Double Arrow Lookout
1Heads up1 fire 26 mi away
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Double Arrow Lookout offers guests a chance to see the Seeley valley and the adjacent Swan Mountains from a different and unique vantage point, high above the hillside. The tower contains a few modern amenities, including electricity, but allows guests to personalize their visits with their own supplies. A variety of recreational opportunities exist in the surrounding mountains, but the view is usually what attracts people to the tower. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors enjoy hunting and hiking. There are a variety of trails that lead from the lookout into the surrounding mountains and valleys. Seeley Lake is located about 2 miles east of Double Arrow and is open to fishing, boating and other water-related recreation. It has a boat ramp, as well as a sandy beach with ample shade for visitors who just want to relax and enjoy the alpine setting.
Facilities
Double Arrow has an exterior stairway leading to a platform with a covered walkway all the way around the window-encased living quarters. The facility has electric lights, heat, a cook stove and a small refrigerator. An outdoor vault toilet is a short distance from the tower. Two single platforms and two portable cots are provided, able to sleep up to four people. Camping and sleeping are not allowed in the area around and below the lookout. Cell phone service is available in the area. Guests must furnish everything they need in the way of bedding, cooking and eating equipment and cleaning supplies. Guests will also need to bring their own food, towels, soap, garbage bags and toilet paper, among other supplies deemed necessary. The cabin will need to be cleaned before leaving. The lookout can be accessed by vehicle, however, the steep dirt and gravel road requires high-clearance vehicles. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety.
Natural Features
The lookout is a 14-by-14 structure atop a 20 foot tower. It was built in 1933 and staffed by Forest Service employees until the mid-'80s, when it was opened to the public for recreation purposes. The tower is now listed on the National Historic Lookout Register. The forest contains a wide variety of trees, plants and wildlife, and is home to mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, moose, deer and grizzly and black bears (learn about bear safety ). Both the bald and golden eagle reside in the forest, along with trumpeter swan, herons and dozens of varieties of ducks.
Nearby Attractions
The lookout is a short distance from the Clearwater River Canoe Trail, which offers a prime location to witness the area's spectacular birding, wildlife viewing and scenic views. The 3.5-mile trail can be completed in a couple hours and is done entirely on the water.
What the agency tells you
Notice: Beginning in 2024, check out time is at 1:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Check-in is at 3:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Please check-out on time so that attendents may prepare the site for the next guest.
Water is not available at the facility. Please pack in all the water you will need for drinking, cooking, cleaning, etc.
Guests will need to provide all the supplies they need in the way of bedding, sleeping pads, cooking utensils and cleaning supplies.
Everything else this campground posts · 9
This facility is located in a remote area; before making a reservation, become aware of bear , water and weather safety.
This is a high cliff environment with rocky boulders and steep drop-offs. Please use extreme caution if you have children in your group.
Access road is not recommended for low-clearance vehicles.
The entry gate and cabin remain locked; a combination lock code will be included in the reservation confirmation letter. Please ensure the gate and cabin are locked upon departure.
Pack out all food and garbage and clean the facility before you leave. Keep the building and grounds clean to deter squirrel, mice, rats, bears and other wildlife from the area.
Doors and windows must be shut and all personal items removed upon departure.
Smoking and pets are prohibited at the lookout.
Learn more about the Lolo National Forest
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
- 1 electric
- Longest rig
- 20 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Stay limit
- 16 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Beach
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Lookout Tower
- Observation Site
- Scenic drives
- Stargazing
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 368th darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 2
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- Yes
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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 · 12
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
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.
| DOUBLE ARROW LOOKOUT | 001 | cabin electric | 20 ft | 3,177 ft | 107 ft | $75 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
River Point Lolo Campground (MT)Lolo National Forest · 1.7 mi
Seeley Lake Lolo Campground (MT)Lolo National Forest · 1.9 miHidden Lake CampgroundLolo National Forest · 2.4 mi
Big Larch CampgroundLolo National Forest · 2.6 mi
Lake Inez Point 6 (Group Camp Site)Lolo National Forest · 8.9 mi
Lakeside Campground10 miFrom the town of Seeley Lake, turn west on Riverview Drive halfway between MM 13 & 14. Drive straight on the paved road for 0.6 mile, where you will cross over the Clearwater River. Continue on the same road another 0.6 mile where the road will split, stay straight (do not go right). The road will narrow, become more rocky and rough. Proceed almost 1 mile where you will make a right turn. After another 0.2 mile, make another right turn. Go another 0.2 mile and turn right again on Forest Road 696. Continue 1 mile where you will come to the lookout gate. Proceed through the gate (using the gate combination number) and in 0.1 mile you will be at the lookout.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Seeley Lake, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 56°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 12°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Double Arrow Lookout is in Montana’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Ryan Zinke (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…allowed in the area around and below the lookout. Cell phone service is available in the area. Guests must furnish everything they need in the…”