Walde Lookout Cabin
5Heads up5 fires, nearest 3 mi
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Walde Lookout Cabin was built in 1941 to house the employees who worked in the adjacent fire lookout, which was built in 1939. The fire lookout is still in use during the summer and fall, so the cabin is only available for rent from approximately mid-December through late March. This charming, rustic cabin has been restored to its original character. Guests must reach the cabin by snowmobile, skis or snowshoes. This is a trip of around 17 miles, and guests are responsible for their own travel arrangements and safety. The cabin provides a few conveniences, but guests will need to bring some supplies and gear to make a cozy and comfortable retreat for enjoying winter recreation. Keep reading
Recreation
Several trails crisscross the vicinity, ideal for snowmobiling, snowshoeing or cross-country skiing. There are good places to sled nearby.
Facilities
This 14x16-ft. log cabin accommodates four people with two mattresses located in a loft area and two cots. A wood stove heats the cabin, which is also equipped with a table and four chairs, a propane cook stove, propane lights, basic cooking and eating utensils, smoke alarm, mop and bucket, fire extinguisher and a snow shovel. Click here for additional cabin details. Firewood is available in a shed just outside. Toilet facilities consist of an outhouse with a pit toilet. Guests should be prepared to shovel a path to the cabin, shed and outhouse, as well as remove snow from the propane tank to turn it on. There is no electricity or running water. Guests should bring their own drinking water. Natural sources can also provide water, although it should be boiled for culinary use. Garbage bags are also needed to pack out trash. Bedding, flashlights or lanterns, extra batteries, matches, first aid supplies and toilet paper are not provided. Guests should remember to bring their rental permit with them to the cabin.
Natural Features
The cabin sits at an elevation of 5,220 feet on the watershed divide between the Lochsa and Clearwater Rivers. This vantage point shows off the western slopes of the vast Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and the jagged peaks of the Selway Crags. The cabin is surrounded by a dense evergreen forest. The winter landscape is blanketed in deep, pristine snow. Wildlife sightings may include mule and white-tailed deer, elk, moose, gray wolf and cougar. A variety of birds also inhabit the area.
What the agency tells you
Be advised that the route to reach Walde Lookout Cabin may not be groomed; contact the Lochsa Ranger District at (208) 926-4274 for current road status
There is no drinking water at the cabin
Cell phone coverage is not reliable
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Please pack out trash
Be prepared for a wide range of weather and snow conditions
Please do not use candles inside the cabin
The refrigerator is not in use during winter months
Click here for more information about Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- “…facilities consist of an outhouse with a pit toilet. Guests should be prepared to shovel a path to the…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “Guests should bring their own drinking water.”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- River
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
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.
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We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 9
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · record Aug 23, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
1 sites · the site map
All 1 sites
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| WALDE LOOKOUT CABIN | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 3,210 ft |
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
Johnson Bar Group SiteNezperce National Forest · 9.8 miFrom Kooskia, ID, take Highway 12 East to Kamiah. Turn left onto Woodland Road for half a mile, then take the second right onto Glenwood Road (Road 100). Stay on this paved road until you reach the junction with Yakus Creek Road (Road 519). Park here (be sure to park out of the way of traffic as there may be active logging operations throughout the winter).
Travel by snowmobile along Road 519 about 1 mile where it turns into Road 514. Travel this road for approx. 9 miles where it intersects Road 101 at Fan Saddle. Continue on Road 101 for another 5 miles to Mystery Saddle and turn right on Road 486A. At the junction of Road 486D, stay to the right and follow Road 486A for another 2 miles to Walde Cabin.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Kooskia, ID
Typical weather
Typical October night 28°F, day 58°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical December night 14°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 Augusts are colder than the August 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
Walde Lookout Cabin is in Idaho’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Russ Fulcher (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →