Best Cabin Camping near Montague, CA

Ripple Creek Cabins are located about an hour north of Weaverville, along the upper Trinity River. Each cabin is self contained and comes with cooking utensils, linens, towels, and full kitchens. There is also a picnic table and BBQ provided for each cabin. The property sits on the bank on the Trinity River, with easy river access for swimming and fishing. There is also a large grassy area for all to use that has bocce ball and horseshoes. There is easy access to the Trinity Alps Wilderness for hikers of all levels, as well as access to Trinity Lake about 20 minutes south for all that the lake has to offer. The cabins are pet friendly and wifi is available. There is no phone service or television. Each cabin has a wood burning stove, shower and toilet, but otherwise are a bit spartan compared to some cabins. But with all the easy access to outdoor activities, all you need is a place to cook, clean up, and sleep. Great to rent for couples, families, or large groups. It is a bit of a drive to Weaverville, so be sure you have all your supplies you need. The small towns of Coffee Creek and Trinity Center are closer, but may not have everything you need. Each town does have a couple of great places to eat during the Summer, specifically Trailhead Pizza in Trinity Center.

This was our first fire lookout, but will not be our last! The drive up to the lookout was tough at times along well-used, but not really well maintained, logging roads. We had a high-clearance all-wheel drive Subaru Crosstrek and while the all-wheel drive didn't seem super necessary, the high clearance certainly was. The trip to the top took about 45 minutes from Hwy. 5, so be sure you have what you need when you head up there.

Along the drive up we did see a bear along the side of the road, but other than a few deer and lots of birds and squirrels, not much other wildlife.

The lookout is great and has two twin or double beds, a table, and a couple of cabinets for storing items. There are no kitchen facilities at this lookout. There is a picnic table and fire ring located on the ground next to the lookout. I don't recall if the table was chained down, but we brought chairs to sit by the fire and enjoy the spectacular views of Castle Crags and Mt. Shasta. There are pit toilets located just a few steps off the road that leads in to the lookout.

Although you do feel like you are way off the beaten path when you are there, do put your gear away each night and day and lock the door to the lookout and you car as day hikers do come up to the lookout, which is a little weird. Not many when we were there, but a few and we were glad that we locked up our gear as to not tempt anyone.

The hiking around the lookout isn't fantastic as you are mostly limited to logging roads, but we hiked around a fair amount nonetheless. It would be a great spot to bring mountain bikes, not sure about the legality of dirt bikes on the logging roads.

The beds were about as bad as you'd expect a bed in a fire lookout to be. We brought our inflatable air mattresses and slept in sleeping bags, but the beds were still really saggy. If you're extra picky about your bed or have back issues you may want to bring an air mattress or something to help stiffen up the bed.

Bring a spotting scope and/or a telescope as there are some wonderful views west to Castle Crags and north to Mt. Shasta. We couldn't see hikers on Mt. Shasta but did see many going up Castle Crags with our binoculars.

Overall it was a great space and also worked well with out dog. We set him up with a dog run when we were outside and then he slept in the fire lookout with us as night.

This will surely be a trip you remember if you stay here. Enjoy!