Thompson 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 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:44 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Thompson Guard Station is located in the Big Belt Mountain Range in Helena National Forest. Historical records indicate that the guard station was built in 1954 for rangers in the district, but it may have been used as a cookhouse for a Civilian Conservation Corps camp prior to that date. In later years, engineering and road maintenance crews used the cabin as lodging. Today, the cabin is a rustic getaway for guests seeking relaxation and recreation in west-central Montana. It is accessible by car, but snow closes the road in winter and access is maintained to within about 4 miles of the cabin on the east side. During these periods, guests should be prepared to reach the cabin by snowshoes, cross-country skis or snowmobile. The cabin offers many amenities, but guests must bring some of their own gear and supplies. Keep reading
Recreation
Gipsy Lake is 1 mile south of the cabin and is accessible by vehicle. It offers rainbow trout fishing and a launch for non-motorized boats. Another 3 miles south of Gipsy Lake are Hidden Lake, Upper Baldy Lake and Edith Lake. A number of multi-use trails and roads are in the area, offering chances to hike, mountain bike or ride horses. The winter landscape is ideal for snowshoeing, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing.
Facilities
The guard station is furnished with 6 single beds with mattresses to accommodate up to 6 people. The cabin has a Monarch cook stove, propane lanterns, propane stove and a wood heat stove. Other amenities include a table and chairs, cleaning supplies, dishes, utensils and cookware. An outhouse with vault toilet, picnic table and a campfire ring are near the cabin. An axe and snow shovel are provided. Firewood may be available, but it is not guaranteed. There is a fenced corral just below the cabin. The cabin does not have electricity, running water or indoor plumbing. Guests must bring a sufficient amount of water for drinking, cooking and washing. Fuel is not provided for the propane lanterns or stove, so guests should bring 1 or 2 small propane cylinders, along with backup lighting. Guests need to provide their own sleeping bags, linens, 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 firewood provided from June 1st - August 31.
Natural Features
Thompson Guard Station sits in a grassy, open clearing backed by mixed conifer forest. The area around the cabin offers a variety of landscapes, from river banks to subalpine terrain. Valley bottoms, dense forests, meadows and barren ridges are mixed with streams, rivers and lakes. Wildlife in the area abounds. Elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, squirrels and a variety of birds are commonly seen. The more elusive badger, wolverine, mountain lion and lynx find habitat here as well.
Nearby Attractions
Canyon Ferry Lake offers excellent fishing opportunities for rainbow trout, perch, ling and walleye. The wildlife viewing near the lake is quite impressive as well. It is one of the best in the country for viewing large concentrations of bald eagles. A wildlife management area at the end of the reservoir is home to a colony of terns and pelicans. White Sulphur Springs is about 17 miles away and, as the name implies, there is a hot spring open to the public, which is owned by a local motel.
What the agency tells you
No water, electricity or indoor plumbing is available at this facility
Entry to the cabin is by combination lock, your reservation confirmation email will have the combination code.
Do not leave food or trash outside the cabin
Everything else this campground posts · 8
All garbage and food must be packed out
The cabin is a no-smoking facility
Please clean cabin upon departure
Make sure cabin is locked upon departure
Keep open fires within the campfire ring
Learn more about the Helena National Forest
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 Forest Service does not provide snow removal to the cabin. During winter, snow closes the road and access is maintained to within about 8 miles of the cabin on the east side. Please use parking that is identified and do not block private land access. Access to the cabin is by snowshoes, cross-country skis, or snowmobile. Generally, the road will open around the first week in June.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…utensils and cookware. An outhouse with vault toilet, picnic table and a campfire ring are near the…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Guests must bring a sufficient amount of water for drinking, cooking and washing.”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Hot springs, Reservoir, Lake, River, Creek, Meadow
- Biking
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Hunting
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:44 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday. 1 is free on Thu, Oct 22. read 16:44 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 16:44 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 THOMPSON GUARD STATION | 01 | cabin nonelectric | 688 ft | $50 |
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
Miller CabinHelena National Forest · 11 miSkidway CampgroundHelena National Forest · 12 mi
Rillway CabinHelena National Forest · 12 miCoulter Campground16 mi
White Earth Campground18 mi
Hellgate Campground22 miFrom White Sulphur Springs, travel west on Highway 360 for 1.6 miles. At this point, make a sharp curve to the right off the highway. There is a Forest Service sign at this junction that reads: Gipsy Lake 14, Townsend 44. Go straight onto the gravel road for 6.5 miles. At 6.5 miles, the gravel road forks at the entrance to a ranch. Stay to the right. As you drive the next 7.5 miles to the Forest boundary, the road will become more primitive. Within a quarter of a mile of the Forest boundary, a sign for Thompson Station will direct you to the right onto Forest Road #383. Take Forest Road #383 for 0.6 miles to a sign that will direct you to the left, and to a gate to the station.
Access to the cabin during the summer months is good and can be reached by driving through White Sulphur Springs or from the west over Duck Creek Pass.
The Forest Service does not provide snow removal to the cabin. During winter, snow closes the road and access is maintained to within about 8 miles of the cabin on the east side. Please use parking that is identified and do not block private land access. Access to the cabin is by snowshoes, cross-country skis, or snowmobile. Generally, the road will open around the first week in June.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Springdale Colony, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 27°F, day 52°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 12°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
Thompson Guard Station is in Montana’s 2nd congressional district. Its representative, Troy Downing (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 moneyTroy DowningU.S. Representative · Montana’s 2nd district
- Your senator, on the same appropriationSteve DainesU.S. Senator · Montana
- Your senator, on the same appropriationTim SheehyU.S. Senator · Montana
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 Thompson Guard Station, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Troy Downing, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at Thompson Guard Station, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Thompson 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Thompson Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Thompson 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 Thompson Guard Station (Helena National Forest, Montana) 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 Thompson Guard Station, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Thompson Guard Station, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Thompson 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Thompson Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Thompson 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 Thompson Guard Station (Helena National Forest, Montana) 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 Thompson Guard Station, Helena National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Thompson Guard Station, Helena National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Thompson 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 7,639 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. Thompson Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Thompson 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 Thompson Guard Station (Helena National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com