Mccain Cabin

As always, we love to stay at McCain for the weekend.

WaterDog Lake is nearby, but almost dry. The meadow is beautiful. There is a spring and creek near the cabin. Beware the hornets that are plentiful around the cabin. The 22 mi of road to the cabin takes at least 2 hours to drive in a normal vehicle. If you follow the directions thoroughly, you can get the propane heater to light and keep you warm at night. The meadowlarks sing wonderfully.

Awesome, I wish my boyfriend would have showed up but his truck was still in shop. His 11 year old Fiesta rattled all the way back down to Ft Collins. Sorry about those male pricks that were there too. It was easier for them to come along than to bring our dogs. You know, Dogs can't drive.

Thanks Julie

Hard to get the fire going in the winter, You must warm up the chimney first by putting some paper up the chimney pipe and heating it up first. Otherwise there is no hot air draft/draw up the chimney and it smokes the whole place up. It says to do that on the wall in fine print, but we did not do that. Very hard stove to get lit, but once it is hot burns great. Too hot to sleep.

Such a fun experience! Rode snowmobiles out, brought dinner and breakfast to warm up out there. Kept ourselves nice and toasty with the fireplace all night. So peaceful and the stars were amazing!

McCain Cabin was a disaster for us. We found the cabin easy enough. It's 90 minutes from Alpine via bumpy 2wd roads. Weather was so hot at 95 degrees. At the cabin, there was MANY cow pies within the enclosure very close to the cabin so already it stunk and flies were all over. Directly next to the cabin, maybe 10 ft away was a GIANT drilling derrick of some sort which also stuck of tar and diesel. Rose up 30 ft and was 30 ft long or so. On the opposite side maybe forty feet away was a giant dump truck smack dab in the middle of an otherwise nice view. The ground leading up to the cabin was all dug up by a bulldozer and a big pile of golf ball sized rocks and dug up soil where the front yard should be. Such a disappointment. The worst part was the lock code on the doors didn't work. I have rented over a dozen forest service cabins and know the locks can be finicky and you sometimes have to push the hasp in before giving it a hard yank but the combo DID NOT work. Brand new looking locks too. Boy was I bent out of shape! We drove the 90 minutes back to Alpine and found the Visitor's bureau. The gal there was actually super nice, called the FS and confirmed the lock code was correct. I got to talk to the FS lady also and she was nice and apologetic. Anyway I wasn't willing to drive back ANOTHER 90 minutes just to have the lock not work again so we booked a motel all the way over in Swan Valley. $420 for 2 nights. Uggh! McCain Cabin was a jacked up mess.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here. There were a few things we did not like. We had to figure out how to turn the propane on at the tank. There were some people shooting guns. The aspen trees were terrific and sounded so good when the wind blew. The views of The mountains were beautiful. Due to the gunshots we did not hike around very much. We liked the inside of the cabin. The Rangers that came around were very friendly and professional.

The cabin is cozy, its a fun place to stay. The propane heater and stove keep the cabin really warm once warmed up. Remember to bring water or a filter in the wintertime.

Wonderful cabin and a beautiful setting. Easy to get to. Unfortunate that the water pump was not finished. Would have made it a five star for sure. Great stay!

Always a fun place to stay, love how rustic the cabin is, has new beds, mattresses, covers etc