Woods Cabin
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 8 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 17 of the next 17 nights read 16:27 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
Woods Cabin offers a unique chance to camp in the forest, in a rustic, old-time setting, while enjoying all the summer and winter activities that are available from the shore of scenic Lake Como. The cabin provides a comfortable experience and spectacular views, with its large windows and decks overlooking the lake and nearby mountain peaks. It also provides access to the lake and a nearby beach and gives visitors access to a myriad of trails and open spaces. Keep reading
IMPORTANT WINTER RENTAL INFORMATION: Woods Cabin is available for rent in the winter and provides a great basecamp for numerous outdoor winter recreation activities. To ensure your stay is enjoyable, there are a few things to note when renting the cabin during the winter. The road to the cabin is NOT maintained during the winter months, so depending on weather conditions, you may or may not be able to drive to the Woods Cabin parking lot. The gate is closed on the access road to Woods Cabin for public safety so that visitors do not drive down to the cabin and get stuck or slide into the cabin. The county road, however, to the boat launch (located on the south side of Lake Como) is maintained. Visitors can park at the boat launch and walk, ski, or snowshoe across the dam and up to Woods Cabin, which is approximately ¾ mile. Be prepared to haul your gear into the cabin via sled or backpacks. There is no drinking water available this time of year, so please bring your own drinking water. Firewood is provided at the cabin but it may need to be split. A splitting maul is also provided. Please be aware of rapidly changing weather conditions and always use caution and be prepared when recreating in winter conditions.
Recreation
Boating, fishing, swimming and other water sports are popular on Lake Como. Anglers might see rainbow and cutthroat trout, as well as kokanee salmon, among other alpine species. A boat ramp and parking area are available at the south side of the lake. A large, sandy beach is available to visitors at the north side of the lake. To the west of the cabin, a short walk will take visitors to a trailhead that begins a 7-mile loop trail around Lake Como. The Lake Como National Recreation Loop Trail is suitable for hiking, mountain biking and accessing the lake for swimming or picnics. The first quarter-mile of the trail is wheelchair accessible and the trail also crosses Rock Creek at one point. Approximately 3 miles from the cabin, at the west end of the lake, is a magnificent waterfall that cascades over fern-covered rock cliffs. A trail continues from the waterfall, or heads west up Rock Creek, into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area. Winter activities include cross-country skiing on un-groomed terrain, snow shoeing, and ice fishing.
Facilities
The rustic cabin has three bedrooms, a living area and a kitchen. It has beds that can accommodate up to 12 people (double bunk beds with mattresses). The main living area offers a table and chairs and two wood stoves for heating. Woods Cabin is ony partially furnished. There is no electricity or hot water. We recommend bringing your own sleeping bags or bedding, ice chest, dish soap, matches, 1st Aid kit, flashlights, etc. Each renter is responsible for leaving the cabin cleaner than they found it. We'd appreciate your feedback on the condition of the cabin or any suggestions you may have. The cabin was built in 1928 and was renovated in 2011. Please be aware that this is a rustic cabin and despite our efforts to control the rodents, there may be rodent activity. Please keep the cabin clean and store food in containers or cupboards. Firewood is provided at the cabin but it will need to be split. A splitting maul is also provided. The driveway to the cabin is on a moderately steep hillside that flattens to a pull-through loop near the cabin entrance. Parking at the cabin is limited to 2 vehicles, but other vehicles can park in the upper parking lot. Day use passes are required at day use sites within the Lake Como Recreation Area from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Four day use passes are provided for Woods Cabin visitors and will be located inside the cabin. Upon vacating the cabin, please return the passes for the next renters to use. Additional vehicles need to have a day pass displayed. Day passes can be purchased on site within the Recreation Area.
Natural Features
The cabin is located along the north shore of 913-acre Lake Como in the central Bitterroot Mountains of western Montana. It is situated at an elevation of 4,245 feet and is primarily used for meetings, workshops and retreats, as it can accommodate a larger group of people. The cabin is more than 90 years old and accommodations are rustic. A variety of wildlife and birds can be seen from the cabin and its surroundings. Osprey, bald eagles, deer, moose, elk and bears make their home in the area (learn about outdoor safety ).
What the agency tells you
This facility is located in a remote area; before making a reservation, become aware of bear, water and weather safety
Pets are not allowed at the cabin
Parking space is limited to two vehicles; additional vehicles can park in a nearby lot
Everything else this campground posts · 6
All garbage and food must be packed out
During winter, from Labor Day until Memorial Day, water is not available. Guests must provide their own water (for drinking and washing).
To turn on/off the propane, locate the propane valve on the front deck.
The cabin remains locked; a week before your scheduled arrival, contact the Darby Ranger District during office hours to obtain a key code
Learn more about the Bitterroot 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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 1 · 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 20 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 1 of 1 campsite records, WATER (SEASONAL) on 1 of 1 campsite records
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Firewood
- Sold here
Around the campground
- On the water
- Waterfall, Lake, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Water sports
- Wildlife viewing
- Winter sports
- Night sky · 353rd darkest of 501 in MT
- Bortle 2
Full this Saturdayread 16:27 UTC
How full the weekend is nationally.
OpenBooked
The one site on offer is taken this Saturday, and on four midweek nights after it as well. read 16:27 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 16:27 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 WOODS CABIN | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 20 ft | 32 ft | 1,400 ft | $60 |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Three Frogs CampgroundBitterroot National Forest · 0.2 mi
Lake Como CampgroundBitterroot National Forest · 0.4 mi
Three Sisters Group Site (MT)Bitterroot National Forest · 0.6 mi
Lost Horse Guard StationBitterroot National Forest · 13 mi
Schumaker CampgroundBitterroot National Forest · 14 mi
Blodgett CampgroundBitterroot National Forest · 14 miFrom Darby, Montana, continue north on Highway 93 for 4 miles. Turn west onto County Road 82/Lake Como Road. Follow signs to the Lake Como National Recreation Area and continue past the swimming area, to a gate at the third lot. Maps of the area can be purchased by calling the Darby Ranger District.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Darby, MT
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 57°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January 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 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
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Woods Cabin is in Montana’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Ryan Zinke (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 moneyRyan K. ZinkeU.S. Representative · Montana’s 1st 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 Woods Cabin, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana
Dear Ryan K. Zinke, I’m a constituent in Montana’s 1st district. I tried to camp at Woods Cabin, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Woods 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. Woods Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Woods 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 Woods Cabin (Bitterroot 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 Woods Cabin, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana
Dear Steve Daines, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Woods Cabin, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Woods 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. Woods Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Woods 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 Woods Cabin (Bitterroot 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 Woods Cabin, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana
Dear Tim Sheehy, I’m a constituent in Montana. I tried to camp at Woods Cabin, Bitterroot National Forest, Montana, and couldn’t. All 1 sites at Woods 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. Woods Cabin keeps none, and that’s a choice somebody made rather than a rule. I’m not asking you to run Woods 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 Woods Cabin (Bitterroot National Forest, Montana) via campanac.com