Moose Lake Cabin
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 19 mi
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 16:27 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 Lake Cabin is located in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest in southwestern Montana. The historic cabin, which was built in 1917 for use as a Forest Service work station, offers visitors close access to the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness Area, which covers almost 250 square miles of mountain ranges. The cabin is a short drive to Georgetown Lake, Discovery Ski Area, Gem Mountain, and the town of Philipsburg with its well known Sweet Palace and microbrewery. Many lakes and streams provide ample access to world famous trout fishing and the area also boasts miles of roads and trails. Keep reading
The cabin is located a short walk from Middle Fork Rock Cr and is surrounded by public land in all directions. Hiking, backpacking, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, OHV riding, skiing, snowmobiling, and snowshoeing are common activites, The cabin can typically be accessed by vehicle, depending on road and weather conditions. Moose Lake Road is plowed during winter, but the access spur to the cabin is not regularly plowed and guests should plan on walking this final 100 yards in the winter months.
Recreation
Moose Lake Cabin provides access to hunting, fishing, hiking or just relaxing. Fishing for brook and cutthroat trout is excellent in the area. The Middle Fork of Rock Creek as well as Copper Creek and other smaller creeks are close by. It is illegal to target Bull Trout, if caught they must be released immediately with minimal handling. Participants must have Montana licenses to hunt or fish. Visitors also enjoy snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing in the area during the winter. Various weather conditions can increase avalanche danger in the area; visitors are encouraged to carry proper backcountry equipment, including a beacon, shovel and probe while recreating. Hiking and horseback riding trails lead into the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. There are three trailheads in the area, none more than a six mile drive from the cabin. As a reminder, pelletized or certified weed seed free feed and straw is required in all National Forests in Montana.
Facilities
This is a small, primitive, one-room cabin and is equipped with two sets of bunk beds with mattress pads that can sleep up to four people. It has a small table and chairs, plates, bowls, cups, silverware for 4 people, a 2 burner coleman stove, pots, pans, french press, kitchen utensils (spatula, large spoon, knives, cutting board, can opener, cheese grater), sponges/scour pads, Battery Powered LED Lantern (D batteries), mop, broom, wasbasins, dish rack, splitting maul, hatchet, cleaning products, rags. Paper towels, matches, toilet paper, garbage bags, newspaper, and hand sanitizer are stocked monthly. The entrance is gated and locked with a combination code to provide guests privacy. There is a wood stove for heat and cooking. Firewood is almost always available but cannot be guaranteed. A vault toilet is nearby and a small dispersed camping area are a few hundred yards from the cabin. A hand pump for drinking water, a picnic table, and fire pit are also outside. Guests will need to bring their own bedding, food, personal items, propane (1lb coleman propane bottles for stove), and specialty kitchen items. There is limited cell phone service available. Guests are asked to replenish the supply of split wood and kindling, pack out all trash and food, and clean the cabin prior to leaving. Please alert the Pintler Ranger Station at 406 859 8230 if you notice any of the above items missing or broken. There is a fenced pasture for horses next to the cabin but you must check the fence for damage before using it. Do not corral your horses on the cabin grounds.
Natural Features
The cabin is located on the Middle Fork of Rock Creek (Moose Lake Road, FR 5106) near the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. It sits at the edge of an open meadow, surrounded by evergreens and nearby peaks. The Middle Fork of Rock Creek flows about 100 yards behind the cabin. There is easy access to the creek, and good fishing. The cabin has dodged several large wildfires, and you will see old fire scars from lightning caused fires on the ridges. The area is known for its high, rugged and beautiful mountain scenery, as well as the variety of wildlife that makes its home there, including elk, moose, deer, mountain lions and bears(grizzly and black bears) ( learn more about bear safety ).
