from nearby natural water sources should be treated or boiled before consumption to prevent Giardia
Due to road conditions, a high-clearance, four wheel drive vehicle is recommended even in good weather
Cell phone coverage is either limited or not available in this area
No liquid-fueled (white gas) stoves or lanterns are allowed in the cabin or on the porch
Guests must carefully follow the food storage order for Gallatin National Forest;Click here for more information
Maximum group size for using the facility and adjacent area is 15 people
No garbage service; please bring garbage bags and pack out all trash and personal belongings. Please clean cabin before leaving.
Within the Yellowstone Ranger District, refunds for weather or accessibility issues on the day of arrival or later will not be considered. Refunds will not be considered for conditions resulting from poor housekeeping by previous visitors.
A stock corral is provided for four animals. If the corral is used for stock, it must be cleaned before leaving. Feed must be Certified Weed Seed Free and out-of-state horses must have a current Coggins test. Water for the horses can be obtained from a creek nearby.
Please collect your own firewood for campfires. Do not use the provided firewood for outdoor fires.
The primary occupant is responsible to ensure all members of their party abide byUSFS regulations
Firing a gun or use of any other weapon is not allowed within 150 yards of the cabin
Guests should be aware that there is a risk of exposure to Hantavirus when visiting remote cabins; click here for more information
Click here for more information about Gallatin National Forest
Please call the Livingston office of the Yellowstone Ranger District at (406) 222-1892, during business hours: 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. MST, Monday through Friday, for current weather conditions/alerts, information and questions about the cabin.
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing pests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…supplied. Both the cabin and adjacent vault toilet are wheelchair accessible. There is a campfire ring…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:42 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Wed, Oct 21. read 16:42 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.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 16
What you actually pay
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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:42 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.
| CRANDALL CREEK CABIN | CABIN | cabin nonelectric | yes | 273 ft | $65 |
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
Porcupine CabinGallatin National Forest · 5.9 mi
Ibex CabinGallatin National Forest · 13 mi
Halfmoon CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 13 miSpring Creek CampgroundLewis & Clark National Forest · 28 miRichardson CampgroundLewis & Clark National Forest · 29 miGrasshopper CampgroundLewis & Clark National Forest · 30 miCrandall Creek Cabin is located approximately 24 miles northeast of Wilsall, and 52 miles from Livingston.
From Livingston, travel north on Highway 89 to Wilsall. Turn right from Highway 89 onto Shields River Road. Follow Shields River Road past where the pavement turns to dirt and continue straight approximately 5.5 more miles to a fork in the road, and take the left fork towards the Shields River Camp (approximately 2 miles to the camp). About 100 yards beyond the campground, take a left onto a gated road. The cabin combination code will open the gate. The cabin is located 200 yards down this road. Due to road conditions, a high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle is suggested. From Dec. 2 through March 31, the last seven miles of the access road to Crandall Cabin are not plowed. Plan to ski, snowshoe or snowmobile this distance from the end of the plowed road to the cabin. It is recommended that winter renters carry topographic maps and compasses for navigation, since the route maybe wind-blown and difficult to find. Signs may be down due to weather conditions or vandalism.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Wilsall, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 54°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 13°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 Augusts are colder than the August 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
Crandall Creek Cabin is in Montana’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Troy Downing (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 moneyTroy DowningU.S. Representative · Montana’s 2nd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationSteve DainesU.S. Senator · Montana
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTim SheehyU.S. Senator · Montana
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 Crandall Creek Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Troy Downing, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Crandall Creek Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Crandall Creek 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crandall Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crandall Creek 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 Crandall Creek Cabin (Gallatin National Forest, Montana) 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 Crandall Creek Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Crandall Creek Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Crandall Creek 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crandall Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crandall Creek 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 Crandall Creek Cabin (Gallatin National Forest, Montana) 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 Crandall Creek Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Crandall Creek Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Crandall Creek 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Crandall Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Crandall Creek 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 Crandall Creek Cabin (Gallatin National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com