West Bridger Cabin
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 15 of the next 30 nights read 16:36 UTC
- Sites
- 1All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 20 notices
In the agency’s own words
West Bridger Cabin is open-year round for the enjoyment of outdoor enthusiasts. Guests have access to a variety of recreational activities in a beautiful, peaceful mountain setting. The cabin in generally accessible by car, but spring and winter road conditions may limit access. Snow conditions can preclude wheeled vehicles for up to the last mile to the cabin in the winter. The cabin features an electric cooking stove and lights, but other amenities are limited. Guests will need to bring MOST of their own gear and supplies. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking, mountain biking and equestrian trails and roads heading west from the cabin ascend into the foothills of the Beartooth Mountains and dip into the Deer Creek valley. The 8-mile Derby Mountain Trail starts at the cabin and takes hikers around the east side of Derby Mountain, ending at Arch Rock. Casual anglers may catch a fish in West Bridger Creek. In-season, big game hunting in designated areas is also a popular pastime.
Facilities
This two-room cabin accommodates four people on single beds with mattresses. It has an electric stove and lights, a table with chairs, some cookware, dinnerware, utensils, and cleaning gear, along with an axe, maul, bucket and shovel. A wood-burning stove is provided for heat. PLEASE DO NOT BURN THE PROVIDED FIREWOOD FOR OUTDOOR FIRES AS IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO REPLACE. USE ONLY FOR INDOOR WOODSTOVE DURING WINTER MONTHS. There is a campfire ring and a vault toilet outside. Firewood is provided for use in the wood heating stove only. Guests must bring their own wood or collect wood from the nearby forest for campfires. Livestock may be kept at the small corral and fenced pasture, and hitching rails are also available. The cabin does not have water. Guests must either bring their own drinking water or treat water from the nearby creek. Garbage bags are needed to pack out trash, and guests are expected to clean the cabin and corral (if used) before leaving. Other items to pack include a flashlight, bedding, cookware, dishes, utensils, newspaper, matches, toilet paper and a first aid kit.
Natural Features
West Bridger Cabin is nestled in a valley along West Bridger Creek. It sits at an altitude of 4,847 feet in a clearing surrounded by the Beartooth Mountains, some of which are densely forested with evergreens, while others have sparse vegetation. This area is home to moose, mule deer, elk and grizzly bear. Birders may spot bald eagles, owls, Stellar's jays, western meadowlarks and mountain bluebirds.
What the agency tells you
5 night maximum stay limit
The cabin remains locked; guests must CHECK their confirmation letter for the cabin combination. When operating the combination locks, line up the numbers and squeeze the handle and base together. The lock will pop open.
ARRIVAL ON 1st DAY OF RESERVATION 2:00 p.m. DEPARTURE ON THE LAST DAY OF YOUR RESERVATION 12:00 p.m.
Everything else this campground posts · 17
Cabin, woodshed and gate are locked with combination locks; be sure to have combination. When operating the combination locks, line up the numbers and squeeze the handle and base together. The lock will pop open.
The cabin is accessible by car year-round, though a 4-wheel drive vehicle is recommended. Spring and winter road conditions may limit access. Snow conditions can preclude wheeled vehicle for up to the last mile to the cabin in the winter. Be sure to call the Forest Service at (406) 222-1892 for latest conditions
Water is not available in the cabin; water obtained from nearby natural water sources should be treated prior to use to prevent Giardia
Cell phone coverage is either limited or not available in this area
Guests must carefully follow the food storage order for Gallatin National Forest;Click here for more information
Maximum group size for using the facility and adjacent area is 15 people
No liquid fueled (white gas) stoves or lanterns allowed in the cabin or on the porch
No garbage service; please bring garbage bags and pack out all that you pack in
Please clean cabin before leaving and be sure to remove all food
A small corral is available for renter's stock. No stock may be near cabin or within the cabin fence. Hay and feed for stock must be certified weed-free. Out of state horses must have a current Coggins test.
Within the Yellowstone Ranger District, refunds for weather or accessibility issues on the day of arrival or later will not be considered. Refunds will also not be considered for conditions resulting from poor housekeeping by previous visitors.
Please collect your own firewood for campfires
Firing a gun or use of any other weapon is not allowed: within 150 yards of the of the cabin
The primary occupant is responsible to ensure all members of their party abide by US Forest Service regulations
Click here for more information about Gallatin National Forest
Please call the Livingston office of the Yellowstone Ranger District at (406) 222-1892, during business hours: 8 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. MST, Monday through Friday, for current weather conditions/alerts, information and questions about the cabin.
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
- 1 electric
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…MONTHS. There is a campfire ring and a vault toilet outside. Firewood is provided for use in the wood…”
- Drinking water
- None, bring your own
- “…rails are also available. The cabin does not have water. Guests must either bring their own drinking water…”
- Firewood
- Mentioned
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Hunting
- Winter sports
Full this Saturdayread 16:36 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBookedClosed
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on the one midweek night after it that the agency has released as well. read 16:36 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 · 16
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 16:36 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 WEST BRIDGER CABIN | 001 | cabin electric | 153 ft | $75 |
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
Deer Creek Cabin (MT)Gallatin National Forest · 3.9 mi
Meyers Creek CabinCuster National Forest · 11 miInitial Creek CampgroundCuster National Forest · 17 mi
East Boulder CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 17 mi
Woodbine CampgroundCuster National Forest · 19 mi
Big Beaver CampgroundGallatin National Forest · 21 miFrom Big Timber, Montana, travel 14 miles east on Interstate Highway 90 to exit 384 (Bridger Creek). From the stop sign, travel south for 8.2 miles to the junction of Main Bridger with West Bridger Creek Road. Turn right and continue on West Bridger Road for 2.2 miles to the junction of West Bridger with Derby Gulch. Stay right on West Bridger Road for 0.7 miles. Look for driveway on right with a gate about 50 yards down road. There is a small oak sign on the left of this road identifying the cabin. The total driveway length to the cabin is approximately 0.2 miles.
Accessibility is generally good. It is advisable to call the Livingston Office of the Yellowstone Ranger District at (406) 222-1892 for local road condition information.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Greycliff, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 19°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 · a letter you can send
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
West Bridger Cabin 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 West Bridger Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Troy Downing, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 2nd district. I tried to camp at West Bridger Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at West Bridger 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. West Bridger Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run West Bridger 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 West Bridger Cabin (Gallatin 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 West Bridger Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at West Bridger Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at West Bridger 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. West Bridger Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run West Bridger 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 West Bridger Cabin (Gallatin 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 West Bridger Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at West Bridger Cabin, Gallatin National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at West Bridger 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 7,647 federal campgrounds in this country still keep at least some sites for whoever arrives first. West Bridger Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run West Bridger 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 West Bridger Cabin (Gallatin National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com