Nearby Attractions
The Skalkaho Highway (Highway 38) leads into the Sapphire Mountains along a primitive and once widely used Native American trail. The scenic drive, which is closed during winter, was built to provide access between mining areas and agricultural communities in the Bitterroot Valley. About 30 miles from the cabin, the road leads to Skalkaho Falls in the neighboring Bitterroot National Forest. Moose Lake day use area is available for swimming and picnics in the summer, and ice fishing in winter. There is a groomed snowmobile route from Copper Creek campground to Frog Pond Basin. There are many trailheads in the vicinity, both wilderness access and non. There is an ATV loop from Copper creek over O'brien ridge to Frog Pond Basin and back down to Copper Creek. Georgetown Lake can be accessed by highways or dirt roads. Discovery Ski Area is a short drive away. The town of Philipsburg has restaraunts, gift shops, gem shops, a micro brewery, candy shop, gas station, grocery store, skating rink, historic theater, and has events throughout the year.
Charges & Cancellations
Reservations are nonrefundable unless extenuating circumstances warrant otherwise. Determination will be made on a case by case basis.
What the agency tells you
For questions and concerns, please call the Pintler Ranger District at (406) 859-3211, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The cabin remains locked; a confirmation email containing the lock combination will be sent after booking, please check the email for the combo. Feel free to call the ranger station to confirm the code prior to your booking.
Drinking water is available year round. During exceptionally cold weather the hand pump may freeze. Be prepared to melt snow or bring your own water during extremely cold weather.
This facility is located in a remote location. Vehicle access cannot be guaranteed at any time due to ever-changing weather and road conditions. The last 200 yds. of road to the cabin is not regularly plowed. Be prepared to walk in the final 200 yds. durin gthe winter months.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Be Bear Aware; for more information about recreating in bear country, please visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/sierra/home/?cid=stelprdb5324172.
Hantavirus; guests should be aware of the risk of exposure to Hantavirus while staying in the cabin. Please visit http://www.cdc.gov/hantavirus/hps/transmission.html for more information about Hantavirus.
All food and garbage must be packed out.
A map may be helpful for locating this facility. Visit the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/bdnf for more information. Maps are available at each District Ranger Office.
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
- “…available but cannot be guaranteed. A vault toilet is nearby and a small dispersed camping area are a…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…a few hundred yards from the cabin. A hand pump for drinking water, a picnic table, and fire pit…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek, Meadow
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- Spotty
Full this Saturdayread 16:27 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Thu, Oct 22. read 16:27 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 · 14
What you actually pay
“Reservations are nonrefundable unless extenuating circumstances warrant otherwise. Determination will be made on a case by case basis.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:27 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 MOOSE LAKE CABIN | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 264 ft | 217 ft | $45 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
West Fork Of Rock Creek Cabin (MT)Deerlodge National Forest · 11 mi
Piney Campground and Boat LaunchDeerlodge National Forest · 14 mi
Martin Creek CampgroundBitterroot National Forest · 14 miFrom Philipsburg, travel south on Highway 1 for about 7 miles to the junction with Skalkaho Highway/Highway 38. Turn right onto Highway 38 and continue west for about 9 miles and turn left onto Moose Lake Road/Forest Road 5106. Travel another 9 miles to the cabin. Winter weather conditions may require visitors to park on the main road and hike about a quarter-mile to the cabin. Maps may be purchased by calling the Pintler Ranger District.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 26°F, day 54°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 10°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 Lake 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 Moose Lake Cabin, Deerlodge National Forest, Montana
Dear Ryan K. Zinke, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Moose Lake Cabin, Deerlodge National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Moose Lake 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. Moose Lake Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Moose Lake 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 Lake Cabin (Deerlodge 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 Lake Cabin, Deerlodge National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Moose Lake Cabin, Deerlodge National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Moose Lake 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. Moose Lake Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Moose Lake 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 Lake Cabin (Deerlodge 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 Lake Cabin, Deerlodge National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Moose Lake Cabin, Deerlodge National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Moose Lake 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. Moose Lake Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Moose Lake 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 Lake Cabin (Deerlodge National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…for stove), and specialty kitchen items. There is limited cell phone service available. Guests are asked to replenish the supply of split…”