The U.S. Army constructed backcountry cabins and snowshoe cabins to provide facilities for troops patrolling for poachers. Typically these were about 16 miles apart-a day's travel. Located in remote parts of the park that are accessible only by foot and horseback, these cabins serve as welcome refuges for crews where they can rest and get out of the cold, rain, and snow. This contrasts with eastern and midwestern log cabins where the entrance is often found on a side wall and the covered entry porch incorporates a shallower pitched shed roof. The roofs are cedar shingles, but were originally sod.
Doors are on the south side.
The cabins rest on concrete foundations with the sill logs directly on the foundation. Each cabin is on the edge of a relatively flat, irregularly-shaped meadow. Vegetation in the meadow area consists of thick bunchgrasses with a predominance of Idaho fescue. Outside the meadow, the canopy is lodgepole pine, with some Englemann spruce and subalpine fir. Cabins are one or two rooms incorporating sleeping, cooking and work areas.