Hogback Homestead
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 19 mi
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 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:18 UTC
- 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 Hogback Homestead is a fully furnished log cabin that sits on approximately five acres along Hogback Creek in western Montana. It provides access to a variety of recreational activities as well as exceptional scenery. Keep reading
Recreation
This area offers spring, summer and fall recreation opportunities including hiking, fishing, hunting and wildlife viewing. The area is popular for big game hunting in designated areas. Visitors enjoy fishing nearby in Rock Creek, a Blue Ribbon trout stream. Access to the Hogback Ridge trailhead and an extensive network of trails is located at the entrance to the homestead site.
Facilities
The two-story cabin has three bedrooms and can sleep up to eight people. The kitchen, living room/dining room, and a single bedroom with a double bed are located on the first floor. Two bedrooms, one with a double bed and one with two bunk beds, are located on the second floor. The first floor is wheelchair accessible. The cabin is heated with a wood stove and a propane cook stove. The lights are powered by a solar panel array with a battery bank. The rental is outfitted with period furniture including a large bench-style dining table, kitchen table, chairs, couches and dressers. Cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils, cookware and other amenities may be available, but are not guaranteed; call for availability, (406) 329-3814. Water is available intermittently at the hand pump located behind the homestead. Potable water cannot be guaranteed,recommended you bring an adiquate supply of your own drinking water. An accessible vault toilet is also provided outside, behind the cabin. Guests should bring water for drinking, cooking and cleaning purposes. Bedding, pillows, towels, food, matches, flashlights, toilet paper and garbage bags are not provided. Guests are responsible for cleaning the cabin prior to their departure. The cabin is accessible by vehicle. In the late fall and early spring, depending on weather conditions, guests may need to hike or ski up to a mile to the cabin. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety.
Natural Features
The cabin is located near the scenic Hogback Creek, in the rugged Sapphire Mountains, at an elevation of 4,500 feet. It was built in 1917 as a permanent home. In the early 1990s the Missoula Ranger District, along with many dedicated volunteers, restored the Hogback Homestead to its original historic condition, providing renters an opportunity to experience the setting and lifestyle of the early 1900s. The Sapphire Mountains contain large stands of Douglas fir and lodgepole pine forests and are home to a variety of wildlife, including bighorn sheep, mountain goats, elk, moose, deer and black bears.
What the agency tells you
Group size limit: 8
No camping
Pets are not allowed in this facility or on the property
Everything else this campground posts · 9
From March 1 to Dec. 31, all food and attractants must be secured from bears and other wildlife
This facility is located in a remote area; before making a reservation, become aware of bear, water and weather safety
Upon reservation renters will receive gate and cabin combination codes via email. During late fall and early spring, renters are encouraged to bring a lighter to heat the lock tumblers as they have a tendency to freeze
All garbage, food and personal belongings must be packed out
Livestock is not allowed at the site
Off-road vehicles are not allowed unless they are street legal
Cleaning supplies, cooking utensils, cookware and other amenities may be available, but are not guaranteed; call for availability, (406) 329-3814.
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
- None
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- PIT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
Full this Saturdayread 16:18 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:18 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 · 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
recreation.gov availability, read 16:18 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.
| HOGBACK HOMESTEAD | 001 | cabin nonelectric | yes | 144 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
Morgan-Case HomesteadLolo National Forest · 0.9 miSiria CampgroundLolo National Forest · 1.2 miBighorn Campground2.7 miBitterroot Flat CampgroundLolo National Forest · 5.4 mi
Stony CabinDeerlodge National Forest · 6.1 miStony Creek CampgroundDeerlodge National Forest · 6.2 miFrom Missoula, Montana, travel east on Interstate 90 for about 20 miles to exit 126. Drive south on Rock Creek Road for about 29 miles. Rock Creek Road is a hardened surface for 12 miles and the remainder is a gravel, single-lane road, with intermittent pull-outs. It is not suitable for RVs or trailers, due to blind turns, steep grades and narrow width. Maps are available online or for purchase by calling the Missoula Ranger District.
During late fall and early spring, take the Drummond exit 153 on Interstate 90 and follow Scenic Highway 1 south toward Philipsburg. One mile north of Philipsburg, turn west on State Road 348. Travel 13 miles west, cross Rock Creek and turn north onto Rock Creek Road. Continue 12 miles to the homestead. The road is plowed within 3 miles of the cabin. A four-wheel drive vehicle equipped with chains is recommended. Travelers may also want to bring an alternate form of transportation (skis or snowshoes) to complete the route.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Stevensville, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 58°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 · a letter you can send
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
Hogback Homestead 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 →
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 moneyRyan K. ZinkeU.S. Representative · Montana’s 1st 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 Hogback Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana
Dear Ryan K. Zinke, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Hogback Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Hogback Homestead 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. Hogback Homestead keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Hogback Homestead. 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 Hogback Homestead (Lolo 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 Hogback Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Hogback Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Hogback Homestead 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. Hogback Homestead keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Hogback Homestead. 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 Hogback Homestead (Lolo 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 Hogback Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Hogback Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Hogback Homestead 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. Hogback Homestead keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Hogback Homestead. 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 Hogback Homestead (Lolo National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com