Gem Peak Lookout Rental
- 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 · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
The gem peak lookout is located in the Cabinet Ranger District, situated above the Clark Fork River Area at the southern end of the Cabinet Mountain Wilderness. The original Gem Peak Lookout was activated in 1921 as a "rag outfit"--a pole platform tent near a 15 foot open-platform tower. Today, the renovated structure includes a 225 square foot cabin atop a 30-foot tower with amenities such as a wood heating stove, single beds and of course, the incredible view of the Clark Fork River and the Noxon area. Full vehicle access depends on weather conditions, but typically visitors can drive straight to the lookout. Keep reading
Recreation
The Cabinet Ranger District features almost half a million acres of National Forest lands offering a full range of year-round recreational opportunities. Approximately 400 miles of trail are available to the hiker, hunter, and stock user to access various lakes and scenic viewpoints. 150 miles of these trails are open to motorized use. The District maintains almost 400 miles of open road, and many miles of gated roads offer additional opportunities to mountain bikers, berry pickers, and hunters. There is a trailhead located near the lookout with access for both hiking and OHV riding. For more information on designated OHV-riding areas, Click here . Visitors may also enjoy seasonal Huckleberry picking in the land surrounding the lookout.
Facilities
The lookout can accommodate up to 4 people with two single beds plus mattresses, a table and chairs, a bench and a wood heating stove. The lookout is not wired for electricity, but it does come with firewood stored at the base of the tower. Guests will need to bring their own light source and cooking equipment. There is a vault toilet located outside. Potable water is not available at the tower; Visitors will need to bring enough drinking water for the extent of their stay. Cleaning equipment is provided and guests are expected to leave the tower in good condition upon departure. This is a "pack it in, pack it out" facility; trash collection is not provided. In addition to the above amenities, guests will need to bring a few of their own supplies to ensure a comfortable stay. Linens, pillows, cooking utensils, toilet paper, trash bags and food are not provided.
Natural Features
The Clark Fork River Area is bordered by the Idaho line on the west and the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness on the east. The Clark Fork River flows north and west through the District, and the Bull and Vermilion Rivers join it from the north. Rugged peaks ranging in elevation from 6,000-8,700 feet overlook the valley bottom. The Kootenai National Forest is dominated by a mixed conifer forest, but there is also an impressive ancient cedar grove set aside as a scenic area. In the spring and throughout the summer, a succession of wildflowers add color to hillsides and meadows and in the fall, stands of western larch and aspen mix yellows with the reds of huckleberry bushes, mountain maples and mountain ash.
What the agency tells you
Please call the Ranger District at (406) 827-3533 prior to arrival to confirm your stay and access details.
Check-in is 2:00 pm / Check-out is 11:00 am
There is no water; Guest must provide their own for drinking, cooking and washing
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Access depends on weather conditions
Please pack out all trash and food and clean cabin before departure
This location has cell phone coverage
There is a 5 consecutive day stay limit. A break of 7 days is requested before making another reservation.
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 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
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Not allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Potable water is not available at the tower; Visitors will need to bring enough drinking water for the extent of their stay.”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
- Stay limit
- 15 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Meadow
- Fire Lookouts/Cabins Overnight
- Hiking
- Hunting
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
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 GEM PEAK LOOKOUT RENTAL | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 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
Minton Peak LookoutKaniksu National Forest · 8.7 mi
Bull River PavilionKaniksu National Forest · 8.9 mi
Little Guard LookoutCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 9.0 mi- From Noxon: Travel the Pilgrim Creek Road 149 for approximately 13 miles to Road 2205. Follow Road 2205 for approximately 2 miles to the lookout.
- From Trout Creek: Travel road 2229 for 11.5 miles. Turn left after the Marten Creek Bridge and follow road 151 for approximately 11 miles to the junction with road 2213. Continue for 5.5 miles to the junction with road 2205. Turn right and follow road 2205 for 2 miles to the lookout.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Noxon, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 44°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 18°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
Gem Peak 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 →