Cabin rental · U.S. Forest Service · Bitterroot National Forest · Darby, MT

Lost Horse Guard Station

Winter 2025 - 2026 is the first winter season the cabin is available for rent during the winter. Please let us know how we can improve the facility. From January - March the cabin must be accessed by snowmobile or other over-snow vehicles via a 14 mile route that may not be recently groomed. Using funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the cabin was constructed by Emil Schwartz, from Wisdom, MT and known for a paying close attention to detail. Its quality of

Check availability on Recreation.gov ↗
Lost Horse Guard StationBathroom and barn at cabinLost Horse Guard StationViews near the cabin
Photos courtesy of Joe Butsick/Bitterroot National Forest · Recreation.gov

Site mix

Cabins1
This cabin is booked as a single unit on Recreation.gov. The booking page shows which dates are open and how far ahead they release. How the booking window works

Site guide

1 site. Tap a filter to narrow the list; the map follows.

SiteShadeWater / sewerPeople / vehicles
Lost Horse Guard StationPartialNo / –8 / –

Per-site records as published by the managing agency on Recreation.gov. Blank cells mean the agency listed nothing for that site. Check-in 2:00 PM, checkout 12:00 PM.

Weather by month

NOAA climate normals →
Weather by month near Lost Horse Guard Station20°30°40°50°60°70°January: 1.08 inches of precipitationFebruary: 0.87 inches of precipitationMarch: 0.85 inches of precipitationApril: 1.04 inches of precipitationMay: 1.60 inches of precipitationJune: 2.09 inches of precipitationJuly: 1.14 inches of precipitationAugust: 0.90 inches of precipitationSeptember: 1.23 inches of precipitationOctober: 1.50 inches of precipitationNovember: 1.55 inches of precipitationDecember: 1.26 inches of precipitationJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJanuary: 26.5°F averageFebruary: 29.5°F averageMarch: 37.1°F averageApril: 42.5°F averageMay: 51.5°F averageJune: 58.0°F averageJuly: 65.7°F averageAugust: 64.1°F averageSeptember: 56.4°F averageOctober: 44.8°F averageNovember: 33.2°F averageDecember: 25.7°F average0 in0.5 in1 in1.5 in2 in2.5 inTemp °FInches
The line is the average temperature and the bars are average precipitation at Darby, 17 miles from the campground at 3,880 feet, station USC00242221 in the NOAA monthly climate normals for 1991 to 2020. Precipitation totals about 15 inches a year.

Getting there

Nearest townDarby, Montana
Coordinates46.1307° N, 114.4934° W · Directions ↗

Fire nearby

  • Prescribed
    Rx D4 Piquett Creek

    24 mi from the campground · 2,210 acres

  • Prescribed
    Rx D3 Cameron Gaps

    33 mi from the campground · 1,100 acres

  • Prescribed
    Scf Nz Pile Burn Rx

    45 mi from the campground · 34 acres

Distance is to the reported incident point, not the fire edge. Call the managing office before you drive.

Supplies & services

RV sales & serviceHamilton RV Sales Of Montana ↗18.8 mi

Locations © OpenStreetMap contributors. Call ahead; hours change seasonally.

Explore

Worth a stop

Trailheads within three miles

Trail and trailhead records are the Forest Service's. Distances are straight-line to the nearer trail end. Trail conditions are not tracked here.

Public land it sits in

On Wilderness Atlas →

This campground sits inside Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, which overlaps Bitterroot National Forest.

Each unit is published as a centre point and an acreage rather than a boundary, so this section stands it in for a circle of the same area. Whether a campground is inside, and how far it is from one it is outside, are both approximate.

On the National Register nearby

On Register Atlas →

Natural features

The cabin resides nearly 18 miles from Highway 93 in the Lost Horse Creek drainage on the west side of the beatuful Bitterroot Valley. The Lost Horse Road was built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The drainages on the west side of the valley differ from the surrounding landscape. These glacial carved canyons are home to towering peaks, craggy granite cliffs, serene alpine lakes, steep avalanche chutes, flowing creeks and cascading waterfalls. These features create a microclimate in the canyon that sustains a dense mixed coniferous forest that contains ponderosa pine in the lower/drier sites; Douglas-fir, western hemlock and western red cedar along the creek, and lodgepole pine, subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce and whitebark pine in the higher elevations. The Lost Horse Road provides access into the Bitterroot Mountains much further than the typical eastern boundary of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. The Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness can be accessed at Bear Creek Pass and Twin Lakes, which are both within 2 miles of the Lost Horse Guard Station.

Recreation

Visitors to the Lost Horse Guard Station have access to a multitude of recreation opportunities. Hiking: There are many trails that are close to the cabin. The Bailey Lake Trailhead is within walking distance. Travel one mile to the west to Bear Creek Pass and access the Bear Creek Trail, Lower and Upper Bear Lakes, Coquina Lake, Fish Lake and the South Fork of Lost Horse Creek Drainage. Travel 2 miles to the North to access the Twin Lakes Trail and Wahoo Pass Trail and the vast expanse of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Fishing: Along with Lost Horse Creek, anglers can drive or hike to any of the lakes mentioned above. Expect to find Brook Trout, Westslope Cutthroat trout, Rainbow trout, Bull trout, Brown trout and Mountain Whitefish. DISCLAIMER* Some of the lakes in the area are in Idaho. Please obtain the appropriate licenses in the state that you will be fishing in. Hunting: Many species are at home in the Lost Horse Creek drainage. Hunters can strike out in search of whitetail deer, mule deer, black bear, elk and mountain grouse species.

Guidebooks for Montana

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

  • Best Tent Camping: Montana
    Vicky Soderberg and Ken Soderberg, 2017
    Find at Bookshop.org
  • Moon Montana, Wyoming and Idaho Camping
    Becky Lomax, 2015
    Find at Bookshop.org
  • Camping Montana
    Kenneth L. Graham, 2019
    Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

Do I need a reservation at Lost Horse Guard Station?

Sites at Lost Horse Guard Station are reservable on Recreation.gov. Any walk-up sites are listed on the booking page.

Source: Recreation.gov

What time is check-in at Lost Horse Guard Station?

Check-in 2:00 PM, checkout 12:00 PM.

Source: Recreation.gov

How many sites does Lost Horse Guard Station have?

1 site, including 1 cabin.

Source: Recreation.gov

What is there to do at Lost Horse Guard Station?

Visitors to the Lost Horse Guard Station have access to a multitude of recreation opportunities. The Recreation section on this page has the rest.

Source: Recreation

What is the nearest town to Lost Horse Guard Station?

Darby, Montana.

Source: Getting there

What if Lost Horse Guard Station is full?

The nearest public campgrounds are Schumaker Campground (1.4 mi, first-come), Three Frogs Campground (12.5 mi, first-come), and Lake Como Campground (13.1 mi, first-come).

Source: Campgrounds nearby