Indian Flats Cabin in MT -- Campground & RV Camping

Indian Flats Cabin is a single-room 1944 guard station set in a hollow of old-growth trees below Hogback Mountain in the Big Belt Mountains. The cabin sleeps four on two bunk beds and includes a wood heating stove, propane cook stove, table, cookware, propane lantern, and an outdoor vault toilet. There is no electricity or water on site. A small stream flows past the front of the cabin. People use the site as a base for hiking, mountain biking, and visiting the active Hogback Mountain fire lookout, Refrigerator Canyon, and the nearby Gates of the Mountains Wilderness.

Getting there: Indian Flats Cabin is located 40 miles northeast of Helena. Take Highway 280 east from Helena. Several miles after crossing the Missouri River, you will come to the small community of York. Turn left at the York Bar and proceed 5 miles to the smaller community of Nelson, where you should turn right. Stay on the main road up Beaver Creek, through a series of switchbacks up Burnt Gulch, past Pikes Gulch Campground to the junction of Hogback Lookout and Indian Flats Roads. Take the left hand fork for about 0.5 miles, and the cabin will be on the right. Access to the Indian Flats Cabin is dependent on the time of year and weather conditions. Usually during the summer and fall months, passenger cars can drive directly to the cabin. During the winter months, the cabin can only be accessed by snowmobiling or cross-country skiing approximately 8 miles.

• Moderately separated here.
• Flat ground is scarce: under a tenth of the terrain within a few hundred yards is level.
• Hogback Mountain stands 1,297 ft above the map pin, 1.5 miles west.
• Cabins and shelters rather than pads, with most of them shaded.

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