Fernow 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 22 of the next 26 nights read 16:37 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 13 notices
In the agency’s own words
Fernow Cabin offers a quaint, forested retreat near Flagstaff and Sedona, in central Arizona. The rustic, three-bedroom log cabin is a retired U.S. Forest Service guard station constructed in the 1970s to house firefighters during wildfire season. Now, it offers groups of up to eight people a unique recreation opportunity in a beautiful Southwest setting. The cabin can be accessed by passenger vehicle, however caution required for the last mile; high clearanance recommended. Roads are not always maintained after each weather event. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
The area is a hub for hiking, mountain biking and off-road vehicle riding. The cabin is adjacent to the Sycamore Canyon and Red Rock/Secret Mountain Wilderness areas, which boast numerous hiking trails. Bikes and off-road vehicles are only allowed on designated roads and trails. Flora, fauna and unique rock formations in the surrounding area also present excellent opportunities for photography.
Facilities
The cabin has running water from mid-May through mid-October. It also has an indoor shower, hot water heater, solar lights, a small dining area, kitchen, two bedrooms, a loft, wood stove and covered porch. It is furnished with beds and mattresses, dressers and a small dining table with chairs. There is no electricity available. If visiting before mid-May or after mid-October, guests must bring their own water. The kitchen includes a stove, oven, small refrigerator, pots, pans, utensils, dishes, coffee pot. The vault toilet is a short walking distance from the cabin, and an outdoor campfire circle and grill are also provided. The ramp to the front porch is accessible. Firewood and propane are provided (click here for more cabin details ). Visitors must bring their own sheets (two double beds and four single beds) and blankets, or sleeping bags, flashlights, towels, garbage bags, dish soap, dish towels, extra firewood, an axe for splitting wood, and matches and newspaper for lighting the wood stove. There are two picnic tables outside. Lawn chairs are not provided, but are a nice treat for summer months.
Natural Features
The site lies in a ponderosa pine forest on the Mogollon Rim, a 200-mile slope that ranges between 5,000 and 7,000 feet in elevation. At an elevation of 6,656 feet, the cabin is fairly isolated, offering a private location for visitors to enjoy nature. The area is characterized by warm summer days and cool nights, with afternoon thunderstorms common from mid-June through mid-September.
Nearby Attractions
The nearby city of Flagstaff offers ample lodging, shopping and dining opportunities. Grand Canyon National Park is about a two-hour drive northwest of the cabin.
What the agency tells you
Lock code for entrance gate and front door are included in the reservation confirmation letter; key to the toilet is in the cabin near the refrigerator
No Walk-Up rental allowed. Reservations only, minimum of one day in advance of arrival.
Electricity is NOT available. There are no electrical outlets in the cabin.
Everything else this campground posts · 10
Guests must bring their own water before mid-May and after mid-October
Cell phone service is limited to non-existent in the area
Suitable for 8 people; any group size over 8 people requires prior approval from Forest Service
The cabin is closed to reservations mid-week for weekly maintenance and may be closed periodically for longer maintenance projects.
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.
Be Fire Aware! Fire restrictions may be in effect during spring and summer months. Extinquish campfires completely and keep the fire inside the ring provided.
Pets are allowed, provided that you clean up after your pet including pet hair on furniture. PETS CANNOT BE LEFT UNATTENDED AT THE CABIN
High clearance vehicle recomended. Roads not maintained for passenger cars.
Cabins are in high demand during peak season. Our volunteer staff restocks the cabin once per week. Renters are required to leave the cabin clean and in excellent condition for use by following renters.
Firewood is provided for heating the cabin during cooler months. Guests should bring their own wood for outdoor campfires (allowed only in metal firepit).
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…pans, utensils, dishes, coffee pot. The vault toilet is a short walking distance from the cabin, and an…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…or after mid-October, guests must bring their own water. The kitchen includes a stove, oven, small…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- Biking
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 128th darkest of 262 in AZ
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 36 km away
- Patchy color
Full this Saturdayread 16:37 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Thu, Oct 22. 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.
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 · 13
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.
| FERNOW | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 40 ft | 4,350 ftHandcock Tank | $125 |
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
Pine Flat Campground WestCoconino National Forest · 6.3 mi
Cave SpringCoconino National Forest · 6.4 mi
Manzanita.Coconino National Forest · 8.0 mi
Manzanita CampgroundCoconino National Forest · 9.0 mi
WHITE HORSE LAKE CampgroundKaibab National Forest · 12 miChavez CrossingCoconino National Forest · 13 miFernow Cabin is located approximately 20 miles south of Flagstaff on Forest Road 231. High-clearance vehicles are recommended. Roads are not maintained for passenger cars. From Phoenix, travel north on Interstate 17 to the junction with Interstate 40 in Flagstaff. Go west on Interstate 40. Turn right at the Flagstaff Ranch Road exit and continue to the stop sign. Turn right onto historic U.S. Route 66. Turn right at the Woody Mountain Campground, onto Forest Road 231 (Woody Mountain Road) and continue for 21 miles. At Forest Road 231A, continue along Forest Road 231 for less than a mile, taking the second right, onto Forest Road 231E/Fernow Draw. The cabin is a quater-mile further on Forest Road 231E.
From Flagstaff, take Milton Road south and turn right onto historic U.S. Route 66. Turn left onto Forest Road 231/Woody Mountain Road at the Woody Mountain Campground. Stay on Forest Road 231 for 21 miles. At Forest Road 231A, continue along Forest Road 231 for less than a mile, taking the second right, onto Forest Road 231E/Fernow Draw. The cabin is a quarter-mile further on Forest Road 231E.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Oak Creek Canyon, AZ
Typical weather
Typical October night 28°F, day 64°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 Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it · a letter you can send
Who answers for this land
Fernow Cabin is in Arizona’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Eli Crane (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 moneyElijah CraneU.S. Representative · Arizona’s 2nd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMark KellyU.S. Senator · Arizona
- Your senator, on the same appropriationRuben GallegoU.S. Senator · Arizona
No contact form we could verify, so that link is their own site. Contact is inside it. Washington office: 202-224-4521.
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 Fernow Cabin, Coconino National Forest, Arizona
Dear Elijah Crane, I’m a constituent in Arizona’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Fernow Cabin, Coconino National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Fernow 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. Fernow Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Fernow 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 Fernow Cabin (Coconino National Forest, Arizona) 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 Fernow Cabin, Coconino National Forest, Arizona
Dear Mark Kelly, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Fernow Cabin, Coconino National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Fernow 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. Fernow Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Fernow 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 Fernow Cabin (Coconino National Forest, Arizona) 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 Fernow Cabin, Coconino National Forest, Arizona
Dear Ruben Gallego, I’m a constituent in Arizona. I tried to camp at Fernow Cabin, Coconino National Forest, Arizona, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Fernow 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. Fernow Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Fernow 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 Fernow Cabin (Coconino National Forest, Arizona) via campanac.com