Paddy Flat Guard Station
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 2All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices
In the agency’s own words
The Paddy Flat Guard Station is located in the Payette National Forest of central Idaho. Guests enjoy the remote area for its hunting opportunities and abundance of hiking, biking, horseback riding and off-highway vehicle roads and trails. Abundant streams and numerous alpine lakes within travel distance offer fantastic fishing opportunities. Keep reading
Recreation
The Paddy Flat Guard Station serves as an excellent jumping-off point for adventures via horseback, motorcycle, ATV or hiking. Numerous trailheads within a few miles allow access to alpine lakes for fishing, meadows for watching birds and wildlife, as well as peaks ranging as high as 8,681 foot elevation for excellent views of the South Fork of the Salmon River drainage.
Facilities
Two cabins are available for rental at this guard station. Please be respectful of visitors at the adjacent cabin. The cabins were fully renovated in 2024. Limited kitchen utensils such as dished and silverware are provided, but please bring your own so you have what you need. The Guard Station is a "Pack-It-In, Pack-It-Out" facility. All garbage/trash must leave with you. Please clean up after use. Pets are allowed, however please be sure to clean up after and maintain control of your animal. Administrative buildings on site are not available for use. Firewood gathering is available in the forest areas surrounding the Paddy Flat Guard Station, although none is provided on site. Do not bring firewood that is not local to the area. Don't Move Firewood! Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our National Forests by obtaining firewood in proximity to your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org. No camping at the guard station. If camping is desired, Kennally Creek Campground, and a number of dispersed campsites are nearby. Cabin East The occupancy within the Cabin East is four people. The unit is fully accessible and includes an access ramp off the backdoor. The bathroom has a wheel-chair accessible shower stall, toilet and sink. A second rental cabin is located at this Guard Station. Please be respectful to other parties using that facility. Parking: Parking for this unit, is directly behind the cabin, with space for three vehicles. EAST UNIT ONLY: Up to four head of pack and saddle stock are permitted at this site. Parking is adequate for one four-horse stock trailer. All stock feed must be certified weed free and provided by tenants. Use of the Barn is not allowed. Update for 2026 : Stock must remain contained within the provided corral or pasture. No pickets or high lines are permitted outside the corral or pasture. However, we recommend supplemental electric fencing due to the location and nature of the facilities, which may not be adequate to contain your stock. Questions on bringing your stock? Call the Payette National Forest at 208-634-0700. Cabin West The occupancy within the Cabin West is four people. Sleep quarters are on the second floor and include a queen size bed and twin-size bunk beds. There are two bathrooms at this house. On the first floor, the full bathroom includes a wheel-chair accessible shower stall, toilet and sink. On the second floor, the bathroom includes a tub/shower, toilet and sink. A second rental cabin is located at this Guard Station. Please be respectful to other parties using the adjacent rental cabin. There are stairs leading into the unit. The basement is off limits. This unit does not have a fire pit outside. Parking: Parking for this unit is near the garage to the rear of the property with capacity for three vehicles.
Natural Features
This Guard Station sits at an elevation of 5,250 feet and is situated within a scenic meadow surrounded by a dense conifer forest. The Payette National Forest contains some of Idaho's most beautiful and diverse country. Located in west-central Idaho, north of Boise, the 2.2 million-acre forest extends 100 miles west to east, from Hells Canyon to the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, and 70 miles north to south, from the Salmon River to the Weiser River.
Nearby Attractions
While the Paddy Flat Guard Station is located within some of the most scenic forest areas of Idaho, you may find a desire to visit "civilization" during your visit. If you hanker for a pizza, hot lunch or subway sandwich, the town of Donnelly is just a bit of back-tracking away. While you are there, take some time to explore the historic town of Roseberry or take the ten mile drive to Gold Forks Hot Springs for a relaxing dip in their pools. While McCall is a bit further of a drive north, a walk through downtown is always a fun way to while away the afternoon. Spend some time on the waterfront, take in a local museum, visit Ponderosa State Park, or take a tour through the McCall Fish Hatchery.
What the agency tells you
At least 24-48 hours in advance of your arrival date, call the Payette National Forest Supervisors Office at 208-634-0700 to obtain door lock combination (Office Hours).
Maximum occupancy of the Cabin East is four people. This unit is also allowed up to two single-family tents.
Be sure to bring garbage bags as the cabin is a 'Pack-It-In, Pack-It-Out' facility and all garbage must be taken out when you leave.
Everything else this campground posts · 5
Cabin East ONLY: Four head of stock are allowed on site and must be contained within the corral. No pickets or high lines may be used.
All feed must be brought to the site and must be certified weed-free.
Family pets are allowed; please be sure to maintain control of your animals and be responsible for cleaning up after them.
Administrative buildings on site are not available for use.
Don't Move Firewood: Help prevent the spread of tree-killing pests in our national forests by obtaining firewood near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 2 · 2 cabin
- Hookups
- 2 electric, 1 water
- Longest rig
- 40 ft
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE FLUSH TOILETS on 2 of 2 campsite records
- Showers
- Accessible Showers
- “The bathroom has a wheel-chair accessible shower stall, toilet and sink.”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Fire Lookouts/Cabins Overnight
- Night sky · 279th darkest of 523 in ID
- Bortle 2
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
2 sites · the site map
All 2 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. 2 of the 2 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| Paddy Flat Guard Station | Cabin West | cabin electric | 768 ft | $100 | ||
| PADDY FLAT GUARD STATION | Cabin East | cabin electric | 40 ft | yes | 685 ft | $100 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Kennally CreekPayette National Forest · 3.4 mi
Lake ForkPayette National Forest · 10 mi
Rainbow PointPayette National Forest · 11 mi
AmanitaPayette National Forest · 11 mi
Poverty FlatPayette National Forest · 12 miPenny Springs CampgroundBoise National Forest · 13 miIf you are approaching the cabin from the north (McCall), drive approximately 9 miles south on State Highway 55. Paddy Flat Road will be a left turn (east). This is Forest Road #388. Follow road #388 approximately 5 miles to Paddy Flat Summit. At the summit take Forest Road #389, which is a slight turn to the right. Follow Forest Road #389 approximately 3 miles to the Paddy Flat Guard Station.
If you are driving from the south, Paddy Flat Road will be a right turn approximately 3 miles north of the town of Donnelly. Again, this will be Forest Road #388 heading east. Follow #388 to Paddy Flat Summit, veer right onto Forest Road #389 and continue on to the guard station.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Donnelly, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 56°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 14°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
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
Paddy Flat Guard Station is in Idaho’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Russ Fulcher (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →