Big Meadows Cabin

The guard station stands on the left side of Big Meadows Road, Forest Road 14S11, about four miles in from the General’s Highway. From Fresno, 75 miles to the west, the route runs east on Highway 180 to the Kings Canyon National Park entrance, where a forest/park permit is bought at the gate. From there it is 2 miles to the park Wye, then a right turn as though bound for Sequoia National Park, then about 6 miles on the General’s Highway to the Big Meadows turnoff. The cabin is one story and sided in redwood board laid over 1 x 8 diagonal sheathing on a standard wooden frame. Across the road lies the meadow it is named for. The meadow sits at 7,600 feet, ringed by lodgepole pine, Jeffrey pine and red fir, with a creek running through it.

Sequoia National Forest rents the cabin through Recreation.gov at $125 a night, and ExplorUs, a hospitality management firm, is listed as its contact. The door is held by a combination lock. Renters call the Hume Lake Ranger District in Dunlap five to seven days ahead to get the numbers. The Forest Service gives the rental season as June 15 to October 15, extended when weather allows. Its web page also lists reservable dates of June 20 to September 21. As updated September 16, 2026, that page showed the site under its annual seasonal closure.

Four rooms and a service porch

The cabin has a kitchen with a service porch, a bedroom with a closet, a bathroom and a living room. The original cabinets remain, along with the living room and bedroom flooring and the bath fixtures. The interior has been only slightly modified.

The kitchen holds a refrigerator with freezer, a stove and oven, a microwave, a coffee maker, pots, pans and dishes. There is a table with four chairs and four more folding chairs. The living room has a rocking chair, an overstuffed chair, a double sofa sleeper, a bookcase, and a desk the Forest Service describes as “containing various information for your use.” The bedroom has a queen bed, twin bunk beds, a nightstand and a bookcase. Heat comes from a baseboard heater and a wood stove, and an electric heater supplies hot water. Outside are a picnic table and a fire ring that doubles as a barbecue, with a bucket and shovel kept beside it. A trash container stands next to the garage.

The cabin sleeps six. The Forest Service sheet allows groups of up to 12, with room for tents or cots outside. Recreation.gov permits only two more guests, tent camping. Guests bring their own bedding, towels and every item of food, since, by the Forest Service’s account, “No food or condiments, (salt, pepper, etc.) are provided.” This is bear country, and pets are not allowed. Departing renters are asked to leave the place “clean as a whistle,” just as they found it or better.

Creek, trailhead and lookout

Big Meadows Creek runs directly across the road. The California Department of Fish & Game occasionally plants it, and fly fishing there is listed among the popular pastimes. The Big Meadows Trailhead, also across the road, leads into the Jennie Lakes Wilderness. The Forest Service suggests Weaver Lake for a swim or for native trout, a moderate 3-mile hike of up to an hour and a half. Jennie Lake is a moderate 8 miles, about 3 to 4 hours each way, and hikers who mean to be back before dinner are told to start early. Horse Corral Pack Station, 5 miles farther out the Big Meadows road, offers day rides and overnight pack trips.

Buck Rock is a granite dome topped by a fire lookout at 8,500 feet. To reach it, turn off the Big Meadows Road at Horse Camp and follow the signs. Visitors climb the stairs for a 360-degree view. The lookout is staffed and generally open from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in summer, though it is generally closed to the public during fires. Hume Lake is about 15 miles from the cabin. Nearby, the Chicago Stump Trail leads to the remains of the Noble Tree. That giant sequoia was cut down in pieces in the late 1800s and reassembled at the Chicago Exposition as proof of the species’ size.

Quarters for the fire patrol

The Civilian Conservation Corps built the guard station between 1933 and 1935 as a residence for Forest Service fire patrolmen stationed in the area. The Forest Service’s own pages say that in 1964 the agency no longer needed the cabin. Other sources give a longer history. Sierra Nevada Geotourism says the Forest Service stopped using it full time that year but kept it as an intermittent guard station until the late 1980s. Recreation.gov says it served as a guard station between the 1960s and the 1980s.

The cabin was restored in 2001, and its original features, the cabinets among them, were kept. According to Sierra Nevada Geotourism, it now holds historical photos and items of the kind found in a Forest Service guard station during the 1930s.