Snow Peak Cabin
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 25 mi
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 28 of the next 30 nights read 16:52 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Snow Peak Cabin is located high in the mountains of northeastern Washington state. It provides a year-round base camp from which guests can access thousands of acres of back country for skiing, hunting and exploration. Depending on the season, guests may also choose to enjoy the extensive system of quality mountain bike, horse and hiking trails that connect with the cabin. The cabin is not accessible by vehicle and the area around the cabin is closed to all forms of motorized use. Keep reading
The winter route begins at the Kettle Crest Trailhead on Sherman Pass (State Highway 20) and has a one-way distance of approximately five miles for skiers and snowshoers. Winter visitors are advised to carry snow chains and a shovel in their vehicle as winter storms and icy conditions can make it difficult to exit the trailhead, even after it has been plowed. Hikers, bikers and horseback riders can access the cabin in the summer and fall from the Snow Peak Trailhead via the 3-mile Snow Peak Trail. Guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety, and must bring several of their own amenities.
Recreation
In addition to camping, visitors to the area enjoy hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding on a variety of trails in the area. The Snow Peak Trail No. 10, Kettle Crest South Trail No. 13, Sherman Loop Trail No. 72 and Edds Mountain Trail No. 3 can all be accessed from the cabin. Climbing, snowshoeing and skiing in the area are also popular. Visitors also enjoy the area for hunting during open seasons, as the open mountain meadows throughout the area entice a variety of wildlife. The cabin is in a remote location and guests are advised to carry a topographic map of the area and a compass when leaving the cabin at any time.
Facilities
The one-room 17-by-19 cabin has cots and foam pads to accommodate up to four people. It is also equipped with a propane cook stove, a table, basic cookware and cutlery, and a wood stove for heat. Solar-powered lighting and an outhouse are provided. Horse corrals are also available for equestrian campers and a spring fed water trough is located near the cabin along the Kettle Crest 13 South trail. Firewood is provided, but guests must split their own wood with an axe and tools that are provided. Firewood must be flown into the cabin by helicopter every two or three years, which is very expensive. Guests are asked to use the firewood conservatively while heating the cabin. Given the size of the cabin and the efficiency of the wood stove, a little wood can go a long ways. In addition, firewood provided at the cabin is not to be used in any user created outdoor fire rings. Guests must bring their own water for drinking, cooking and cleaning purposes. Sleeping bags, toilet paper, garbage bags and food are also not provided. Cell phone service is not available in the area.
Natural Features
The cabin sits at an elevation of 6,400 feet, on a ridge in the Kettle River Mountain Range in the Colville National Forest. It was built through the cooperative efforts of the Snow Peak Shelter Alliance and the Colville National Forest. Construction took nearly three years and was completed in 1995. Views from the cabin stretch from the Cascades to the mountains of Canada and northern Idaho. The Kettle Range encompasses an area of 2,700 miles. The range runs north to south, bordered on the east by the Kettle River and the Columbia River, and on the west by the Kettle River, the Curlew Valley and the Sanpoil River. Wildlife in the area include hawks, bear and cougars.
Nearby Attractions
The cabin is near trailheads, a picnic area and the Sherman Pass Scenic Byway. The popular highway runs 40 miles from the town of Republic to the west and the Columbia River to the east, passing through the center of the Kettle Range. It reaches its highest point, 5,575 feet, at Sherman Pass, the highest mountain pass open year-round in Washington state.
What the agency tells you
The cabin is not accessible by vehicle; guests must hike, bike, horseback ride, ski, or snowshoe between three and five miles depending on the route and time of the year.
A Washington State Sno-Park Permit is required to park at the trailhead from November through April as posted. Winter guests are encouraged to carry snow chains and a shovel in their vehicle as winter storms and icy conditions can make it difficult to exit the trailhead, even after it has been plowed.
There is no water on-site; guests must bring plenty of water for drinking, cooking and cleaning.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Bears frequent the area; use appropriate containers for food and garbage.
Smoking is not allowed in the cabin.
Pets, horses and stock animals are welcome. Please clenan-up after your pets.
Learn more about the Colville National Forest
Don't Move Firewood: Please protect Pacific Northwest forests by preventing the spread of invasive species. Firewood can carry insects and diseases that can threaten the health of our western forests. You can make a difference by obtaining and burning your firewood near your camping destination. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Firewood provided to heat the cabin is not to be used in user created outdoor fire rings.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Little
Facilities
- Toilets
- Yes, the record doesn't say what kind
- “Solar-powered lighting and an outhouse are provided.”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…created outdoor fire rings. Guests must bring their own water for drinking, cooking and cleaning purposes.…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- River, Meadow
- Birding
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Mountain biking
- Skiing
- Snowshoeing
- Wildlife viewing
- Cell signal · Cell signal · Forest Service says
- None
Full this Saturdayread 16:52 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
9 campgrounds have sites open within 30 miles, read 17:07 UTC. See them
OpenBookedClosed
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Wed, Oct 21. read 16:52 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.
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
Open within 30 miles this weekend · 9
Sites the agency is offering this Friday and Saturday that nobody has taken, nearest first; the nearest 5 of 9. read 17:07 UTC
- Haag Cove CampgroundLake Roosevelt National Recreation Area · 15 mi · 30 of 34 site-nights open
- Kettle Falls CampgroundLake Roosevelt National Recreation Area · 17 mi · 136 of 146 site-nights open
- Kamloops Island CampgroundLake Roosevelt National Recreation Area · 19 mi · 32 of 32 site-nights open
- Kettle River CampgroundLake Roosevelt National Recreation Area · 19 mi · 21 of 24 site-nights open
- Marcus Island CampgroundLake Roosevelt National Recreation Area · 21 mi · 32 of 48 site-nights open
recreation.gov availability, read 16:52 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.
| SNOW PEAK CABIN | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 1,276 ft | $55 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Winter access: From Seattle take Highway 2 east to Wenatchee, Highway 97 north to Tonasket, and Highway 20 east to Republic. From Republic, travel east on State Highway 20 to the Kettle Crest Trailhead located on top of Sherman Pass. Follow the Kettle Crest Trail No. 13 south for one mile, to the junction of the Sherman Loop Trail No. 72. Continue around the west side of Sherman Peak, to Kettle Crest Trail No. 13. Continue south on the trail to the cabin. Approximate distance for one-way travel is five miles.
Summer and fall access: In addition to the above route, the cabin may be reached via County Road 99 (Hall Creek Road). From State Highway 20, turn south on County Road 99 (turn left if traveling from Kettle Falls/turn right from Republic). Travel south for approximately three miles and then turn left onto Forest Road 2050100. Continue east along the road for 4.5 miles until you reach the Snow Peak Trailhead. Follow the trail east for approximately 2.7 miles, to its junction with Kettle Crest Trail No. 13. Turn right and continue south for about a half-mile to the cabin. The approximate distance is 3.2 miles each way.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Pine Grove, WA
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
Snow Peak Cabin is in Washington’s 5th congressional district. Its representative, Michael Baumgartner (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 moneyMichael BaumgartnerU.S. Representative · Washington’s 5th district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationMaria CantwellU.S. Senator · Washington
- Your senator, on the same appropriationPatty MurrayU.S. Senator · Washington
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 Snow Peak Cabin, Colville National Forest, Washington
Dear Michael Baumgartner, I’m a constituent in Washington’s 5th district. I tried to camp at Snow Peak Cabin, Colville National Forest, Washington, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Snow Peak 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Snow Peak Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Snow Peak 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 Snow Peak Cabin (Colville National Forest, Washington) 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 Snow Peak Cabin, Colville National Forest, Washington
Dear Maria Cantwell, I’m a constituent in Washington. I tried to camp at Snow Peak Cabin, Colville National Forest, Washington, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Snow Peak 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Snow Peak Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Snow Peak 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 Snow Peak Cabin (Colville National Forest, Washington) 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 Snow Peak Cabin, Colville National Forest, Washington
Dear Patty Murray, I’m a constituent in Washington. I tried to camp at Snow Peak Cabin, Colville National Forest, Washington, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Snow Peak 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Snow Peak Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Snow Peak 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 Snow Peak Cabin (Colville National Forest, Washington) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
“…garbage bags and food are also not provided. Cell phone service is not available in the area. Natural Features The cabin sits at an elevation…”