Govt Mineral Springs Guard Sta

This is my second time staying here and it’s a nice little cabin in the woods. I went alone this time so only really stayed in the downstairs of the house but there are 2 rooms with 4 beds upstairs. One of the rooms is very large with twin beds and a closet and the other with a bunk bed. Downstairs there are two futons but one seemed slightly broken. As other reviews have said, bring extra lights as it’s pretty dark in the kitchen and the dinning room with only one gas lamp in each. In the dinning room there is a big table, lots of books, some puzzles, and games in a closet space and this room has a radiator. The fridge and stove worked well and there are plenty of kitchen supplies for cooking. My main complaint is that there is not a directional sign to point you in the direction of the cabin and the one way sign makes it seem like it would be to the right when it’s actually to the left. Since there is no cell service there, this is an easy mistake and had me going the wrong way in deep snow with a backpacking bag on. I did have cell service about 10 minutes from the snow park and it’s about 20 minutes to a dollar general if you forgot something. Overall, it’s definitely a rustic cabin but felt mostly clean and was a nice retreat for the weekend. Final thoughts, I do think the proposed fee going up to $100 per night when it was $65 last year is a bit steep for a place with no running water and a snow walk to the bathroom. It makes it a little unaffordable for smaller groups.

I love this cabin! It’s a peaceful place. To make your trip more enjoyable, please note: bring extra battery operated lanterns (the downstairs rooms are dark), the fireplace wire is loose and sometimes takes work to get the fire going, and a futon is broken (totally sleepable though). Enjoy your stay!

Still plenty of snow but the hike in wasn’t bad. Sleds are handy if you have a lot of gear. Shoveled some of the pathways around the doors. Had some issues getting the gas fireplace insert to start but once on it worked fine. The wall heater really can pump out the heat. Loved reading the history of the cabin and the journal entries. Had fun discovering all the summer cabins around there. That was a surprise.

We love this jewel of a cabin. It is a cozy wonderful cabin set in a grove of very large trees. The forest service just installed a new refrigerator and oven, thank you! The cabin is well stocked with kitchen items, so no need to bring pots, pans, dishes, etc. Bring along paper products and lots of water. The location allows for nearby hikes, great place for kids too. We are grateful to the Forest Service for keeping this cabin maintained in times when the budget is tight and resources are scarce!

Beautiful on the outside, not so much on the inside. This will probably be our last stay here. I'm not sure why there's an increase in fees as no improvements have been made over the last few years. I was up early every morning to clean the mouse droppings out of the kitchen. (Before the rest of my party realized) The fridge is still broken. The lower bunkbed upstairs was broken. The futons in the living room are in desperate need of replacing. The rugs are full of fur. I love dogs, but not everyone adheres to the pet policy. Silver-lining...the outhouse was clean. Smelly but, hey it's a pit toilet.

This is a beautiful area and this place has so much potential, but with the over-use and lack of maintenance I can no longer recommend it.

As an alternate, you can camp nearby (In the designated area, or dispersed sites) Dry creek trail is a favorite along with the waterfall at the end. Lots of good mushroom picking during different times of year. Old Man Pass is a great spot for some X/C skiing in the winter! Backwoods has also just opened their cabins in Carson if you'd like a more Airbnb style experience.

A lovely setting in the forest and nicely appointed. However, there were mouse droppings everywhere- on the table, counter, sink and stove. Unlocking the doors was tricky.

As of 8/13/23,the fridge is still broken. Also, Carter Family, your Amazon tablet is still there.
This place is a gem and I wish it was better taken care of. It needs some maintenance and a deep clean. The mice are still there but not as bad as previous trips. The bathroom is still disgusting. Regardless, we try to make it out every summer. We spent the weekend at the nearby creek and went foraging for wild berries.

Cabin was great as usual, only bummer was the fridge is currently broken. Not a huge deal but would have been nice to know ahead of time.

Great time of year to be here. Many wild flowers around the area,and lucky to have good weather while there. Happy to see the gas fireplace insert,much better than the old gas heater,(that didn't work on our last visit). Was dissapointed not to find a recent journal,we enjoyed them in the past.

The fireplace is propane. When we called the ranger station they told us it was wood burning, I can confirm that it is definitely propane. There's still wood stocked at the cabin, but there's literally no place to burn it.

Once you get the key out of the lock box use it to open the front door to the living room. Turn the key in the lock clockwise kind of hard, then hold it over while you push down on the door latch to unlock and open the door at the same time. The front door cannot be left unlocked, it will lock when it closes so either immediately go to the back door and unlock it, or leave the key outside where you can get it if you lock yourself out. The back door can be left unlocked so you don’t need to worry about locking yourself out at night when you go to use the latrine. There is only one key so for the love of God don’t lose it.

We observed that former occupants had been urinating off of the back landing just outside the back door and then dumping their toilet paper on the ground just outside the back door. This is a disgusting practice, don’t do it, even at night. If you must urinate just outside of the back door, aim away from the cabin and put your toilet paper into the garbage, don’t leave it on the ground for others to have to look at and be grossed out by. And for God’s sake don’t defecate just outside the back door, or anyplace except in the latrine.

To light the oven pilot light:
Take the bottom pan off the oven by lifting it up
Reach to the back of the oven with a lit match towards where the pilot light should be, it’s obvious where it should be
Press the oven knop over to the pilot position and hold while holding the lit match where the pilot light should be. You can do this with a match but we had a butane fire starter which extended our reach and made it easier.