Garver Mtn. Lookout Rental
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 37 mi
- 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 · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Garver Mountain Lookout is perched on top of Garver Mountain at an elevation of 5,874 feet. The lookout is located in the Yaak area of the Kootenai National Forest, characterized by its minimal services and rugged beauty. This destination is ideal for visitors with an adventurous attitude, looking for a plethora of outdoor activities. Garver Mountain Lookout has been used as an observation point for detecting forest fires since 1929. The first lookout was a one-story log cabin, which is still on the site. The current lookout was built in 1963 and is available for rent for up to four people. Keep reading
Recreation
Garver Creek is located near the lookout and offers opportunities for trout fishing. Day hiking is another popular pastime in the area around the lookout. The Lookout is situatied along the Pacific Northwest National Scenic trail, and through hikers may visit you in the lookout.
Facilities
The current lookout is 144 square feet and 40 feet tall. The lookout is equipped with 2 twin beds with 4 mattresses, a wood stove, table, chairs, shovel bucket and cleaning gear. Due to vandalism, however, these items are not guaranteed. The lookout tower is a short but steep hike from the end of the road parking. The lookout is not wired for electricity and water sources are limited. There is a pit toilet located outside. Although there are a few amenities provided, guests will need to bring their own supplies such as drinking water, sleeping bags, pillows, toilet paper, matches, food and cooking utensils, to ensure a comfortable stay.
Natural Features
The Yaak area is home to grizzly bears, wolves, elk, deer and a variety of smaller mammals and birds. The Yaak River and its many tributaries provide habitat for cutthroat, rainbow, brook and bull trout. There are also several lakes scattered at varying elevations for hikers and fisherman to enjoy.
What the agency tells you
The lookout is secured with a combination lock; please cal the Three Rivers Ranger District at 406-295-4693 prior to arrival and confirm the combination
Check-in/Check-out 2:00 pm
There is no water; Guests must provide their own for drinking, cooking and washing
Everything else this campground posts · 8
Access depends on weather conditions
Visitors may leave up to 2 vehicles at the trailhead
Please pack out all trash and food and clean cabin before departure
There is a 5 consecutive day stay limit. A break of 7 days is requested before making another reservation.
This lookout is on the Pacific Northwest National Scenic trail, you may have through hikers visit the lookout.
Be aware, this facility is not cleaned between user visits. It is up to individual renters to bring their own cleaning supplies and clean before and after site use.
Learn more about the the Kootenai 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
- None
- Longest rig
- 22 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…water sources are limited. There is a pit toilet located outside. Although there are a few amenities…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…need to bring their own supplies such as drinking water, sleeping bags, pillows, toilet paper, matches,…”
- Stay limit
- 15 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
- Night sky · 134th darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 2
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 Oct 1, 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.
| GARVER MTN. LOOKOUT RENTAL | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 22 ft | 1.1 mi | $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
Upper Ford Cabin RentalKootenai National Forest · 6.3 miPete Creek CampgroundKootenai National Forest · 7.0 miWhitetail CampgroundKootenai National Forest · 7.1 mi
Whitetail YurtKootenai National Forest · 7.1 mi
Mt. Baldy-Buckhorn RidgeKootenai National Forest · 8.9 miRed Top CampgroundKootenai National Forest · 13 miFrom Troy, Montana: Follow Highway 2 west for 9.5 miles to Yaak Highway 508. Follow Yaak Highway 508 north for 30 miles to the town of Yaak. Continue on Yaak Highway 92 to French Garver Road 276, turn right and follow road to junction with road 5857. Follow 5857 to the gate to Garver Mountain. The road continues beyond the gate for approximately 3 miles. There is a sign on the trail to the lookout.
Note: The trail to the lookout is approximately 1/4 mile.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Yaak, MT
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
Roadless country, and what’s coming for it
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Garver Mtn. Lookout Rental 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 →