U.S. Forest Service · Medicine Bow National Forest · WY

Sandstone Cabin

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 16:31 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 8 of the next 8 nights read 16:31 UTC
Sites
1All of them booked ahead
8,170 ftElevation
1.2 miWater · an unnamed stream
28.3 miSW of Saratoga, WY
52%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 41st darkest of 248 in WY

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices

In the agency’s own words

Sandstone Cabin is located beside State Highway 70 in the Sierra Madre Range. The cabin is nestled among beautiful aspen trees, and is frequented by moose, elk, and bears. The cabin features propane lights, heat, a propane stove and refrigerator, in addition to offering limited solar power. The cabin will sleep five to six people in 2 bunks and one queen bed. Potable water is availble. Individuals can reserve the Sandstone Cabin up to 14 consecutive nights from mid-June to late October. Please clean up after your pets. Host is located on site. Keep reading

Recreation

Lake and Pond Fishing Areas for Lake and Pond Fishing at Sierra Madre Area Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District Office Hog Park Boat Dock and Ramp Hog Park Campground Hog Park Picnic Site Lake View Picnic Site at Hog Park River and Stream Fishing Areas for River and Stream Fishing at Sierra Madre Area Big Creek-Holroyd Park Trailhead Bottle Creek Campground Bottle Creek Group Picnic Site Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District Office East Fork - Encampment River Trail Encampment River Wilderness Hog Park Campground Huston Park Wilderness Jack Creek Campground Jack Creek Crew Quarters Jack Creek Guard Station Purgatory Gulch Trailhead Day Hiking Areas for Day Hiking at Sierra Madre Area Baby Lake Trailhead Big Creek Park Trailhead Big Creek-Holroyd Park Trailhead Bottle Creek Campground Bottle Creek Group Picnic Site Bottle Creek Trails Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District Office CDNST - Deep Jack Trailhead CDNST - Pipeline Trailhead CDNST - Red Mountain Trailhead Commissary Park Trailhead East Fork - Encampment River Trail Encampment River Wilderness Green Mountain Falls Trailhead Green Mountain Trailhead Hog Park Campground Huston Park Wilderness Jack Creek Campground Jack Creek Crew Quarters Lost Creek Campground Purgatory Gulch Trailhead Backpacking Areas for Backpacking at Sierra Madre Area Baby Lake Trailhead Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District Office CDNST - Deep Jack Trailhead CDNST - Pipeline Trailhead CDNST - Red Mountain Trailhead Commissary Park Trailhead East Fork - Encampment River Trail Encampment River Wilderness Green Mountain Trailhead Huston Park Wilderness Purgatory Gulch Trailhead Viewing Wildlife Areas for Viewing Wildlife at Sierra Madre Area Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District Office Hog Park Campground Jack Creek Crew Quarters Jack Creek Guard Station Sandstone Cabin Viewing Plants Areas for Viewing Plants at Sierra Madre Area Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District Office Hog Park Campground Jack Creek Crew Quarters Jack Creek Guard Station Viewing Scenery Areas for Viewing Scenery at Sierra Madre Area Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District Office Encampment River Wilderness Green Mountain Falls Trailhead Hog Park Campground Huston Park Wilderness Facilities The historic cabin is furnished with double beds and bunk beds with mattresses and can accommodate up to six people. Other amenities include a propane cook stove, refrigerator, heater and lights. The kitchen is equipped with basic cooking and eating utensils and cookware. Solar panels provide limited power for lights and small appliances. The bathroom has a shower and flush toilet. Water is available on-site, though it is advised that guests bring their own for drinking. A picnic table and campfire ring provide a delightful area for outdoor dining. Guests need to provide their own food, sleeping bags, lanterns or flashlights, pillows, towels, dish soap, matches, first aid kit, toilet paper and garbage bags. All trash and food should be packed out, and guests are expected to clean the cabin before leaving. . No pets are allowed within the building.

