Kading 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; a database flag says not open read 16:36 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Kading Cabin is located 16 miles south of Elliston, Montana in Helena National Forest. This site has served the Forest Service since the early 1900s when the agency was forming. It was selected for its central location, trail and wagon road accessibility, and telephone line service at the time, ensuring that it would be valuable for both administrative and protective work. The present cabin was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Renovations and repairs were made to the facility in the 1960s and again in the early 1990s. Keep reading
Today, the cabin is a rustic retreat for guests seeking relaxation and recreation in central Montana. The cabin is typically accessible by car; however, heavy amounts of snow in winter can close the road to vehicles. Access to the cabin is via a 7-mile stretch of road passable by snowmobile, snowshoe, skis or dog sled. Guests must be prepared to pack in several of their own supplies.
Recreation
Plenty of hiking, fishing and wildlife viewing opportunities exist along the numerous trails and roads that can be accessed within a short distance from the cabin. Fly fishing on the Little Blackfoot River is excellent. Brown trout are found in good numbers and large sizes below Elliston. Brook and cutthroat trout are found above Elliston. Whitefish can be found throughout the length of the river. In winter, guests will enjoy snowshoeing, skiing and snowmobiling on trails throughout the area.
Facilities
The cabin is furnished with 2 sets of bunk beds with mattresses that can accommodate up to 4 people. A wood stove is provided for heat. Other amenities include propane lanterns, a table and chairs, cleaning supplies, a propane cooking stove, dishes, utensils and some cookware. An outhouse with vault toilet is nearby. An axe and snow shovel are provided. Firewood may be available, but it is not guaranteed. A water spigot is located outside the cabin and operates most of the winter. The cabin is not wired for electricity, and water is not always available in winter. Fuel is not provided for the propane stove or lanterns, so guests should bring a couple of small propane cylinders, as well as backup lighting. Items to bring include sleeping bags, linens, towels, dish soap, matches, first aid kit, toilet paper and garbage bags. Guests are expected to pack out all trash and food and clean the cabin before leaving. No firewood provided from June 1st - August 31 Natural Features Hemmed in by old-growth, conifer forest, Kading Cabin sits at the edge of a grassy clearing. The Little Blackfoot River flows near the cabin, a tributary to the Upper Clark Fork watershed. It drains an area of 265,300 acres from the Boulder Mountains north of Butte and west of Helena. The area around the cabin offers a variety of landscapes, from river banks to subalpine terrain. Valley bottoms, dense forests, meadows and barren ridges are mixed with streams, rivers, and lakes. Wildlife in the area abounds. Elk, deer, squirrels and a variety of birds are commonly seen. The more elusive badger, wolverine, mountain lion and lynx find habitat in nearby areas as well.
Nearby Attractions
Plenty of historic mines are scattered throughout the area, including Charter Oak Mine and the Mill and the Monarch Mine.
What the agency tells you
Access to the cabin in winter is by skiing, dog sledding or snowmobiling 7 miles to the site
Entry to the cabin is by combination lock; the code is provided in reservation email confirmation.
Please contact the Helena Ranger District prior to arriving at the cabin to check on any restrictions or conditions, such as fire or road closures, weather or storms that may affect the quality of your visit
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Do not leave food or trash outside the cabin
All garbage and food must be packed out
The cabin is a no-smoking facility
Please clean cabin upon departure
Make sure cabin is locked upon departure
Learn more about the Helena 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
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…and some cookware. An outhouse with vault toilet is nearby. An axe and snow shovel are provided.…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…available, but it is not guaranteed. A water spigot is located outside the cabin and operates most of…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:36 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:36 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 · 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 16:36 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
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
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 KADING CABIN | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 339 ft | 511 ft | $30–$45 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Quigley Group UseHelena National Forest · 12 miMoose Creek CampgroundHelena National Forest · 13 mi
Moose Creek CabinHelena National Forest · 13 miOrofino Campground and Picnic AreaDeerlodge National Forest · 13 mi
Park Lake CampgroundHelena National Forest · 15 miLocated 25 miles southwest of Helena, Montana in the Little Blackfoot drainage, the cabin can be reached via US Highway 12, turning left (south) onto Little Blackfoot River Road just east of Elliston. From this intersection, it is approximately 16 miles to the cabin. The cabin is located on the north side of the road, directly across from the entrance to Kading Campground.
During the winter months, Little Blackfoot River Road is only plowed on a regular basis as far as Hat Creek. Normally, the county plows the road to this point and makes a turn-around for parking. Approximately 7 more miles of unplowed road remain to reach the cabin. This section of road is closed to vehicles but open to those who like to ski, snowmobile or use dog sleds.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Elliston, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 31°F, day 57°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 15°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
Kading 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 Kading Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Ryan K. Zinke, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Kading Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Kading 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. Kading Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Kading 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 Kading Cabin (Helena 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 Kading Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Kading Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Kading 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. Kading Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Kading 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 Kading Cabin (Helena 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 Kading Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Kading Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Kading 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. Kading Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Kading 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 Kading Cabin (Helena National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com