Horse Prairie 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 16:38 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
Horse Prairie Cabin is a fairly large, two-room cabin situated on the edge of beautiful Horse Prairie in the southwestern corner of Montana. Forest service work crews used the cabin for lodging in the past. The cabin is available year-round and provides access to abundant hiking, biking, skiing and snowmobiling trails. It is equipped with a variety of amenities, providing guests with a somewhat comfortable and adventurous experience in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. The cabin is accessible by vehicle, depending on conditions. Excessive snowfall may require skis, snowmobiles or hiking for up to six miles of the route. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers and mountain bikers can access some great trails in the area. To the west of the cabin, Coyote Creek Road provides access to excellent cross-country skiing. Coyote Creek Road runs approximately seven miles to the top of the Big Hole Divide, climbing about 1,500 feet. The prairie and surrounding area is also open to unlimited snowmobile access during the winter (learn about avalanche danger ). Fishing is available in nearby creeks, and anglers might see rainbow and brook trout, as well as mountain whitefish. The waterways drain into the Big Hole River, a blue-ribbon trout stream at the southern end of the forest.
Facilities
The two-room log cabin comes equipped with bunk beds and mattresses to sleep up to four people, as well as a table and chairs. Propane appliances include a stove, oven and overhead lighting. The kitchen area of the cabin is stocked with basic cookware, utensils, dishes and tableware. There is ample cupboard and counter space for food preparation and storage. It has a wood burning stove for heat. Firewood is provided, but not guaranteed . Please be conservative with wood, this will help us maintain the supply for heating purposes. An axe is provide but do not split wood inside the cabin or on the porch. Finally, if the wood supply is low please call the Dillon Ranger District at (406) 683-3900 and leave a message if calling outside of regular business hours. Drinking water is provided June through September. Cleaning equipment, including a mop, broom and dustpan, is provided, as well as a bucket and shovel. An outhouse with a vault toilet is located nearby. Guests need to bring their own bedding, including blankets and pillows, as well as matches, food, flashlights, toilet paper, garbage bags and other necessities. Firewood may be available, but the supply cannot be guaranteed. Guests are asked to replenish the cut wood supply, pack out all trash and food, and clean the cabin prior to leaving. Limited cell phone coverage is available (depending on carrier).
Natural Features
The cabin is located on a hillside in a sunny, open prairie on the southern edge of the Beaverhead Mountains. The range straddles the Continental Divide in Montana and Idaho. The view from the cabin overlooks the grassy meadows of Horse Prairie. There is abundant wildlife in the area, including elk, moose, mountain goat, bighorn sheep, lynx, marten, deer and black bears ( learn more about bear safety ).
What the agency tells you
This facility is located in a remote and wild area; before making a reservation, become aware of bear, water and weather safety (including avalanche danger)
The cabin remains locked; you will recieve the combination in the confirmation letter after successfully reserving the cabin
All garbage and food must be packed out
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Livestock and domestic animals are prohibited at the site
Guests should be aware that there is a risk of exposure to hantavirus when visiting remote cabins; click here to learn more
Learn more about the Beaverhead-Deerlodge 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.
During spring runoff the roads to the cabin can become impassible. Check with the Dillon District prior to making a reservation for road conditions. (406) 683-3900.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…a bucket and shovel. An outhouse with a vault toilet is located nearby. Guests need to bring their own…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…outside of regular business hours. Drinking water is provided June through September. Cleaning…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- Spotty
Full this Saturdayread 16:38 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Tue, Oct 20. read 16:38 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 · 13
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 16:38 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 HORSE PRAIRIE CABIN | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 4,524 ft | $55 |
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
Bloody Dick CabinBeaverhead National Forest · 9.2 mi
Reservoir Lake Campground and Picnic AreaBeaverhead National Forest · 9.4 mi
Agency Creek CampgroundSalmon Field Office · 13 miSouth Van Houten CampgroundBeaverhead National Forest · 17 mi
McFarland CampgroundSalmon Field Office · 19 mi
Miner Lake CampgroundBeaverhead National Forest · 24 miFrom Dillon, travel south on Interstate 15 for about 20 miles, to Highway 324. Cross the Clark Canyon Reservoir Dam and travel west on Highway 324 for about 21 miles. At Red Butte, continue west on Forest Road 181 (Bloody Dick Road) for about 6 miles to the junction with Forest Road 7340 (Coyote Creek Road). Continue about 2 miles to the cabin.
In winter, over-the-snow distance to the cabin will vary from 1 to 6 miles. Maps may be purchased at the Dillon Ranger District 420 Barrett Street, Dillon, MT 59725 - Monday through Friday from 7:30-16:30 mst. Or using a computer - http://www.fs.usda.gov/bdnf (mobile map applications are available).
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Grant, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 25°F, day 53°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 7°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
Horse Prairie Cabin 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 Horse Prairie Cabin, Montana
Dear Ryan K. Zinke, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Horse Prairie Cabin, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Horse Prairie 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. Horse Prairie Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Horse Prairie 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 Horse Prairie Cabin (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 Horse Prairie Cabin, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Horse Prairie Cabin, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Horse Prairie 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. Horse Prairie Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Horse Prairie 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 Horse Prairie Cabin (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 Horse Prairie Cabin, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Horse Prairie Cabin, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Horse Prairie 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. Horse Prairie Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Horse Prairie 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 Horse Prairie Cabin (Montana) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…and food, and clean the cabin prior to leaving. Limited cell phone coverage is available (depending on carrier). Natural Features The…”