Moose Creek 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 16:14 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
Moose Creek Cabin is situated in an grassy clearing surrounded by conifer forest in the Tenmile Creek drainage west of Helena, Montana. The cabin was constructed in 1907 and used by the Forest Service during the early history of the agency. It has served as a Forest Service Ranger Station, guard station, and work center for the Civilian Conservation Corps. Today, the cabin is a rustic retreat for guests seeking relaxation and recreation. The cabin is accessible by car, but guests should park on the adjacent road and cross a footbridge to get to the cabin. Many amenities are offered at the cabin, so guests only need to bring a few of their own supplies. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers and backpackers can access the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail from trails found near the cabin. This is a non-motorized trail with spectacular views and a variety of terrain, open to mountain bikers, stock users, backpackers and day hikers. The trail transitions through thick forest to above tree line and offers spectacular views both east and west of the Continental Divide. Moose Creek is a stream located just 11.4 miles from Helena. The creek supports a variety of fish, including redear sunfish, rainbow trout and brook trout. Whether spinning, fly fishing or baitcasting, chances of getting a bite here are good. Winter play includes cross-country skiing, snowmobiling and snowshoeing.
Facilities
Moose Creek Cabin has electricity and is designed for up to 4 guests. One bedroom is furnished with a queen size bed and the other with 2 twin beds, all with mattresses. The kitchen is equipped with a table and chairs, dishes, utensils, cookware and propane cook stove, that include a stove and lights. The living room has a wood fireplace and this is the only source of heat. An outhouse with vault toilet is located on-site. A picnic table and campfire ring offer comfortable outdoor dining. Firewood for indoor wood stove is provided September 1 through May 31. There is no water on site, so guests must bring a sufficient supply for drinking, cooking and washing. Guests should bring their own sleeping bags, lanterns or flashlights, towels, dish soap, matches, toilet paper and garbage bags. All garbage must be packed out, and guests are expected to clean the cabin before leaving. No firewood provided from June 1st - August 31.
Natural Features
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, mountain lion and lynx find habitat in nearby areas as well.
What the agency tells you
Entry to the cabin is by combination lock, code provided in reservation email confirmation.
Do not leave food or trash outside the cabin
All garbage and food must be packed out
Everything else this campground posts · 5
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
- 1 electric
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…only source of heat. An outhouse with vault toilet is located on-site. A picnic table and campfire…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…is provided September 1 through May 31. There is no water on site, so guests must bring a sufficient supply…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Hunting
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:14 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 16:14 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 16:14 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.
| MOOSE CREEK CABIN | CB1 | cabin electric | 282 ft | $50–$65 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Quigley Group UseHelena National Forest · 3.5 mi
Park Lake CampgroundHelena National Forest · 7.0 mi
Kading CabinHelena National Forest · 13 miCromwell Dixon CampgroundHelena National Forest · 14 mi
Strawberry CabinHelena National Forest · 17 miFrom Helena, take U.S. Highway 12, and travel west for 7 miles to Rimini county road. From this intersection, take Rimini Road to the south approximately 4 miles to the cabin. It is located on the east side of the road just past the entrance to Moose Creek Campground.
Parking is available to the north of the cabin. A footbridge across Moose Creek provides access from the parking area to the cabin. Vehicles are not allowed within the fenced area. Please make sure you park well off the road.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Rimini, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 30°F, day 51°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 13°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
Moose Creek Cabin is in Montana’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Troy Downing (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 moneyTroy DowningU.S. Representative · Montana’s 2nd 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 Moose Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Troy Downing, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Moose Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Moose 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. Moose Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Moose 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 Moose Creek 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 Moose Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Moose Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Moose 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. Moose Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Moose 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 Moose Creek 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 Moose Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Moose Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Moose 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. Moose Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Moose 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 Moose Creek Cabin (Helena National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com