West Bridger Cabin

Hike the mountain side

We've stayed at this cabin several times over the years and always enjoy it. We saw evidence of some disrespect by previous guests who wrote in marker on the walls, which was disappointing.

We absolutely love this cabin! It is a mere 20 minutes off the freeway and easy to access. We love to fish in the creek and enjoy time together.

Nice cabin, wood stove not the best. Seen a grizzly bear and her cub from the road on the way into cabin. Small Stream about 65.6 ft from cabin door. Took a couple short hikes. Beautiful meadow with wild flowers. Kid and dog friendly area.

The Forest Service failed to give us the combination to the front gate and wood shed. It's a small miracle we were able to get into the cabin at all. We arrived around 7 pm in the dark, two feet of snow. Fiddled around with the lock for a while before realizing that they hadn't given us the combination at all. We then hiked in all of our gear with headlamps and flashlights, something we were not prepared for. We had to leave our 7 gallon jug of water in the car and then melt snow to provide water for five people the next two days.

We were lucky that the person before had left just enough firewood to get us through the evening (it ran out in the morning) because we also did not have the combination to the wood shed.

Without that, we would have been huddled around the electric stove all night to keep warm, as it got well below 0 that night.

Aside from the combination f-up, the cabin was amazing. I only write this as a word of caution to anyone going there- make sure you have ALL the combinations before you arrive! (There is also no cell service there)

This cabin is afforded an electric range, clean and functional. The wood stove is undersized so you will have to keep it fed/burning through the night if possible to keep heat in the cabin. If possible, I would recommend the FS lowers the exhaust venting to reduce the capillary/stack effect which sucks more heat out, the more the wind blows which is often. Resizing to a larger wood burner that has a working damper and larger capacity would be the best fix. Wood shed was fully stocked and the stars were out in full glory. In case of emergency I could get 1-2 bars of service on Verizon by hiking .75-1 mi up the Derby Mountain TH. Roughly a few hundred yards past the stock tank and near a stand of trees I was able to get coverage...just saying. The road entrance to the cabin is abrupt (hard left) and the gate was not secured to the post (be careful not to smoosh hands/feet/fingers). Interior has a few tables, several sturdy chairs and 4 single bed frames w/mattresses that were surprising comfortable. Bring a table cloth, cooking equipment/utensils, good foods and you'll be set. All in all a great spot with the luxury of electricity and access roads that were well maintained. There was no snow at the time of our trip so I could see a few turns/climbs/drops that when icy would be challenging for the novice BC driver. We could hear some near by dogs so your not as remote as some cabins, but still back in da woods.
RMS

We had a great time at the West Bridger cabin! The hike up to the ridge near the cabin was beautiful - great views of the Crazy mountains. As others have said, the wood stove doesn’t work great. It took a long time to warm up and never got SUPER hot like some of the other cabins get. Overall a great experience.

Great hiking trail from the cabin. Please clean up dog waste.

Great two room cabin with propane full-size oven stove plus a wood stove we cooked on both no running water but there is a small creek that runs nearby was very private although the neighbors are not too far away son occasional car and airplanes other than that totally secluded

Beautiful location next to very small but lush & pretty West Bridger Creek. Rustic accommodations for those who don't mind roughing it . . . kind of like camping but with a roof and four walls, electricity, and an adjacent old-time outhouse. The cabin was very convenient for our day fishing trips to the Stillwater and Rosebud Creeks, as well as the small country towns of Absarokee, Big Timber, and Nye. We were hoping to have dinner at the famous Grizzly Restaurant in nearby Roscoe, but it is only open Thursday-Saturday. And we were hoping to spot an actual grizzly on our drives to and from the cabin, but instead saw tons of deer. Although the cabin was generally in good shape, it could use a little TLC from the Forest Service in terms of a good deep-cleaning and minor cosmetic repairs.