Owl Creek Cabin
1Heads up1 fire 35 mi away
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 16:37 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Owl Creek Cabin is a rustic, single-room dwelling that can accommodate up to four guests. Horse campers enjoy the Owl Creek experience because a corral is available for use just 200 feet from the cabin. The corral may be reserved independently from the cabin by Clicking HERE Same day reservations may be made by contacting the Swan Lake Ranger Station during business hours at 406-837-7500. The cabin can be accessed by vehicle. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities. Keep reading
Recreation
Visitors to the area enjoy hiking and horseback riding on a variety of trails, some of which lead into the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. The cabin in also about a half-mile from Holland Lake, which offers swimming, boating and fishing opportunities. In winter, cross country skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling are popular in the area.
Facilities
Owl Creek Cabin is a single-story structure with a covered front porch and an accessible entrance ramp. The 16-by-20 structure contains two bunk beds (4 total beds) with mattresses, a propane fireplace, electric lights, an electric cook stove, small microwave oven, dorm size fridge, as well as dining utensils and a reasonable assortment of cooking pots and pans. The cabin is not equipped with running water, but from mid-May to mid-November, a potable water source is located just outside the front door. During the winter season, water is not available and guests will need to bring their own. An outhouse is available outside the cabin. Guests will also need to bring their own bedding, food, flashlights and a first aid kit, among other necessities. Click here for more cabin details. Guests must clean the cabin and carry out all trash before leaving.
Natural Features
The cabin is located in Swan Valley, just south of Holland Lake, at an elevation of 4,200 feet. The building backs up to a stand of mixed conifers, including lodgepole pine and Douglas fir trees. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (406) 837-7500.
Nearby Attractions
A general store is located about 20 minutes away, in the town of Condon.
What the agency tells you
Drinking water is only available from mid-May to mid-November; outside this time frame, guests will need to bring their own water. The water system require electicity please plan accordingly. Refunds will not be given for a power outage which are possible due to the remote nature of the cabin. Click this link for outage information https://bills.meccoop.com/maps/OutageWebMap/
Contact the ranger district office at (406) 837-7500, during normal office hours (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) for updates on weather and road conditions; refunds will not be given for inclement weather or road conditions.
The road to the cabin is plowed in winter. However, you should be prepared for winter driving conditions. Depending on the severity of snowfall, the cabin may not be immediately plowed. It is also common for the cabin to lose power during weather events. Check the weather forecast and plan accordingly.
Everything else this campground posts · 12
Grizzly bears frequent the area; use appropriate containers for food and garbage. Coolers and Trash may NOT be left unattended on the porch of the cabin or in the back of trucks.
This is a rustic cabin rental. While we have supplied the cabin rental with several amenities please realize this is not a hotel room or a vacation house rental. The cabin will not have all modern conveniences or comforts. We clean the cabins about once a week, which means we do not clean after every rental. Some renters are not as courteous as others and may leave the cabin less than spotless. Please take this into consideration when forming your expectations of the cabin rental.
The porch, ramps, steps and roadways can be slippery when damp, or covered by snow or frost.
During your stay the Forest Service or their representatives may be present at or around the cabin to perform repairs, stocking of cabin supplies, snow removal, or any other general maintenance.
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack-it-in, pack-it-out' facility. Trash service is NOT provided at any of our rental properties. Trash Service at the nearby Holland Lake Complex is NOT for renters of Owl Packer. That is a service provided by a concessionaire who manages the Holland Lake Campground and Day Use Areas -for their paying guests. They pay for that service seperately -The USFS does NOT pay for trash service. Illegal dumping at the Holland Lake Complex could result in a citation.
Pets are allowed at the cabin *IF* they are under your control at all times and well behaved. This is a working stock area, with outfitters regularly packing out horses and mules with their paying guests. Your dogs may not disturb the outfitters or their animals. Any reports of disturbance or dogs not under your control could result in a fine.
Conserve propane by setting the thermostat to 55 degrees while away from the cabin.
The cabin remains locked; a combination lock code will be contained in the reservation confirmation letter.
Guests must clean cabin prior to departure; a fee will be charged if extra clean-up is needed.
Commercial use of cabin is prohibited.
Click here for more information on the Flathead 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. Certified Weed Free Hay must also be used for all stock animals to prevent the spread of invasive weeds into our wilderness. See our Forest Special Order for more details.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- 1 electric
- Accessible sites
- 1
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “An outhouse is available outside the cabin.”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “The cabin is not equipped with running water, but from mid-May to mid-November, a potable water source is located just outside the front door.”
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Winter sports
- Fall color · reported 2 days ago, 26 km away
- No change
Full this Saturdayread 16:37 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
1 campground has sites open within 30 miles, read 16:48 UTC. See them
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Thu, Oct 22. read 16:37 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
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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 1
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first. read 16:48 UTC
- Owl Creek CorralFlathead National Forest · 2.1 mi · 1 of 1 site-night open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:37 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 OWL CREEK CABIN | 001 | cabin electric | yes | 136 ftOwl Creek | 2,335 ft | $50 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Holland Lake CampgroundFlathead National Forest · 1.8 miHolland Lake CampgroundFlathead National Forest · 2.1 mi
Owl Creek CorralFlathead National Forest · 2.1 miLindbergh Lake CampgroundFlathead National Forest · 7.8 mi
Rainy Lake CampgroundLolo National Forest · 8.0 mi
Lake Alva CampgroundLolo National Forest · 8.7 miOwl Creek Cabin is located at the Owl Creek Packer Camp, about 4 miles off Montana State Highway 83 in the Swan Valley. From Highway 83 turn east onto Holland Lake Road #44 near mile marker 35. After 2.5 miles, turn right on Owl Loop Road #9558. Go about 0.5 miles and turn right on Road #10121 to Owl Creek Packer Camp. The camp entrance is located on the right. Turn here and continue straight through the camp, turn left at the end and drive past the corrals. The cabin is located near the end of this loop on the right, just past the last corral. There is no sign marking the cabin, but the rental is the only structure in the camp area.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Condon, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 52°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 16°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
Owl 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 Owl Creek Cabin, Flathead National Forest, Montana
Dear Ryan K. Zinke, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Owl Creek Cabin, Flathead National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Owl 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. Owl Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Owl 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 Owl Creek Cabin (Flathead 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 Owl Creek Cabin, Flathead National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Owl Creek Cabin, Flathead National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Owl 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. Owl Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Owl 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 Owl Creek Cabin (Flathead 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 Owl Creek Cabin, Flathead National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Owl Creek Cabin, Flathead National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Owl 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. Owl Creek Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Owl 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 Owl Creek Cabin (Flathead National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com