Wenatchee Guard Station
2Heads up2 fires, nearest 20 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 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:38 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Wenatchee Guard Station, located about 40 miles southeast of Pomeroy, offers a panoramic view of Wenatchee Creek and access to a scenic drive along Wenatchee Creek Canyon. The year-round cabin attracts cross country skiers and snowmobilers in winter and horseback riders and hikers in summer. Dogs and horses are allowed at the cabin. The site is accessible by automobile June 1 to November 1, weather dependant. Winter access requires skis, snowshoes or snowmobiles. As early as the 1910s, the site was used as a Forest Guard Camp. In 1927, a log cabin was built and used until it was replaced with the current guard station, completed in 1935 by the Civil Conservation Corps. Keep reading
Recreation
Horseback riding and hiking trails can be accessed from the cabin. Another way to enjoy views along Wenatchee Creek is by taking a scenic drive. Berry and mushroom picking is possible, and in winter, trails are groomed for snowmobiling and cross country skiing.
Facilities
The wood-framed, single story cabin accommodates up to four people. It features a kitchen, bedroom and living room that also serves as a bedroom. Furnishings include four single beds, chairs and a table. The cabin is equipped with propane for heat, a cook stove, refrigerator/freezer and propane lighting. Most cleaning supplies, limited dishes, pots, pans and utensils are provided. However, it is strongly suggested visitors bring their own. Water is not available on-site. An outhouse is located nearby. Though horses are allowed, there is no corral and no hitching post; horses must be highlined—trailer access to the cabin is difficult. Things to bring include food, water, sleeping bags or bedding, a flashlight, matches, first aid kit, trash bags, towels and washcloths. General cleaning is expected before departure. Mop, bucket, broom, and cleaning supplies provided (water is not provided). Cleaning service is not always available between guests, please leave the cabin as you would like to find it. During the summer of 2023, updates were made to the cabin inside and out.
Natural Features
Wenatchee Guard Station sits at 5290 ft in a grassy clearing on a high plateau dotted with mixed conifers, offering majestic views of the northern tip of the Blue Mountains. In the spring, wildflowers, such as yarrow, Piper's anemone, Big-leaf sandwort, Showy Aster, Camas pink fairy, daisy and sagebrush sweep color down the slopes into the valleys. Campers enjoy the view of Grouse Flats and look for herds of Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer and white-tailed deer. They can also listen for the call of geese, ducks, hawks, grouse, wild turkeys, screech owls and wrens.
Nearby Attractions
The cabin is about 35 minutes from any general store. The town of Pomeroy has a county museum, art gallery and antiques.
Charges & Cancellations
For Reservation Changes & Cancellation Fees, please see Rules & Reservation Policies.
What the agency tells you
Entry to the cabin is by combination lock; please call the Pomeroy Ranger District one week prior to arrival at (509) 843-1891
We will no longer authorize refunds for inaccessibility due to inclement weather conditions.
This facility may have mouse poison (Decon) around the perimeter; beware of exposure to children and pet
Everything else this campground posts · 7
No water; visitors must bring their own supply
Please bring garbage bags; this is a 'pack in-pack out' facility
No smoking allowed
One dog is allowed at this facility, no other pets are permitted.
For current news and events of Pacific Northwest Region National Forests, click here
Cabin should be cleaned before your departure. Mop, bucket and cleaning supplies provided.
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…suggested visitors bring their own. Water is not available on-site. An outhouse is located nearby. Though…”
- Store
- Nearby
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Horseback riding
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:38 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Friday and Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 16:38 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
“For Reservation Changes & Cancellation Fees, please see Rules & Reservation Policies.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 6
recreation.gov availability, read 16:38 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
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 1 of the 1 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
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 WENATCHEE GUARD STATION | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 1,332 ft | 102 ft | $50 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Clearwater Big HouseUmatilla National Forest · 11 miBig Springs CampgroundUmatilla National Forest · 11 mi
Clearwater Lookout CabinUmatilla National Forest · 11 miFrom Pomeroy, WA, take 15th Street south (which becomes Peola Road at the city limits) for approximately 15 miles to the forest boundary. The paved road will end here. Continue on Forest Road (FR) 40 for 17 miles to Misery Junction. Take FR 44 east for 3 miles, then FR 43 east for approximately 3 miles. The guard station will be on the left.
The site is accessible by automobile June 1 to November 1. Winter access requires skis, snowshoes or snowmobiles.
For winter use from Pomeroy, travel east on Highway 12 to Clarkston, Washington. From Clarkston, travel south on Highway 129 to Asotin, Washington. Just before entering Asotin, turn right at the bridge onto County Road 105 to Cloverland. Continue past Cloverland to the Sno-Park. Park here, then travel by snowmobile or cross country ski (beginning to intermediate level skiing) southwest on FR 43 to the junction with FR 4304, about 3 miles. Turn right and travel west on FR 43 for a quarter-mile to Wenatchee Guard Station. Pay close attention to the weather forecasts as winter weather can change quickly.
Cloverland Sno-Park has been closed, parking is still allowed but no maintenance or plowing will occur during the 2024/2025 season due to a lack of funding. This includes the 3 miles on Cloverland Road from where the county stops plowing to the Sno-Park. A Washington State Sno-Park permit is no longer required to park at Cloverland Sno-Park, but snowmobile registration is still required.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Anatone, 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
Wenatchee Guard Station 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 Wenatchee Guard Station, Umatilla National Forest, Washington
Dear Michael Baumgartner, I’m a constituent in Washington’s 5th district. I tried to camp at Wenatchee Guard Station, Umatilla National Forest, Washington, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Wenatchee 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. Wenatchee Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Wenatchee 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 Wenatchee Guard Station (Umatilla 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 Wenatchee Guard Station, Umatilla National Forest, Washington
Dear Maria Cantwell, I’m a constituent in Washington. I tried to camp at Wenatchee Guard Station, Umatilla National Forest, Washington, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Wenatchee 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. Wenatchee Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Wenatchee 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 Wenatchee Guard Station (Umatilla 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 Wenatchee Guard Station, Umatilla National Forest, Washington
Dear Patty Murray, I’m a constituent in Washington. I tried to camp at Wenatchee Guard Station, Umatilla National Forest, Washington, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Wenatchee 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. Wenatchee Guard Station keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Wenatchee 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 Wenatchee Guard Station (Umatilla National Forest, Washington) via campanac.com
How we know this · 4
How we know
every fact on this page, and where it came from
184 ft outside the Cougar Creek Fire perimeter, 2024, 24,091 acres. Tree cover here read 30% in the 2021 product and 9% in the 2024 one.