U.S. Forest Service · Lolo National Forest · MT

Morgan-Case Homestead

2Heads up2 fires, nearest 19 mi
Wildfire
Black Bear fire · 19 mi away · 2,126 acres · 100% contained · updated Oct 15, 2026
Wildfire
Nature Grove fire · 21 mi away · 1,422 acres · 100% contained · updated Oct 15, 2026
Reservable, and full this SaturdayThe one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and the record lists no site held back for a walk-up. read 16:16 UTC

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 29 of the next 30 nights read 16:16 UTC
Sites
1All of them booked ahead
4,590 ftElevation
1,654 ftWater · Rock Creek
18.8 miSE of Stevensville, MT
21%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 297th darkest of 501 in MT

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 12 notices

In the agency’s own words

Morgan-Case Homestead is a rustic log cabin situated on approximately 320 acres along Rock Creek. The cabin is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance relating to early homesteading and ranching in Granite County and western Montana. It was an active work site from 1890 to 1951. In addition to being a great home base for big game hunters, the cabin provides access to a variety of recreational opportunities, including blue-ribbon trout fishing and trails that are open to hiking and horseback riding, as well as cross country skiing and snowshoeing. Keep reading

Recreation

The area surrounding the cabin offers both summer and winter recreation opportunities including hiking, fishing, hunting, cross country skiing and snowshoeing. The Sandstone/Wyman trailhead is located within a mile of the homestead, providing access to an extensive network of trails. Rock Creek is well known for its excellent trout fishing opportunities. Proper licenses are required to enjoy hunting and fishing in the state of Montana. The surrounding meadows provide great opportunities for wildlife viewing as well.

Facilities

The single-story log cabin is wheelchair accessible and can accommodate up to five people. The rental has two bedrooms, a living room, dining room and a kitchen. It is equipped with beds and mattresses, a table and chairs, counter and cupboard space, period furniture and an accessible outdoor vault toilet. Drinking water is not provided. It is recommended that you bring an adequate supply of your own water. The kitchen is outfitted with an electric range and oven, refrigerator and electric lights. In the winter the cabin is heated to 50 degrees with electric baseboard heaters. It is equipped with a wood stove for additional heat. Cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils cookware, utilities and other amenities may be available, but are not guaranteed; call for availability, (406) 329-3814. Guests will need to bring their own bedding, including blankets and pillows, as well as towels, soap, garbage bags, toilet paper and some cooking and eating utensils and equipment. Guests are responsible for cleaning the cabin prior to departure. The cabin is accessible by vehicle, depending on conditions. During the winter, travelers may have to hike, ski or snowshoe about a mile to the cabin. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety.

Natural Features

The homestead is located in the rugged Sapphire Mountains at an elevation of 4,700 feet. The Missoula Ranger District began preservation work on the cabin in 2001, restoring its historic charm. The Sapphire Mountains contain large stands of Douglas fir and lodgepole pine forests and are home to a variety of wildlife, including bighorn sheep, mountain goats, elk, moose, deer and black bears.

What the agency tells you

Rule

Group size limit: 5

Rule

No camping

Rule

Pets are not allowed in this facility or on the property

Everything else this campground posts · 9
Rule

From March 1 to December 31, all food and attractants must be secured from bears and other wildlife.

Rule

This facility is located in a remote area; before making a reservation, become aware of bear, water and weather safety

Rule

The cabin remains locked; upon reservation renters will receive gate and cabin combination codes via email. During winter months, renters are encouraged to bring a lighter to heat the lock tumblers as they have a tendency to freeze

Rule

All garbage, food and personal belongings must be packed out

Rule

Livestock is not allowed at the site

Rule

Off-road vehicles are not allowed unless they are street legal

Rule

Cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils, cookware, utilities and other amenities may be available, but are not guaranteed; call for availability, (406) 329-3814.

Rule

Learn more about the Lolo National Forest

Rule

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.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
1 · 1 cabin
Hookups
1 electric
Accessible sites
1
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…furniture and an accessible outdoor vault toilet. Drinking water is not provided. It is recommended…”
Drinking water
None, bring your own
“…and an accessible outdoor vault toilet. Drinking water is not provided. It is recommended that you bring an adequate…”

Around the campground

On the water
Creek, Meadow
Fishing
Hiking
Historic site
Hunting
Wildlife viewing
Winter sports
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Full this Saturdayread 16:16 UTC

How full the weekend is nationally.

OpenBookedClosed

The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 16:16 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t

Booking window6 months outBookable now through April 16, 2027. Today at 10 AM ET, availability opens through April 17, 2027.recreation.gov
Max stay6 nightsthe facility record
Sites, a night, from$75From the rate schedule matched to 1 of its 1 sites. U.S. Forest Service publishes no campground-level rate we can read.derived by CAMPANAC
If plans change$10 to cancel$10 to change a reservationrecreation.gov’s schedule
Runs itU.S. Forest ServiceBooked through recreation.govthe agency’s record
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.

Free forever, no booking kickbacks.
Book on recreation.gov ↗

We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.

