Yaak Mtn. Lookout Rental
3Heads up3 fires, nearest 34 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 · 10 notices
In the agency’s own words
Yaak Mountain Lookout rests atop its namesake peak at an elevation of 4,977 feet within the Rocky Mountains in the Kootenai National Forest. The lookout tower has been used as an observation point for spotting forest fires since 1958. The lookout is typically open from mid-June through late September. Access is available via primitive roads, and high clearance vehicles are recommended. This rustic retreat offers a few amenities, but guests will need to bring most of their own gear and supplies. Keep reading
Recreation
Yaak Mountain Road is for non-motorized use only, with the exception of guests who reserve the lookout. Hikers can hike along this road, as well as explore the remnants of the structures that stood here before the current lookout. Anglers can fish for rainbow trout in the Kootenai River. The Yaak River and its many tributaries provide habitat for cutthroat, rainbow, brook and bull trout.
Facilities
The lookout sits atop a 45-foot tower and has a catwalk encircling the cabin. It can accommodate up to 4 people and comes equipped with 2 twin beds and 4 mattresses. Other amenities include a propane stove, heater, lights, table and chairs, fire extinguisher and cleaning gear. An outhouse with vault toilet is located a short distance away. No electricity or water is available. Guests must bring their own supply of water for drinking, cooking and washing. Items such as cooking gear, bedding, lanterns or flashlights, matches, extra toilet paper, first aid supplies, trash bags, dish soap, and towels are not available. Guests are expected to pack out their trash and clean the cabin before leaving.
Natural Features
The lookout is located in the Yaak Area, which features mountainous and heavily forested terrain, as well as several lakes scattered at varying elevations. Guests can enjoy outstanding views of the town of Troy, especially for 4th of July fireworks, as well as the Kootenai and Yaak River valleys and the surrounding mountains. Kootenai National Forest supports populations of deer, elk, moose, grizzly and black bears, wolves and mountain lions ( bear safety ). A variety of smaller mammals and birds can also be found.
Nearby Attractions
Yaak Falls is a popular destination just a short drive northwest from Yaak Mountain. Spring and early summer are the best times to visit, when the snowmelt finds its way over the falls.
What the agency tells you
Reservation confirmation letter contains combination to the lock; please call the Ranger District at (406) 295-4693 prior to arrival to confirm the combination
Check-in/check-out is 2:00 pm
There is no water; guests must provide their own for drinking, cooking and washing
Everything else this campground posts · 7
Please pack out all trash and food and clean cabin before departure
Yaak Mountain Lookout road 4407 is gated, use the combination provided. Follow road 4407 for 5.3 miles to the lookout.
Access depends on weather conditions
There is a 5 consecutive day stay limit. A break of 7 days is requested before making another reservation.
Be aware, this facility is not cleaned between user visits. It is up to individual renters to bring their own cleaning supplies and clean before and after site use.
Learn more about the Kootenai 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
- 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
- “Guests must bring their own supply of water for drinking, cooking and washing.”
- Stay limit
- 15 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Hiking
- Wildlife viewing
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.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
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
rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 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 YAAK MTN. LOOKOUT RENTAL | 001 | cabin nonelectric | 4,568 ft | $55 |
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
Yaak River Campground (MT)Kootenai National Forest · 2.4 mi
Kilbrennan Lake CampgroundKootenai National Forest · 2.9 miYaak Falls CampgroundKootenai National Forest · 6.1 mi
Loon Lake CampgroundKootenai National Forest · 12 miRed Top CampgroundKootenai National Forest · 14 mi
Lunch Peak LookoutKaniksu National Forest · 18 miFrom Troy, Montana, follow Highway 2 west for 3 miles to the East Side Road 176. Follow the East Side Road 176 for 2 miles north to the Kilbrennen Lake Road 2394. Follow Kilbrennen Lake Road 2394 approximately 2 miles to the Yaak Mountain Road 4407.
You will find a gate on this road and need the combination code to enter. Keep gate locked after entry. Follow Road 4407 to the Yaak Mountain Lookout. Total distance from Highway 2 to the lookout gate is 4.15 miles, then 5.3 miles from the gate to the lookout.
The weather
the next four days
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Troy, MT
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
Yaak Mtn. Lookout Rental 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 →