W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M
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A
GENTLE SLEEP COMES TO AN END. I open my eyes to the darkened room
and in the stillness I hold my breath and listen. e voices of coyotes meet my
ears. eir wails travel through the frozen trees and across the hardened snow.
eir song continues, growing louder, stronger, before breaking off to silence.
I shrug deeper into my sleeping bag, suddenly aware that the stove no
longer creaks with fire. e one-room cabin will be cold in the hours before
sunrise, and with the thought of seeing my breath from the sleeping bag,
I shove myself from the covers and add a log to the fire.
AN INTIMATE TRADITION
"Winter cabins are fantastic resources for families, group gatherings, and friends
who want to enjoy recreation in the snow," says freelance writer Alan Kesselheim, an
adventurer who has frequented a number of the cabins in the state. Kesselheim and his
wife, Marypat, together with their three children, stayed in United States Forest Service
(USFS) cabins to celebrate the winter solstice for years as a holiday tradition.
"e cabin adds the element of shared meals, games, drying clothes and reveling in
the season without the survival quality of winter tent camping," Kesselheim says.
A winter stay in one of Montana's USFS cabins feels wild. It is an opportunity to
experience winter — the snow, the cold, even the wildlife: You might see or hear ani-
mals and spot their tracks; trees could split with frost cracks from the cold, sending the
explosive sound through the air like a gun shot while all other noise remains muffled in
the snow.
FOREST SERVICE
CABINS IN THE
GALLATIN RANGE
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JULIE MELTON/SWEETWATER PORTRAITS
ZACK
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Looking out from Garnet Mountain cabin
A Wintertime Revel
TOP
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by JESSIANNE WRIGHT
