There are some places you can't stop thinking about. They keep you awake at night. Antone Station is one of those places. This rental is a small, lonely, isolated log cabin high up in the Snowcrest Mountain Range of Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Montana.

Originally built to serve as a guard station, it's now used mostly by hunters and backpackers. The forest and grassland surrounding Antone Station are one of Montana's most famous hunting grounds. The cabin sits at an elevation of 8,100 feet on the edge of a high alpine meadow. Deer, elk, moose, black bear, lots of coyotes and a rising population of grizzly bears roam this area with little fear of humans.

The Madison Ranger District rents out this small, one room log cabin for $30 a night. It comes with amenities like a bunk bed, table, a small shelf for cooking, two propane powered wall lights, a four-burner gas stove with a baking oven and a wood stove for heat. The wood stove was out of commission during our visit, a big bummer in October. But there was plenty of firewood.

For water, there is a nearby spring that flows through a PVC pipe into a horse trough. There is also a horse corral that can be rented from the forest service for $10 a day. A nice campfire area is right outside the door and there’s plenty of campfire wood available from beetle damaged trees.

Several trails extend into the Snowcrest Range from Antone Station, including the 40-mile Snowcrest Trail, which covers the entire range. The Gravelly Mountain Range is also nearby.

The cabin opens July 1 and stays open until the end of December, giving visitors a chance at winter and hunters more time to hunt. But be aware that once you leave the freeway it's a 40-mile trip to the cabin on unplowed Forest Service roads.

This rental has seen better days. The whole cabin is leaning to its west side. So you'd better hurry and get up here.

Woody the dog and I stayed at Antone Station for five nights in October, 2017.

See more photos on Flickr here.

Learn more and reserve this station here.

About the Author

Terry Musgrove lives in Oregon City, Oregon, with his wife and two Hungarian Pumi dogs. After retiring from his job, as a government TV video producer, he set out to create a photographic record of U.S. Forest Service rentals in the Pacific Northwest.