Enjoy great outdoors in USFS lookouts, cabins

Editor’s note: First of two parts.

If you’re a newcomer, one of the reasons you probably came to North Idaho is the opportunity to experience our wild country.

For years, some longtime residents have enjoyed reasonably priced woodsy hideaways maintained by the U.S. Forest Service for summer vacationers. If your neighbors haven’t let you in on the secret, read on to learn about that agency’s cabin and lookout rental program:

The Forest Service has always had a first-come, first-served policy for renters in a program that, until this year, was administered by local ranger districts.

That program has changed slightly. Although the properties are still rented on a first-come basis, local districts no longer administer the program, with one exception.

Beginning Thursday, most rental properties in the National Forest System will be/have been placed in a national reservation system. That can be accessed by calling a seven-day, 24-hour toll-free number, (877) 444-6777, or by checking www.reserveusa.com.

The Forest Service rentals are joining some 1,700 cabins, lookouts and group sites already placed in the system by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and the National Park Service.

Reservations, which cost $9 in addition to daily fees, may be made six months in advance of planned stays.

Most local rentals are lookouts. That’s because, during recent decades, aerial surveillance has replaced the fixed station operations of the old fire lookout system.

But although their working days are over, there’s a romance about lookouts, and they possess unparalleled views of the surrounding country. Forest Service personnel and volunteers have refurbished many so that visitors can enjoy them.

All of the local rental lookouts accommodate four persons, but for safety reasons, the agency discourages visits by youngsters; the cabins and catwalks that surround them are high enough to injure or kill if a child falls.

Here’s the rundown on some of the cabins and lookouts that will be available to you after the snow melts in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests. Look for more in next week’s Handle Extra:

First, in the far north, is Shorty Peak Lookout, 45 miles northwest of Bonners Ferry. It’s a 15-by-15-foot cabin on a concrete foundation that, at 6,515 feet in elevation, offers spectacular views of the Selkirk Mountains and Kootenai Valley in British Columbia. A single twin bed is provided.

To get there, you’ll have to hike 2.5 miles on a good trail but with some steep pitches. Since the lookout is in grizzly bear country, before you set out you’d best get advice from the Forest Service regarding proper precautions. The telephone number for the Bonners Ferry Ranger Station is 267-5561.

Shorty, built in 1964, is generally open from July 1 to Sept. 30, and rents for $25 per night.

Deer Ridge Lookout, is 24 miles northeast of Bonners Ferry and, at 4,755 feet, it overlooks the Purcell Mountains, the Moyie River Valley and the Selkirks. Built in 1965, it’s a 14-foot-by-14-foot cabin atop a 40-foot treated timber tower.

You can drive to it, and it’s generally available for rental from mid-June to Sept. 30 for $25 per night. Only a single twin bed is provided.

Lunch Peak Lookout 35 miles northeast of Sandpoint, is a cabin mounted on a concrete foundation. It rents for $25 per night.

There’s no heat, water or cooking facilities, and an outhouse is nearby. Forest Service personnel advise visitors to “Plan for camping minus the tent.”

You can drive to the lookout, but it’s on a primitive dirt road, and high-clearance vehicles are suggested.

At 6,414 feet, Lunch Peak offers breathtaking views of the Cabinet Mountains and Lake Pend Oreille. The Lake Pend Oreille Divide Trail takes off from the lookout with access to several high mountain lakes within 3 to 5 miles.

The lookout, built in 1971, will be available from July 1 to Oct. 15. It’s also in grizzly country, and additional information and advice is available from the Sandpoint Ranger District, phone 263-5111.

You can drive right to Magee Ranger Station, about 60 miles east of Interstate 90 from Exit 43 (Kingston), over paved roads and a good gravel road. It has three bedrooms, kitchen, living room, propane cook stove, refrigerator, hot water heater and drinking water.

Magee accommodates six for $55 a night and is available from Memorial Day to Sept. 30, weather permitting.

The first recorded settlement in the area was in the early 1900s by Charles Magee, a homesteader. The Forest Service has occupied the site since 1908, and the ranger’s house was built of hand-hewn logs in 1925. A renovation by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s included covering the walls with simulated round log siding.

It was decommissioned as a ranger station in 1973 when responsibility for work in the area was assigned to other districts. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

Magee, at 3,000 feet in elevation, is in the heart of the Coeur d’Alene Mountains along Tepee Creek. Recreational activities include fishing. Nearby trails include the 34-mile Independence Creek Trail System, which accommodates hikers, motorcyclists, equestrians and mountain bikers.

Little Guard Peak Lookout is about 30 miles northeast of the Kingston exit from Interstate 90. It’s accessed by paved and gravel roads, the last two miles of which are rough and narrow.

At 6,001 feet, its two-story cabin provides spectacular views of the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River and the Bitterroot Mountains.

The ground floor kitchen has a small propane refrigerator and stove, tables, chairs and basic cooking utensils. The cabin has a bed, three cots, folding chairs and an operational fire finder. There’s a nearby pit toilet.

Little Guard is one of the last remaining lookouts in the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District and only recently became inactive. The current structure, built in 1957, is the third in a series of lookout buildings on the site, dating back to 1919. It was placed on the National Historic Lookout Register in 1990, the first such listing in Idaho.

The lookout, available from July 1 to Sept. 30, rents for $35 per day.