Nevada 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 15:22 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
This historic one room log cabin is located on National Forest lands along the upper reaches of Nevada Creek, between Avon and Helmville, MT. Thick forests, steep slopes, and wide open ridges define the landscape and visitors can access the adjacent road-less area with trails leading directly from the cabin to multiple destinations, including the Continental Divide. Nevada Creek is a small fish bearing stream with open grassy stream banks and clear running water. Once on public land, the stream is accessible by road or trail for its entire length. In a thick lodgepole pine forest at 5,400 ft. Keep reading
elevation, visitors will be able to find wildlife, huckleberries, scenic views and evidence of a rich mining history right outside the cabin’s door. The cabin is located a short distance behind a gate and offers excellent opportunities for solitude and exploration. The area is fairly remote and lightly traveled so visitors should prepare accordingly. The cabin has 1 bunk bed, 1 full size bed, a wood stove, propane stove, and propane lights in addition to other standard amenities.
Recreation
Hiking, horse riding, fishing, hunting, berry picking, photography, and exploration are all great recreational activities in this area. Hikers and horse riders can head out from the cabin and connect to the Continental Divide Trail on the Nevada Creek Trail #466 in about 5 miles of gentle terrain. At over 3,000 miles in length, the CDT stretches from Canada to Mexico and is one of the gems of the National Trail System. From the top of the Divide visitors are treated to sweeping views of the Northern Rocky Mountains and the valleys, prairies, and ranges beyond. Other trails in the area include the Prickly-Nevada Trail, Helmville-Gould Trail and Washington Gulch. All trails in the immediate area are non-motorized, please respect travel regulations in the area in order to provide for a non-motorized recreational experience.
Facilities
The Nevada Creek cabin is a single room log cabin with log framed beds, wood stove, propane stove, propane lights, vault toilet and a picnic area. There is a hand pump and well near the cabin for potable water. There is one bunkbed and 1 single bed located in the cabin with mattresses, but guests should plan to bring in bedding or a sleeping bag. A propane stove and lights are available for use. Propane is provided for guests at this facility, but please use the available gas responsibly. Remember to always turn the propane supply off to the cabin when not in use. A shut off valve is located on the interior eastern wall. Dishes, Pots, Pans, Cutlery, and basic kitchen utensils are supplied at the cabin. There are cleaning supplies at the cabin and guests are encouraged to use them in order to keep the facility clean for the next visitors.
Natural Features
The entire area to the North, East, and South is protected as an Inventoried Roadless Area and has thus far escaped large scale development by civilization. Visitors have the opportunity to experience a slice of a largely intact ecosystem in the northern Rocky Mountains. Nevada Creek is corralled on both sides of the drainage by steep slopes thickly covered in an aging lodgepole pine forest interspersed with grassy meadows along the spine of the Continental Divide. The creek offers grassy meadows and willow covered banks with small pools for bathing and cooling off in the hot summer months. The huckleberry and blueberry picking in the area can be excellent. Elk and Deer are common in the area as well and the cabin is ideally situated for a hunting trip.
Nearby Attractions
This is a remote cabin and most attractions in this area are based around outdoor activities. The Nevada Reservoir is nearby and offers a floating opportuinity for small boats.
What the agency tells you
This is a remote site that is a long drive to any stores or services. Visitors should come prepared with all of the supplies they will need.
There is no cell service at this site. Visitors are encouraged to bring a satellite communication device for emergency use.
The Nevada Creek Road is not plowed or maintained in the winter months. Visitors planning their trips in the early spring and late fall should pay close attention to weather forecasts and plan their trip accordingly.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 1 of 1 campsite records, DRINKING WATER (HAND PUMP) on 1 of 1 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Creek, Meadow
- Berry Picking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Picnicking
Full this Saturdayread 15:22 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Mon, Oct 19. read 15:22 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 · 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 15:22 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.
| N/A | 1 | cabin nonelectric | 268 ft | 83 ft | $45 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Lost Horse CabinHelena National Forest · 7.3 mi
Granite Butte LookoutHelena National Forest · 7.5 mi
Aspen Grove Group Use Area (Helena-Lewis and Clark NF, MT)Helena National Forest · 13 mi
Cummings CabinHelena National Forest · 14 miCopper Creek CampgroundHelena National Forest · 20 mi
Indian Meadows Guard StationHelena National Forest · 20 miThe Cabin is located off of Highway 141 near the Nevada Creek Reservoir north of Avon and south of Helmville. The turnoff to the Nevada Creek Road #296 is well signed with large Forest Access signs. From Highway 141 visitors will head east and stay on FR #296 for approximately 7 miles until they reach the turnoff for the Nevada Creek Cabin, which is marked with a large sign. Be sure to stay on the Nevada Creek Road as it passes through private ground for the first several miles. FR #296 is a dirt road that receives occasional maintenance, washboards and potholes are common. High clearance vehicles are recommended, but not required.
Visitors can unlock the gate with the provided code for the combination lock and drive the final few hundred yards to the cabin. Please try to minimize you impact when parking around the cabin.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Avon, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 54°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 12°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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Nevada 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 Nevada Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Ryan K. Zinke, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Nevada Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Nevada 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Nevada Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Nevada 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 Nevada 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 Nevada Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Nevada Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Nevada 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Nevada Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Nevada 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 Nevada 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 Nevada Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Nevada Creek Cabin, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Nevada 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Nevada Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Nevada 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 Nevada Creek Cabin (Helena National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com