Fourmile 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 16:31 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
Fourmile Cabin is open year-round and offers guests a rustic mountain retreat surrounded by majestic scenery. The cabin offers an electric cooking stove, lights, and a refrigerator. Guests will need to bring most of their own gear and supplies to ensure a comfortable stay. The cabin is accessible by vehicle during warmer months, along a gravel county road. Late-season ice may require guests to snowshoe, hike or snowmobile up to 3.5 miles to the cabin. Guests arriving in winter should be prepared to snowmobile, ski or snowshoe up to 11 miles along the access road to the cabin. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety. Keep reading
Recreation
Equestian and hiking trails are accessible from the cabin and head west into the Absaroka Mountains, branching out through the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. The winter landscape is ideal for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Anglers can fish for Yellowstone cutthroat or rainbow trout in Fourmile Creek or the Boulder River. Hunting is a popular fall activity.
Facilities
The two-room cabin has an electric stove, lights and refrigerator. A wood-burning stove is provided for heat. Firewood is not available from June 1st through September 30th. Please bring firewood or gather from the forest during the summer season. Do no 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. The cabin can sleep up to four people on provided twin beds with mattresses. Other amenities include basic cookware and utensils, some cleaning supplies, a table with chairs, axe, maul, bucket and shovel. There is a campfire ring and a vault toilet outside. Water is not available at the cabin. Guests need to bring their own water supply or be prepared to treat water taken from an outside source. Garbage bags are needed to pack out trash, and guests are expected to clean the cabin before leaving. Guests should also bring their own flashlight, bedding, cookware, dishes, utensils, newspaper, matches, toilet paper and first aid kit, among other necessities.
Natural Features
The cabin sits at an elevation of 6,186 feet on the Boulder River, near Fourmile Creek. The Boulder River carves out a canyon between the peaks of The Needles, Carbonate Mountain and Hawley Mountain in the Absaroka Range. The cabin is nestled in the canyon in an open, grassy area surrounded by mixed forest. The location provides habitat for a variety of wildlife, including bear, moose, antelope, elk and deer. Many species of birds also inhabit the area.
Nearby Attractions
The Boulder River is just to the east of the cabin and Fourmile Creek is to the south. The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness is on either side of the road and begins right behind the cabin. Trails into the Wilderness begin adjacent to the cabin.
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 is 2:00 p.m. Departure on the last day of your reservation is 12:00 p.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 16
The gate, Cabin and woodshed are locked with combination locks; be sure to have combination in advance of arrival
This cabin is accessible by 4 wheel drive vehicle in warm months on a county gravel road. Guests arriving in the late fall season or winter should be prepared to ski, snowshoe or snowmobile some distance to the cabin. Mileage will vary according to the weather.
Drinking water is not available; water obtained from nearby natural water sources should be treated prior to use to prevent Giardia.
Cell phone coverage is not available in this area
Please bring garbage bags and pack out all that you pack in
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
Rental camping supplies, such as bear spray, ice chests, tents, etc. are available locally in the Bozeman area. Call district for further information. 406-222-1892. No liquid fueled (white gas) stoves or lanterns allowed in the cabin or on the porch.
Stock must be kept at the adjacent trailhead facility; please clean area after use. 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. Do not use the provided wood for outdoor fires.
Firing a gun or use of any other weapon is not allowed within 150 yards of the of the cabin
The 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
- 1 electric
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…shovel. There is a campfire ring and a vault toilet outside. Water is not available at the cabin.…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…ring and a vault toilet outside. Water is not available at the cabin. Guests need to bring their own water…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:31 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Wed, Oct 21. read 16:31 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 · 14
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 16:31 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 FOURMILE CABIN | 001 | cabin electric | 228 ft | $75 |
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
Hells Canyon CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 1.6 mi
Hick's Park CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 3.1 mi
Chippy Park CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 6.9 mi
Aspen CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 8.1 mi
Big Beaver CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 8.8 mi
Falls Creek CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 10 miFrom Big Timber, travel 25 miles south on Highway 298 to the National Forest Boundary. At this point, the paved road becomes county-maintained gravel road (Main Boulder Road or Forest Road 6639). Continue on this gravel road another 17 miles. The cabin is on the west (right) side of the road across from the Fourmile Trailhead parking area. The Forest Service sign at the entrance to the cabin reads Fourmile Ranger Station.
During winter months it is advisable to call the Livingston Office of the Yellowstone Ranger District at (406) 222-1892 for current conditions.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Pray, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 52°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 17°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
Fourmile 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 Fourmile Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Troy Downing, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Fourmile Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Fourmile 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. Fourmile Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Fourmile 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 Fourmile 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 Fourmile Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Fourmile Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Fourmile 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. Fourmile Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Fourmile 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 Fourmile 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 Fourmile Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Fourmile Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Fourmile 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. Fourmile Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Fourmile 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 Fourmile Cabin (Gallatin National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com