Deer Creek Cabin (MT)
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- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:37 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 21 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Todd Family began building Deer Creek Cabin in 1953 and finished it in 1960. They used it as a retreat while they grazed cattle on federal lands in the summer and hunted in the fall. The cabin has survived two forest fires. Gallatin National Forest assumed ownership of the cabin in 1993. The cabin is open year-round, but access is challenging. There are three routes to the cabin that can be used by equestrians, hikers and ATVs in the summer. During the winter, by snowshoes, skis and snowmobiles. Keep reading
Snowmobilers will need to park their trailers down low on the Iron Mountain Road, keeping the road passable for others. These trails will be marked as to uses. These 4- to 5-mile routes may ford creeks, with creek depths varying from 6 inches to several feet, in the spring. Some basic conveniences are provided, but guests will need to bring most of their own amenities to ensure a comfortable stay.
Recreation
There are numerous trails around the cabin that provide opportunities for exploration. Experienced cross-country skiers and snowshoers will find a challenging winter landscape. Anglers can fish for trout in the nearby creek. The area offers good big game and bird hunting opportunities in the fall.
Facilities
The single-room cabin has a wood cook stove and a wood heating stove. It can sleep up to four people on a provided double bed and set of bunk beds. There are no mattresses. Please bring your own sleeping pads. Other amenities include basic cooking supplies, a table with chairs, some cleaning gear, propane-fueled lantern,propane-fueled cookstove, axe, maul, bucket and shovel. Bring propane canisters for the lantern and stove. A campfire ring and outhouse with pit toilet are located outside the cabin. Livestock may be kept at the available adjacent corral and in partially fenced pasture. No water or electricity is provided. Guests must bring their own drinking water or treat water taken from the creek. Items such as battery-powered flashlights or lanterns, bedding, matches, extra toilet paper and dish soap are not provided.
Natural Features
This remote location provides habitat for a variety of wildlife, including bear, moose, antelope, elk and deer. Many species of birds also inhabit the area. Blackened trees from a 2006 forest fire still line the nearby hillsides.
What the agency tells you
5 night maximum stay limit
The cabin remains locked; guests must CHECK their confirmation letter for the cabin combination. 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 · 18
The cabin is open year-round, but access is challenging; three routes to the cabin are available. Two routes by ATV and motorcycle and one route by equestrians and hikers in the summer or by snowshoers and skiers in the winter; these 4- to 5-mile routes may ford creeks, with creek depths varying from 6 inches to several feet in the spring
Drinking water is not available; water obtained from nearby natural water sources should be treated prior to use to prevent Giardia
For a comfortable stay, please bring the following items: flashlight, propane canister for provided lantern, bedding, sleeping pad, cookware, dishes, utensils, newspaper, matches, toilet paper, first-aid kit, drinking water
No garbage service; please bring garbage bags and pack out all that you pack in, including empty propane canisters.
Cell phone coverage is either limited or not available in this area
Guests should be aware that there is a risk of exposure to hantavirus when visiting remote cabins;
click here to learn more
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 liquid fueled (white gas) stoves or lanterns allowed in the cabin or on the porch
A stock corral is provided; please clean the stock corral before leaving. Hay and feed for stock must be certified weed-free. Out of state horses must have current Coggins test.
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.
Please collect your own firewood for campfires
Firing a gun or using any other weapon is not allowed within 150 yards of the cabin
Primary occupant is responsible to ensure all members of their party abide by US Forest Service regulations
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
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…stove. A campfire ring and outhouse with pit toilet are located outside the cabin. Livestock may be…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…or electricity is provided. Guests must bring their own drinking water or treat water taken from the creek. Items such as…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Hiking
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:37 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:37 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 16:37 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 DEER CREEK CABIN | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 89 ft | $45 |
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
West Bridger CabinGallatin National Forest · 3.9 mi
Meyers Creek CabinCuster National Forest · 8.1 mi
East Boulder CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 13 miInitial Creek CampgroundCuster National Forest · 14 mi
Big Beaver CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 17 mi
Woodbine CampgroundCuster National Forest · 17 miDeer Creek Cabin is located approximately 30 miles south of Big Timber, Montana. It can be accessed by 3 different routes. It is recommended that renters carry topographic maps, GPS and compasses for navigation since the route may be difficult to find.
One route to follow is the Placer Gulch Trailhead access by foot, horse, or OHV (50 inches or less):
From Exit 370 on Interstate 90 just east of Big Timber, take Frontage Road (south side of the interstate) 8 miles east. Turn right (south) onto Lower Deer Creek Road (Forest Service Road #482) and proceed 16.2 miles to the Placer Gulch Trailhead sign located on the left side of the road. Park at the trailhead and travel Placer Gulch Trail 256 by foot, horse or off-road vehicles a distance of 5.2 miles, to the Deer Creek Cabin.
Jim's Gulch Trailhead access by foot or horse: From Big Timber, travel 14 miles east on Interstate Highway 90 to Exit 384, Bridger Creek. At the stop sign, turn right and travel south for 8.2 miles to the junction of Main Bridger with West Bridger Creek Road. Turn right and continue on West Bridger Road for 4 miles, to the parking area. Park near the sign for Jim's Gulch Trail 129, Lower Deer Creek. From this point, the cabin is 4 miles by foot or horse. Follow trail 129 up Jim's Gulch for about a mile, where the trail turns sharply to the right (north) and climbs up to the ridge. Follow the trail to the divide where it descends steeply to Lower Deer Creek. At this point, the trail junctions with Lower Deer Creek Trail 5. Turn left (south) on Trail 5 and follow the trail upstream for approximately 1.5 miles to the cabin.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Greycliff, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 19°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
Deer Creek Cabin (MT) 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 Deer Creek Cabin (MT), Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Troy Downing, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Deer Creek Cabin (MT), Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Deer Creek Cabin (MT) 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. Deer Creek Cabin (MT) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Deer Creek Cabin (MT). 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 Deer Creek Cabin (MT) (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 Deer Creek Cabin (MT), Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Deer Creek Cabin (MT), Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Deer Creek Cabin (MT) 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. Deer Creek Cabin (MT) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Deer Creek Cabin (MT). 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 Deer Creek Cabin (MT) (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 Deer Creek Cabin (MT), Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Deer Creek Cabin (MT), Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Deer Creek Cabin (MT) 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. Deer Creek Cabin (MT) keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Deer Creek Cabin (MT). 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 Deer Creek Cabin (MT) (Gallatin National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com