Savenac Cookhouse
1Heads up1 fire 14 mi away
- Right now
- Closedrecreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend, read 16:39 UTC
- Sites
- 1In the agency’s record
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Savenac Cookhouse provides cooking and eating accommodations for large groups staying at the Savenac Historic Tree Nursery in the Lolo National Forest of Montana. The area is filled with history and was once the site of the U.S. Forest Service's largest and most beautiful nurseries in the West. The cookhouse can seat up to 30 people and offers somewhat modern facilities, as well as access to a variety of recreational opportunities. In addition, the cookhouse can sleep up to 9 people downstairs. Keep reading
Recreation
A variety of historic sites and memorials, as well as interpretive trails, exist near the cookhouse. A self-guided tour of the nursery is available at the site to give visitors a historical perspective. The world-class Route of the Hiawatha Trail is located just 7 miles to the west, offering pristine mountain biking. Numerous mountain streams and the St. Regis River are available for fishing, wading and non-motorized boating within just a few minutes of Savenac. The beautiful Savenac Creek runs through the compound. In the winter, trails in the nearby area are groomed for snowmobile use and opportunities abound for cross country skiing and snowshoeing. Lookout Pass ski hill is located just 10 miles west on Interstate 90.
Facilities
Guests are required to clean the facility before leaving. Follow the cleaning instructions posted in the kitchen. Hosts are onsite to perform a checkout inspection before leaving the facility. The cookhouse is equipped with a large kitchen including a commercial-grade stove with grills, burners, and double ovens, a commercial diswasher, a walking refrigerator/freezer, two standard refrigerators, coffee pots, a microwave, and assorted cooking utensils, pots, pans, dishes and tableware for 25 to 30 people. The facility also has a dining area with tables and chairs that can seat 25 to 30 people, and a bathroom. Downstairs, the cookhouse has 9 twin beds with mattresses, mostly in one large room, two bathrooms with showers, and a few dressers. Guests will need to bring their own food and supplies as well as ice and any additional equipment that is needed. Guest will also need to bring their own bedding, including sleeping bags, blankets and pillows, as well as towels, soap, and other necessities. Guests are required to clean the facility before leaving. The cookhouse is available year-round, except when it is reserved for administrative use or maintenance. It can be accessed by vehicle. Guests in the cookhouse are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring some of their own amenities. Additional sleeping quarters are available in the bunkhouse, but the bunkhouse must be rented in addition to the cookhouse.
Natural Features
The cookhouse is one of three rental cabins located at the Historic Savenac Nursery, which was founded in 1907 to grow trees for the Forest Service. Nursery operations concluded in 1969 and now the site is open to the public for recreation. The cookhouse was originally a residence and was converted in the 1970s to a space for eating and food preparation. The facilities are close to the Idaho border, in the Bitterroot Mountains of western Montana. The Lolo National Forest is home to many species of wildlife, including deer, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, mountain lions, moose and black bears.
Nearby Attractions
The nursery is located near Haugan, with easy access to Interstate 90. It is within walking distance of a family restaurant, gas and general store and gift shop. The Savenac compound also consists of a visitor center that is operated from Memorial Day through Labor Day.
What the agency tells you
Visitors should be aware of avalanche danger in the area.
All garbage, food and personal belongings must be packed out.
Smoking and pets are prohibited inside the cookhouse.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Before making a reservation, become aware of bear, water, and weather safety.
Learn more about the Lolo National Forest at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/lolo
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.
The cookhouse is a locked facility. A key code will be sent in the reservation confirmation email. The key code will unlock the lock box located in the entry way of the cookhouse, next to the garage door. The lock box holds the key to the front door. Please return the key to the lock box before leaving the facility.
The maximum stay limit is 5 nights per reservation.
Check in time is 2:00 PM. Check out time is 11:00 AM
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- 1 electric
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- Shower/Bath Type states a shower on all 1 of this campground's campsite records
- Store
- Nearby
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
- Night sky · 392nd darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 2
Nothing to book until it reopensread 16:39 UTC
recreation.gov lists every site closed this weekend
OpenBookedClosed
Tell me when it reopens
Watch for it to come back
One email when the agency reopens it, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check the agency’s own record once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time it stops saying closed.
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.
Every line of the receipt · 11
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 · 4
Why this page can’t say why
recreation.gov lists every site at Savenac Cookhouse closed this Friday and Saturday night. The U.S. Forest Service has published no closure notice we hold, so this page can’t say why, and it won’t fill the gap with a guess. A closed night isn’t a sold-out one: the reservations its record still carries were taken before the sites were closed.
There’s no notice to quote and no reason to argue with, so this page offers you the watch and the list below, and no letter.
Open within 60 miles · 4
The agency’s own word that these are open, not our reading of a season.
- Gold Rush CampgroundLolo National Forest · 10 mi · walk-up
- Mammoth Springs CampgroundSt. Joe National Forest · 22 mi
- Cedars CampgroundClearwater National Forest · 39 mi · walk-up
- Kreis Pond CampgroundLolo National Forest · 50 mi · walk-up
recreation.gov availability, read 16:39 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
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 SAVENAC COOKHOUSE | 001 | cabin electric | 60 ft | 255 ftSavenac Creek | $115 |
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
Where it is
Savenac BunkhouseLolo National Forest · 0.0 mi
Savenac West CottageLolo National Forest · 0.0 mi
Savenac East Cottage (MT)Lolo National Forest · 0.0 mi
Up Up LookoutLolo National Forest · 4.4 mi
Cabin City Campground (MT)Lolo National Forest · 6.2 miGold Rush CampgroundLolo National Forest · 10 miFrom Missoula, travel west on Interstate 90 for 90 miles, to Haugan (Exit 16). Turn right at the stop sign. At the frontage road turn right, then take the first left, crossing the cattleguard. Signs are onsite if needed. Maps are available online or for purchase by calling the Superior Ranger District.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Haugan, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 36°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 24°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
Savenac Cookhouse 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 →