Natural Features

From open, high expanses to valleys and canyons that rise steeply to snowy ranges, the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forests encompass mountain ranges, tributaries to the North Platte River and the Colorado River, and a mix of forested ecology with spruce, lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, aspen and shrub lands. Sandstone Cabin sits in a clearing surrounded by a mixture of lodgepole pine, aspen and mixed conifer forest at an elevation of 8,200 feet. Wildlife viewing is abundant in the area, including elk, deer and moose.

Nearby Attractions

Battle Highway, which passes right by the cabin, is a scenic drive featuring historic copper mining sites that were developed from 1897-1908 in the Sierra Madres. The drive is about 58 miles, beginning in Baggs, Wyoming and ending in Riverside, Wyoming. Interpretive signs along the route explain points of interest.

What the agency tells you

Rule

Water is available at this facility; however, it is recommended that guests bring their own supply for drinking

Rule

Cell phone coverage is not available in the area

Rule

Please call the Brush Creek/Hayden Ranger District office at (307) 326-5258 prior to your stay to confirm combination and key access for the guard station; the Forest Service office is not open evenings, weekends or holidays

Everything else this campground posts · 8
Rule

The cabin is a no-smoking facility

Rule

Please pack out all trash and food and clean cabin before departure

Rule

Make sure cabin is locked upon departure

Rule

No livestock accommodations are available

Rule

No electrical hook-ups are available on-site

Rule

Do not discharge firearms within the Sandstone Work Center

Rule

Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing organisms by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.

Rule

Check the elements -What is in the skies? Check the weather report before you leave home. When you arrive at the site, keep on eye on the skies for changes and, if possible, carry a compact weather radio. In inclement weather, take shelter until the bad weather passes. Stay dry - wet clothes contribute to heat loss. Also, keep sleeping bags and important gear dry at all times.  -Are there forest or grassland alerts? Forest and grassland home pages post alerts you should know before you go. Many of our forests and grasslands also post alerts on Twitter. The latest fire information may be found on InciWeb.  Survey your surroundings -Arrive early. Plan your trip so that you arrive at your actual campsite with enough daylight to check over the entire site and safely set up camp.  -Check for potential hazards. Be sure to check the site thoroughly for glass, sharp objects, branches, large ant beds, poison ivy, bees, and hazardous terrain.  -Avoid areas of natural hazards. Check the contour of the land and look for potential trouble spots due to rain or snow. Areas that could flood or become extremely muddy can pose a problem.  -Inspect the site. Look for a level site with enough room to spread out all your gear. A site that has trees or shrubs on the side of prevailing winds will help block strong, unexpected gusts.  -Pitch your tent in a safe spot. Make sure your tent is made of flame-retardant fabric, and keep it a safe distance away from campfires. Keep insects out of your tent by closing the entrance quickly when entering or leaving.  -Build fires in a safe area. Your open fires and fuel-burning appliances must be far enough away from the tent to prevent ignition from sparks, flames, and heat. Never use a flame or any other heating device inside a tent. Check to know whether there are fire restrictions in place before starting a campfire. You could be fined if you start a fire in a restricted area.  Be fire safe -Keep fires small and bring firewood purchased in the local area. Firewood brought from another area could also bring invasive pests. -If you have to collect firewood at your campsite, collect dead and down wood only. -Check at the local ranger station for current fire restrictions, which can change on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. -Use existing fire rings. Scrape away litter and any other burnable material within a 10-foot-diameter surrounding the ring. -Make sure all wood fits inside the fire ring. Do not feed a large log into the fire ring. -Have a shovel, axe, and bucket of water available before lighting your campfire. -Never leave a campfire unattended, even for a few minutes or even if there are no flames present. Many wildfires start because of abandoned fires or because someone thought a fire was out. -Put out a campfire by slowly pouring water onto the fire and stirring with a shovel. Continue adding and stirring until all material is cool to touch. -Do not bury your fire. The coals can smolder and re-ignite.  Be bear aware Being outdoors means being with wildlife. Many people never encounter a bear. But if you do, here's some simple advice: DO NOT RUN. *Remain calm. *Group together and pick up small children. *Continue to face the bear and back away slowly, talking calmly to identify yourself as a human. *If the bear continues to approach, try to scare it away by making yourself as large and imposing as possible by stretching your arms overhead and making loud noises. *Carry and know how to use bear spray, which is available at many outdoor retailers and can be used to deter a charging bear. Food Storage Bears are always searching for food. Bears are curious, intelligent animals that have great memories. Their eyesight is similar to humans and their sense of smell is seven times more powerful than a blood hound’s, enabling them to smell food from miles away. Those are the very traits that can sometimes get them – and us – into trouble. Most bears are wary of humans and try to avoid them. However, bears can learn to associate people with food and be tenacious in their pursuit of something to eat. Even if humans are around.  Everyone in bear country must do our part to store food and other attractants in bear-resistant containers at all times, and dispose of trash in bear-resistant dumpsters.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
1 · 1 cabin
Hookups
None
Paved pads
All
Accessible sites
None listed
Shade
Every site
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Flush Toilets
“…The bathroom has a shower and flush toilet. Water is available on-site, though it is advised…”
Showers
Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
“The bathroom has a shower and flush toilet.”
Drinking water
Yes
“…six people in 2 bunks and one queen bed. Potable water is availble. Individuals can reserve the Sandstone…”

