Diamond Creek Guard Station

Diamond Creek Guard Station stands in a meadow at 6,900 feet on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest. The peaks of Dry Ridge and the Webster sub-range ring it, and stands of aspen and lodgepole pine grow around it. Inside are four beds, two small lofts, and a wood stove that heats the place. The Forest Service puts its capacity at fifteen. Outside are a vault toilet, a fire pit, and a picnic table; The Dyrt counts two tables. There is no water or electricity, and The Dyrt reports no coverage from T-Mobile, Verizon, or AT&T. Renters bring their own water, bedding, cookware, and garbage bags, and they clean the cabin before leaving. The door code arrives by email four to seven days ahead.

The road in leaves Soda Springs on Highway 34 and runs north about 12 miles to the China Hat turnoff at the Blackfoot River Narrows. It follows the Blackfoot 11 miles to a junction with a Forest Service sign. The right fork, Forest Road 102, goes southeast another 12 miles and becomes Diamond Creek Road. Johnson Guard Station lies about a mile north. The Dyrt gives the season as mid-May through mid-September. In winter the cabin is reached by snowmobile, and from November through June the Montpelier Ranger District asks renters to call about snow before reserving.

Along Diamond Creek are dispersed camp sites without tables or grates, and anglers fish the creek. Southeast Idaho High Country places a multi-use trailhead 3 miles east that runs north along the ridge of the Webster Range. The Bear Canyon OHV Trail is about two miles north, and hunters come for big game and game birds. A reviewer in 2019 wrote of “a lot of cattle coming into our camp all the time.” Lisa C. found August too cold to sleep outdoors and wrote, “give us a break, we’re from Arizona!” She described cots moved close to the wood stove.

The Dyrt calls the cabin a historic structure. The Forest Service listing dates the present building to the early 1990s, when it went up as a snowmobile warming hut. On March 23, 2020, the forest closed fifteen rental cabins and two warming huts indefinitely for the health and safety of visitors and staff. Diamond Creek was on the list, under the Soda Springs Ranger District. “Many of our cabins are inaccessible in the winter so the impact at this point is low,” said Kaye Orme, Forest Recreational Staff Officer.