May Creek Cabin
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- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:36 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
May Creek Cabin is located on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail in western Montana. It was built by miners in the early 1900s and used by them for about 30 years. Hunters occupied it for about 30 years after that. The cabin went unused for nearly 30 years and was restored for public use in 1993. In 2011, more work was completed to enhance the quality and safety of the structure. Summer and fall months give visitors plenty of daylight and moderate temperatures to explore the surrounding meadows, peaks and valleys, as well as fish in plentiful mountain streams. The cabin can be accessed by driving to May Creek Campground and then hiking or skiing just over two miles, depending on conditions. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Early explorers crossed through the area, leaving a variety of trails for hiking, mountain biking or horseback riding, including the Nez Perce Trail, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and the Continental Divide National Historic Trail. Historic sites are located along all routes. A GPS unit, compass and area maps are helpful in reaching the cabin and exploring the area. The surrounding hills and valleys are popular for hiking and backpacking in the summer and fall, and for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, although extreme caution is urged to avoid avalanche danger. Fishing and wading are available in the adjacent May Creek. Anglers might catch brook or rainbow trout, which are plentiful in the alpine waters.
Facilities
The wood-frame, one-room cabin is equipped with bunk beds and foam mattresses that sleep up to four people, a wood-burning stove for heat and a propane stove for cooking. The flat-topped wood stove can also be used for cooking. A table with benches, cooking and eating utensils, axe, shovel, bucket, cleaning gear and firewood (during the winter months) are also provided. A wood stove is available for heat, and firewood and an axe are provided from September 16-June 15. You will need to provide your own firewood from June 16-September 15. An outhouse with a vault toilet is near the cabin. A propane lantern should also be available, but fuel is not supplied. The cabin has no electricity or running water. It is recommended that guests bring their own water supply for drinking, cooking and washing. Water is also available from a nearby creek, but it must be treated or boiled prior to use. Guests should bring their own bedding, food, toilet paper, towels, flashlights, garbage bags and 16-ounce propane canisters for the stove and lantern. All garbage and food must be packed out and guests should clean the cabin prior to leaving.
Natural Features
The rustic cabin is situated at the base of the Anaconda Mountain Range in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest of southwestern Montana. It is nestled in evergreen forest near the banks of May Creek at an elevation of about 6,600 feet. The Anacondas are home to abundant wildlife, including mountain lions, elk, deer, moose and bears ( learn more about bear safety ). This area is a major spot for elk calving.
Nearby Attractions
The Big Hole National Battlefield is located about nine miles east of the cabin. It is the site of the Nez Perce War of 1877, a battle between the Native American tribe, the United States Army and civilian volunteers.
What the agency tells you
Guests must bring their own water for drinking, cooking and cleaning.
Propane fuel is not provided.
Firewood is only provided from October 1-June 15. Firewood is not provided June 16-September 30.
Everything else this campground posts · 8
This facility is located in a remote area; before making a reservation, become aware of bear , water and weather safety, including avalanche danger.
The cabin remains locked. The padlock number code will be provided to you when you confirm your reservation. You do not need to call the Wisdom District Office to obtain the padlock code.
There is no cell phone service at or around the cabin.
All garbage and food must be packed out.
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 on our website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/bdnf
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.
Each visitor group is responsible for cleaning and disinfecting the cabin. The Beaverhead-Deerlodge NF checks on the cabin intermittently during the reservation season and cannot guarantee the sterilization of facilities or prevention of disease transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the latest on COVID-19 in Montana, please refer to the Governor's Corona Virus Task Force: https://covid19.mt.gov/
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…June 16-September 15. An outhouse with a vault toilet is near the cabin. A propane lantern should also be…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…water. It is recommended that guests bring their own water supply for drinking, cooking and washing. Water is…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
- Stay limit
- 3 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:36 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Tue, Oct 20. 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.
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 · 14
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.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| AREA MAY CREEK CABIN | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 87 ft | 67 ft | $45 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Hogan CabinBeaverhead National Forest · 5.7 mi
Gordon Reese CabinBeaverhead National Forest · 6.5 mi
Twin Creek Campground Group Camping SiteSalmon National Forest · 7.5 mi
Indian Trees CampgroundBitterroot National Forest · 10 mi
Twogood CabinBitterroot National Forest · 13 mi
Mussigbrod CampgroundBeaverhead National Forest · 14 miFrom Wisdom, travel west on Highway 43 for about 16 miles to the May Creek Campground. Guests can park in the plowed parking area near the highway at the entrance to the campground during the winter. During the summer months, follow the campground road to the fence at the south end of the campground. Parking is available in the meadow just west of the campground.
From the campground, hike or ski south along the marked May Creek Trail, crossing a small bridge. About a quarter-mile past the bridge, the May Creek Trail intersects with the May Creek Ridge Trail; stay on the May Creek Trail and continue south for about two miles. The cabin is located on the edge of a large meadow, in the trees, on the east side of the creek. Large, blue diamond stakes mark the trail across the meadow to the cabin. Maps of the area may be purchased by calling the Wisdom Ranger District.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Sula, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 21°F, day 53°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 3°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
May Creek 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 May Creek Cabin, Beaverhead National Forest, Montana
Dear Ryan K. Zinke, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 1st district. I tried to camp at May Creek Cabin, Beaverhead National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at May Creek 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. May Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run May Creek 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 May Creek Cabin (Beaverhead 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 May Creek Cabin, Beaverhead National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at May Creek Cabin, Beaverhead National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at May Creek 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. May Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run May Creek 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 May Creek Cabin (Beaverhead 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 May Creek Cabin, Beaverhead National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at May Creek Cabin, Beaverhead National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at May Creek 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. May Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run May Creek 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 May Creek Cabin (Beaverhead National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com