Hornet Lookout
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $40From, per site
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Hornet Lookout provides guests with astounding 360-degree views of the surrounding terrain, including Glacier National Park and Kintla Lake on clear days. On some nights, the Northern Lights may be seen from the lookout. Visitors also enjoy access to a variety of recreational activities. Access to the lookout requires a one-mile hike from the trailhead at the parking area. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking and mountain biking on the gravel roads and trails are among the activities available in the area. Viewing wildlife is another rewarding pastime.
Facilities
The two-story lookout sits at ground level. The ground level provides a living space for two guests and the second story is a small loft used solely for full views of the region. The lookout's rustic accommodations include a propane cook stove, propane lantern, two cots, a small wood stove for heat. A pit toilet is provided outside the lookout. Pets are allowed, but cleaning up after them is required. No water is available. Guests should pack their own bedding, water, first aid kit and food, among other necessities. Click here for more cabin details .
Natural Features
The scenic lookout is perched atop Hornet Peak, at an elevation of 6,744 feet. Nearby peaks include Wedge Mountain and Akinkoka Peak. The rustic lookout was built in 1922 and, in its prime, played an integral role for detecting forest fires in the North Fork area. A 2003 wildfire charred the surrounding area, but wildflowers and bear grass are making a comeback. Glacier View Ranger District is bordered on the east by the North Fork of the Flathead River and Glacier National Park. To the north is Canada and west is the Montana's Kootenai National Forest.
Nearby Attractions
Glacier National Park and the Wild and Scenic North Fork of the Flathead River are nearby.
What the agency tells you
There is a maximum stay of three consecutive nights with a total of seven days per calendar year.
Water, electricity and sewer is not available at the cabin. A wood stove is available at the lookout, however wood is not provided. There is a hand saw provided at the lookout and wood can be gathered near the lookout.
Use caution; Hornet Road 9805 is narrow, with few pullouts.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Bears frequent the area; use appropriate containers for food and garbage.
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack-it-in, pack-it-out' facility.
Contact the ranger district office at (406) 387-3800, during normal office hours (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) for updates on weather and road conditions.
The cabin remains locked; a combination lock code will be contained in the reservation confirmation letter.
Guests must clean cabin prior to departure; a fee will be charged if extra clean-up is needed.
Commercial use of cabin is prohibited.
Click here for more information on the Flathead National Forest.
In early to mid-summer, expect snow on the road preventing you from driving to the Lookout's trailhead. Be prepared to hike an extra distance.
Refunds will not be given for inclement weather or road conditions.
Check-out time is 1200 pm. Check-in time is 2 pm.
This is a remote cabin that may be unoccupied for extended periods of time. Mice may be present in cabin - there are supplies to trap mice and remove safely in cabin. Please do your part to help mitigate rodents by picking up food crumbs, cleaning thoroughly, and trapping mice if they are present.
Cupula windows are seasonally shuttered in late September-early October for weather concerns.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…two cots, a small wood stove for heat. A pit toilet is provided outside the lookout. Pets are allowed,…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…but cleaning up after them is required. No water is available. Guests should pack their own bedding,…”
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Wildlife viewing
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 · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the lowest per-night amount the agency’s fee record states ($40), plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
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 HORNET LOOKOUT | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 2,580 ft | $40 |
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
Ninko CabinFlathead National Forest · 4.1 miTuchuck CampgroundFlathead National Forest · 5.1 mi
Wurtz CabinFlathead National Forest · 5.5 mi
Ford CabinFlathead National Forest · 6.2 mi
Schnaus CabinFlathead National Forest · 7.8 mi
Kintla Lake CampgroundGlacier National Park · 8.5 miFrom Columbia Falls, take Nucleus Avenue north through Columbia Falls and turn east on Railroad Street. At the stop sign, the road becomes the North Fork Road. Continue on North Fork Road for about 45 miles and over the railroad overpass. Turn left (west) on Whale Creek Road 318 and drive 4 miles, then turn right on the narrow Hornet Road 9805 and go 5.2 miles to the trailhead of Hornet Trail 349. Hike about a mile to the lookout.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Polebridge, MT
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
Hornet Lookout 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 →