Every line of the receipt · 12

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Sites, a night, from$75
Derived by CAMPANAC from the rate schedule matched to 1 of its 1 sites. U.S. Forest Service publishes no campground-level rate for this campground that we can read, only per-site rate templates its own record matches to each site’s own type.
Group area, a night$75
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Jan 1, 2026 to Dec 31, 2026.
The booking feerecreation.gov
Reservation fee, booked online$8
One fee per reservation, however many nights you book, and it’s non-refundable. $9 if you book by phone, $3 in person.
Pass discounts only apply to the recreation (or use) fee for the facility. Other charges such as electricity or water hookups, reservation or other fees are not eligible for a discount.
What a stay costs
The agency publishes no nightly rate for this campground, so there’s nothing to add the $8 booking fee to. We won’t total a receipt with a number missing from it.
If your plans changerecreation.gov
Change fee, moving to dates outside your booking$10
Cancellation fee$10
Cancelling the day before, or the day of$10 + your first night
No-show$20 + your first night

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 16:16 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

The sites

1 sites · the site map

All 1 sites

1 of 1 sites located
Cabin or shelter1
Aerial · Esri World Imagery
Up to

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.

MORGAN-CASE HOMESTEAD001cabin electricyes1,618 ft$75

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
Coordinate46.40278, -113.68750
The phone406-329-3814
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From Missoula, Montana, travel east on Interstate 90 for about 20 miles to exit 126. Drive south on Rock Creek Road for about 30 miles. Rock Creek Road is a hardened surface for 12 miles and the remainder is a gravel, single-lane road, with intermittent pull-outs. It is not suitable for RVs or trailers, due to blind turns, steep grades and narrow width. Maps are available online or for purchase by calling the Missoula Ranger District.

During winter, take the Drummond exit 153 on Interstate 90 and follow Scenic Highway 1 south toward Philipsburg. One mile north of Philipsburg, turn west on State Road 348. Travel 13 miles west, cross Rock Creek and turn north onto Rock Creek Road. Continue 10 miles to the homestead. Winter access is plowed within 2 miles of the cabin. A four-wheel drive vehicle equipped with chains is recommended. Travelers may also want to bring an alternate form of transportation (skis or snowshoes) to complete the route.

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Tonight41°Partly Cloudy
Saturday63°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night36°Partly Cloudy
Sunday59°Mostly Sunny

NWS forecast for Philipsburg, MT

Typical weather

Typical October night 32°F, day 58°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.

90°32°10°

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.

Measured at: WESTERN AG RSCH CTR, MT (USC00248783), 20 miles away and 982 ft lower

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

Roadless
Stony Mountain32,796 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Quigg12,712 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Quigg67,267 acres · 9 mi · inventoried roadless area

You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.

Who answers for this land

Ryan Zinke, official portrait

Morgan-Case Homestead 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

Who can change it · 3
Write to somebody who can change it

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.

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.

To Ryan K. Zinke

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 Morgan-Case Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana

Dear Ryan K. Zinke,

I’m a constituent in Montana’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Morgan-Case Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t.

All 1 sites at Morgan-Case Homestead 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. Morgan-Case Homestead keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Morgan-Case Homestead. 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 Morgan-Case Homestead (Lolo National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com
To Steve Daines

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 Morgan-Case Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana

Dear Steve Daines,

I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Morgan-Case Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t.

All 1 sites at Morgan-Case Homestead 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. Morgan-Case Homestead keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Morgan-Case Homestead. 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 Morgan-Case Homestead (Lolo National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com
To Tim Sheehy

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 Morgan-Case Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana

Dear Tim Sheehy,

I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Morgan-Case Homestead, Lolo National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t.

All 1 sites at Morgan-Case Homestead 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. Morgan-Case Homestead keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Morgan-Case Homestead. 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 Morgan-Case Homestead (Lolo National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
The figures in these drafts: Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress (CRS Report RS20643) · Updated December 4, 2025 · “The ship’s final procurement cost was $13,316.5 million (i.e., about $13.3 billion) in then-year dollars.”
The figures in these drafts: Salary Table 2026-GS, Incorporating the 1% General Schedule Increase, Effective January 2026 (U.S. Office of Personnel Management) · Effective January 2026 · “Grade 5, Step 1: $34,799 (annual rate, before locality pay).”
The figures in these drafts: Update to Civilian Position Full Fringe Benefit Cost Factor, Federal Pay Raise Assumptions, and Inflation Factors used in OMB Circular No. A-76 (OMB Memorandum M-08-13) · March 11, 2008 · “the civilian position full fringe benefit cost factor needs to be adjusted downward, from 36.45 percent to 36.25 percent”

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: recreation.gov is offering sites on 29 of the next 30 nights, which isn’t something a closed campground does.
Cell signal: the Forest Service’s own campground description, read as text by CAMPANAC. None of this is a measurement. It’s what the land manager published about the place, and phones, carriers and weather all disagree with each other; treat it as a warning, not a promise.
Nearest place of any size: Philipsburg, MT, 18.6 mi WNW. Straight line.