Around the campground

On the water
Lake, River, Creek
Biking
Fishing
Hiking
Horseback riding
Hunting
Wildlife viewing
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

Full this Saturdayread 16:31 UTC

How full the weekend is nationally.

OpenBooked

The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 16:31 UTC Why the weekend fills and the week doesn’t

Booking windowThrough October 24Bookable now through October 24, 2026, the end of the reservable season. On December 15, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through June 15, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
Sites, a night, from$125From 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.
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’ll write once, when the season that starts Tue, Jun 15 2027 is open for booking.

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 · 14

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Sites, a night, from$125
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$125
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Jun 15, 2026 to Oct 24, 2026.
Night .$80
Reservations are made using www.recreation.gov.
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 16:31 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
SleepsUp 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.

SANDSTONE CABINGR1cabin nonelectric1.2 mi$125

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
Coordinate41.11000, -107.17000
The phone307-326-5258
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From Encampment, Wyoming, travel west on State Highway 70, approximately 26 miles to the Sandstone Work Center. Turn right into Work Center compound and the Sandstone Cabin will be located on your left.

From Baggs, Wyoming, travel east on State Highway 70, approximately 32 miles to the Sandstone Work Center, which will be located on the north side of the highway (left). The Sandstone Cabin is located on the left.

Access to Sandstone is entirely on paved roads, including the circle driveway within the Sandstone Work Center.

The weather

the next four days

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today55°Sunny
Tonight36°Mostly Clear
Sunday56°Mostly Sunny
Sunday Night36°Partly Cloudy9% rain

NWS forecast for Dixon, WY

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
Battle Creek5,890 acres · 2 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Little Sandstone5,483 acres · 4 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Little Snake9,920 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Who answers for this land

Harriet Hageman, official portrait

Sandstone Cabin is in Wyoming’s at-large congressional district. Its representative, Harriet Hageman (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 Harriet M. Hageman

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 Sandstone Cabin, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming

Dear Harriet M. Hageman,

I’m a constituent in Wyoming, at-large. I tried to camp at Sandstone Cabin, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming, and couldn’t.

All 1 sites at Sandstone 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Sandstone Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Sandstone 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 Sandstone Cabin (Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming) via campanac.com
To Cynthia M. Lummis

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 Sandstone Cabin, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming

Dear Cynthia M. Lummis,

I’m a constituent in Wyoming. I tried to camp at Sandstone Cabin, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming, and couldn’t.

All 1 sites at Sandstone 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Sandstone Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Sandstone 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 Sandstone Cabin (Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming) via campanac.com
To John Barrasso

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 Sandstone Cabin, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming

Dear John Barrasso,

I’m a constituent in Wyoming. I tried to camp at Sandstone Cabin, Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming, and couldn’t.

All 1 sites at Sandstone 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Sandstone Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule.

I’m not asking you to run Sandstone 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 Sandstone Cabin (Medicine Bow National Forest, Wyoming) 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 8 of the next 8 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: Dixon, WY, 19.5 mi ENE. Straight line.