U.S. Forest Service · Kaniksu National Forest · MT

Sex Peak. Lookout Rental

1Heads up1 fire 35 mi away
Wildfire
Nugget Hill fire · 35 mi away · 35 acres · updated Oct 15, 2026
ReservableOut of season, no booking; December 18 opens June 18.
Book on recreation.govWe make nothing when you book
Right now
Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
Sites
1All of them booked ahead
5,800 ftElevation
1,593 ftWater · Ripper Creek
15.1 miNW of Thompson Falls, MT
0%Tree cover
Bortle 2Night sky · 292nd darkest of 501 in MT

The place

the agency’s own description · what’s there · 8 notices

In the agency’s own words

Sex Peak Lookout is situated in the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 5,772 feet in the Kootenai National Forest. The original lookout was constructed in the early 1920s and replaced by the current lookout in 1948. The peak was named by I.V. Anderson, an early forester, and Harry Baker, supervisor of what was then Cabinet National Forest. It is rumored that they named the peak after their topic of conversation at the time. The lookout is typically open from late June through mid-October and is accessible by car. This rustic retreat offers a few amenities, but guests should pack in most of their own supplies and gear. Keep reading

Recreation

Old logging roads provide a way for hikers and mountain bikers to explore the area. Wild berries ripen in the area during the summer, inviting berry pickers.

Facilities

The 14x14-ft. lookout has windows on all sides and is encircled by a catwalk. The cabin sleeps 4 people and is equipped 2 twin size beds with mattresses. Other amenities include a table, chair, bench, a wood stove for heat, broom and dustpan. Firewood is provided. An outhouse with vault toilet and a campfire ring are located outside. The lookout does not have electricity or water. Guests should being enough water for drinking, cooking and washing. Items such as a cook stove, cooking gear, bedding, lanterns or flashlights, matches, extra toilet paper, first aid supplies, trash bags, dish soap, towels and an ice chest are not available. Guests are expected to pack out their trash and clean the cabin before leaving.

Natural Features

The lookout sits on a mound of rocks surrounded by evergreen forest. It offers panoramic views of Clarks Fork Valley, the Bitterroot Mountains to the west and the Cabinet Range to the east. This is an ideal vantage point to enjoy sunrises and sunsets and gaze out at starry skies on clear nights. Kootenai National Forest supports populations of deer, elk, moose, grizzly and black bears, wolves and mountain lions ( bear safety ). A variety of smaller mammals and birds can also be found.

What the agency tells you

Rule

Please call the Ranger District at (406) 827-3533 prior to arrival to confirm your stay

Rule

Check-in 2:00 pm / Check-out is 11:00 am

Rule

There is no water; guests must provide their own for drinking, cooking and washing

Everything else this campground posts · 5
Rule

Access depends on weather conditions

Rule

There is a 5 consecutive day stay limit. A break of 7 days is requested before making another reservation.

Rule

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

Rule

Be aware, this facility is not cleaned between user visits. It is up to individual renters to bring their own cleaning supplies and clean before and after site use.

Rule

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.

Read them on the agency’s own page →

Tents and rigs

Sites
1 · 1 cabin
Hookups
None
Accessible sites
None listed
Pets
Allowed
Campfires
Allowed, barring fire bans
Source: Recreation.gov campsite records · Aug 23, 2026

Facilities

Toilets
Vault Toilets
“…Firewood is provided. An outhouse with vault toilet and a campfire ring are located outside. The…”
Firewood
Mentioned
Stay limit
15 nights
recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Source: Stated in the agency description · Aug 23, 2026
Water, toilets and showers: read from the agency description, shown above · Sep 12, 2026

Around the campground

Biking
Hiking
Hunting
Wildlife viewing
Source: Recreation.gov activity records · Aug 23, 2026

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.

Booking windowOut of seasonOut of season, no booking. On December 18, 2026 at 10 AM ET, availability opens through June 18, 2027.recreation.govAdd to calendar (.ics)
Max stay15 nightsthe facility record
Sites, a night, from$45From 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

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.

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 Fri, Jun 18 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 · 12

What you actually pay

The sign priceU.S. Forest Service
Sites, a night, from$45
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$45
Rates for the season the campground is in now, Jun 19, 2026 to Oct 10, 2026.
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

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
Up 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.

SEX PEAK. LOOKOUT RENTAL001lookout1,645 ft$45

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
Coordinate47.72304, -115.64442
The phone406-827-3533
The agency’s pageOfficial page ↗

Where it is

Getting there

From Cabinet Ranger Station, travel approximately 11 miles southeast on Highway 200 and turn right onto Big Beaver Creek Road 152 (Faro Lane). Drive south 2 miles and take a right at the "T" junction. Follow this road for approximately 9 miles, after passing the “Jackpine Flats” camping area the road spits. Stay right at split onto Road 2222 and follow this road approximately 8.5 miles to the lookout. Road 2222 is a loop road that intersects with Road #152 at two locations. The easterly portion of this road is subject to seasonal closures and may not be passable (first sign for Road 2222) . The advised route up to the lookout is via the right turn just past Jackpine Flats.

The weather

the next four days · the thirty-year normal

Next four days, and the thirty-year normal

Forecast

Today58°Sunny
Tonight41°Partly Cloudy
Saturday53°Mostly Sunny
Saturday Night33°Partly Cloudy

NWS forecast for Trout Creek, MT

Typical weather

Typical October night 32°F, day 44°F.

Coldest month of the year: typical December night 18°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.

80°32°10°

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.

Measured at: MULLAN PASS VOR/DME, ID (USW00024154), 18 miles away and 228 ft higher

The land, and who answers for it

what threatens it · who answers for it

What threatens this place

critical
Roadless
Trout Creek30,851 acres · 5 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Maple Peak3,581 acres · 6 mi · inventoried roadless area
Roadless
Trout Creek8,719 acres · 8 mi · inventoried roadless area

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

Source: MTJP Threatened Lands map · Oct 4, 2026

Who answers for this land

Ryan Zinke, official portrait

Sex Peak. Lookout Rental 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 →

Seen something wrong here? Tell us.

How we know

every fact on this page, and where it came from
Right now: U.S. Forest Service publishes no season and no closure for this campground, and it takes no bookings we can read. That’s a gap in the record and not a locked gate: the number below is the only way to be sure.
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: Trout Creek, MT, 7.4 mi SSW (a census designated place). Straight line.