Scaler Guard Station
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 15 of the next 30 nights read 15:30 UTC
- Sites
- 2All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 15 notices
In the agency’s own words
Historic Scaler Guard Station, located 78 miles north of Kemmerer, Wyoming, provides an excellent hideaway for cabin camping enthusiasts. The cabin allows pets and horses. Hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails are in the vicinity. Constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the former ranger guard station dates back to 1937. Keep reading
Recreation
The nearby Absaroka Ridge Trailhead leads hikers and horseback riders along Fontenelle Creek, and provides access into Pomeroy Basin. This trail also attracts big game hunters. Other trails throughout the LaBarge Creek area are ideal for mountain bikers and horse travel.
Facilities
The three-room guard station is a traditional 1930s-era forest cabin that sleeps six guests on three bunkbeds with mattresses. A picnic table and campfire ring are located outside in front of the cabin. There is no running water available at this cabin . The cabin is equipped with a propane stove and oven, a propane refrigerator, lights and a wood stove. A vault toilet is located behind the structure. Some dishes, pots, pans and utensils are provided, however the presence of these items is not guaranteed. No electricity, linens or bedding are provided. In winter, no drinking water is available, so guests should bring plenty for drinking and cooking. Recommended items to bring include dish soap, dish towerls, toilet paper, gargbag bags and a flashlight. If firewood is on site, this is a courtesy but is not guarenteed. If wood is available, please use only what you need. Always be prepared to collect wood locally or bering to site from local resources.
Natural Features
Sagebrush and grasses cover the area behind the cabin. A few pines are dispersed in the vicinity, but shade by the cabin is limited. Moose, elk, eagles and sandhill cranes are among the wildlife likely to be seen. An abundance of wildflowers color the landscape in summer. The Bridger-Teton National Forest offers more than 3.4 million acres of public lands for outdoor recreation. With its pristine watersheds, abundant wildlife and immense wildlands, the forest comprises a large part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest intact ecosystem in the lower 48 states.
What the agency tells you
A combination will be sent to you via email at a later date.
Winter access is by snowmobile only on a 16-mile trail
Summer access is on gravel and dirt roads; high clearance vehicles are strongly recommended. OHV requires the Wyoming State Registration both winter and summer. Click here for more information Wyoming State Trails
Everything else this campground posts · 12
There is NO water available at this site. Horses must be watered from the creek; do not fill stock tanks with water from cabin
Hay must be certified weed-free, Never leave animals unattended.
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack it in, pack it out' facility
Please clean cabin before leaving; cleaning supplies are NOT provided other than a broom and mop.
No cell phone coverage available
No smoking allowed
Bears frequent the area; be aware of bear safety
Beware of poisonous chemicals used to control rodent population, Do not leave mouse traps set when you leave
NO bedding or toiletries are provided
Click here to learn more about the Bridger-Teton National Forest
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.
Pets are welcome, clean up after them inside and out. Do NOT allow them to harrass the wildlife.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 2 · 2 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Not allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 2 of 2 campsite records
- Showers
- Yes, the record doesn’t say what kind
- Shower/Bath Type states a shower on all 2 of this campground's campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…located outside in front of the cabin. There is no running water available at this cabin . The cabin is equipped…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 15:30 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 15:30 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 15:30 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 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.
| Scan & Pay | S&P Site Type 0 | cabin nonelectric | $60 | |
| SCGS | CABIN | cabin nonelectric | 173 ft | $60 |
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
Snyder Guard Station (WY)Bridger National Forest · 5.2 mi
La Barge Guard StationBridger National Forest · 8.6 miHobble Creek CampgroundBridger National Forest · 11 miMiddle Piney Lake CampgroundBridger National Forest · 12 miSacajawea CampgroundBridger National Forest · 13 miHams Fork CampgroundBridger National Forest · 15 miFrom Kemmerer, WY, follow US-189 north to the junction of La Barge Road, about a mile south of the town of La Barge. Turn left on La Barge Road and drive 25 miles to the forest boundary. If coming from Big Piney, WY go south on US-189 then turn right about a mile south of the town of LaBarge onto LaBarge Rd. (The first 11 miles of this road are paved.) Continue on La Barge Road/Forest Road 10138 for about 4 more miles to the Scaler Guard Station Road/Forest Road 10013 junction and turn left. Drive 1 mile and turn right. Scaler Guard Station is adjacent to the road on the right. From Afton, WY, follow US-89 south about 14.5 miles to Smith's Fork Road/Forest Road 10072 junction. Turn left at the junction and follow Smith's Fork Road/Forest Road 10072 for 23 miles to the Tri-Basin Divide. Turn right at the Tri-Basin Divide junction onto Forest Road 10138. Drive south about 10 miles to the Scaler Guard Station Road/Forest Road 10013 junction and turn right. Drive 1 mile and turn right. Scaler Guard Station is adjacent to the road on the right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Smoot, WY
Typical weather
Typical October night 16°F, day 53°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night -7°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
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
Scaler Guard Station 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 →
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 moneyHarriet M. HagemanU.S. Representative · Wyoming, at-large
- Your senator, on the same appropriationCynthia M. LummisU.S. Senator · Wyoming
- Your senator, on the same appropriationJohn BarrassoU.S. Senator · Wyoming
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 Scaler Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming
Dear Harriet M. Hageman, I’m a constituent in Wyoming, at-large. I tried to camp at Scaler Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming, and couldn’t. All 2 sites at Scaler Guard Station 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. Scaler Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Scaler Guard Station. 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 Scaler Guard Station (Bridger National Forest, Wyoming) 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 Scaler Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming
Dear Cynthia M. Lummis, I’m a constituent in Wyoming. I tried to camp at Scaler Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming, and couldn’t. All 2 sites at Scaler Guard Station 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. Scaler Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Scaler Guard Station. 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 Scaler Guard Station (Bridger National Forest, Wyoming) 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 Scaler Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming
Dear John Barrasso, I’m a constituent in Wyoming. I tried to camp at Scaler Guard Station, Bridger National Forest, Wyoming, and couldn’t. All 2 sites at Scaler Guard Station 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. Scaler Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Scaler Guard Station. 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 Scaler Guard Station (Bridger National Forest, Wyoming) via campanac.com