Little Guard Lookout
1Heads up1 fire 46 mi away
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:48 UTC
- Sites
- 1In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Little Guard Lookout, located about 9 miles north of Shoshone Camp, was one of the last remaining fire lookouts used in the Coeur d'Alene River area and has only just recently become inactive. The structure standing today on Little Guard Peak is the third in a series of lookout buildings that originated back to 1919. In October 1990, Little Guard Lookout was accepted for listing in the National Historic Lookout Register and the first for Idaho. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking is a great way to explore and take in the scenery of the grand mountains. The lookout provides access to the Shoshone Ridge Trail #81, a very nice day hike for visitors to the lookout. The trail provides many scenic viewpoints, but there is no source of water along the way, so hikers must bring plenty of their own.
Facilities
The fully furnished two-story fire lookout has dimensions of 14 x 14 feet, an external cat walk, and a gabled roof. It sleeps four guests, with one single bed and three fold-up cots available. Quarters are tight and at least two cots will need to be set up downstairs in the kitchen area. The kitchen is on the ground floor and is equipped with a small propane refrigerator, propane cook stove, table, chairs and basic cooking utensils. Propane for the stove and refrigerator is also provided. The outdoor pit toilet is within 200 feet of the lookout. It comes with biodegradable toilet paper. Other amenities include a propane heater upstairs and propane lanterns, but renters will need to bring their own propane for these. No water or electricity is available. Visitors should bring plenty of water. A mountain spring is within a half-mile by footpath, and can be boiled and treated for consumption. In addition to water, guests should bring food, propane for lanterns and heater, matches or lighters, warm clothing, garbage bags, insect repellent, towels and washcloths, toiletries, dish soap and a first aid kit. Air mattresses or sleeping pads are also recommended.
Natural Features
At an elevation of 6,031 feet, the lookout boasts spectacular views overlooking the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River and the Bitterroot Mountains, with views of nearby Downey Peak to the northwest. Wildlife in the area includes mule deer, moose, osprey and calliope hummingbirds. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (208) 664-2318.
What the agency tells you
A combination is needed to access the lookout and is provided on your confirmation
Rental period begins at 1:00 p.m. on your check-in day and ends at 12:00 p.m. on the checkout day.
Propane is provided for the stove and refrigerator. Propane is not provided for the propane heater that is located in the kitchen area. If you wish to use this propane heater you’ll need to bring a 5 or 7.5 gallon propane tank (such as those typically used for BBQs). You will also need to bring small propane bottles to use in the propane lanterns for lighting, as these are not provided. A wood stove has been installed for heat on the top floor. Some firewood is available for your use. Not knowing how long this supply of wood will last, it is advisable to bring extra firewood (the stove burns 15” long firewood).
Everything else this campground posts · 12
No drinking water; please bring plenty for drinking and cooking
Please bring garbage bags; this is a Pack in - Pack out facility
Paper materials may be burned when no fire restrictions are in effect
Children under age 7 are discouraged due to the height of the lookout
No tent or RV camping allowed; all visitors must sleep in cabin
Cabinets in cabin are rodent resistant and should be used for food storage
Please clean up the lookout and pack out all waste
No smoking allowed in lookout
Please clean up after pets and place pet waste outside cabin vicinity
Click here for more information on the Idaho Panhandle National Forests
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.
Please note that dogs are not allowed in any of our cabins, lookouts or historic recreation areas that are available for reservation.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…is also provided. The outdoor pit toilet is within 200 feet of the lookout. It comes with…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…is available. Visitors should bring plenty of water. A mountain spring is within a half-mile by…”
- Stay limit
- 5 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:48 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 11
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Little Guard Lookout closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 2
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Gold Rush CampgroundLolo National Forest · 38 mi · walk-up
- Mammoth Springs CampgroundSt. Joe National Forest · 51 mi
recreation.gov availability, read 16:48 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 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 LITTLE GUARD LOOKOUT | 208 | cabin nonelectric | 4,964 ftMorris Creek | $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
Devil's Elbow CampgroundCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 2.4 mi
Berlin FlatsCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 2.5 mi
Devils ElbowCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 2.5 miBerlin Flats Group CampgroundCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 2.7 mi
Kit PriceCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 4.3 mi
Big HankCoeur d'Alene National Forest · 4.3 miFrom I-90, take Exit #43 (Kingston) and drive 24 miles north on Forest Highway 9 to Prichard junction. From there, continue on Forest Road 208 for about 5 miles to Forest Road 602 (on the right just past Shoshone Base Camp). Drive about 9 miles to the lookout at the end of the road. Vehicles with high clearance and good tires are strongly recommended.
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
Little Guard Lookout is in Idaho’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Russ Fulcher (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →