Cabin Makes It Through First Winter In Great Shape

The new West Fork cabin appears to have been cozy and well-loved through its first winter in Idaho’s Selkirk Mountains.

Without regular winter care from skiers, snowshoers and snowmobilers — mostly from the Bonners Ferry area — the one-room log retreat would have disappeared under the whopping winter snowpack high in the Smith Creek drainage.

Every visitor has contributed to clearing the narrow path that leads down through mounds of snow to the porch.

Steps have been kicked up the snowdrifts to the top of the cabin, which is still buried under four feet of snow and ice. A well must be shoveled out around the chimney each time the stove is kindled.

More shoveling is necessary to clear the way so window shutters can be opened to let daylight into a humble interior that includes little more than a table, two beds, wood-burning stove, three stumps for stools, kerosene lantern, three pots, broken shovel, hatchet, broom and journals.

Yet this Spartan environment is endearing in the dead of winter, which could linger well into June on this basin below the Selkirk Crest.

The first entries in the cabin journal were scribed by volunteers who helped put the finishing touches on the new cabin. One pair carried in and installed the storm door after hiking nearly two miles through three inches of snow in October.

Others paid their respects to the volunteers who donated materials and labor to build the new cabin less than 15 months after the original West Fork cabin burned to the ground.

After a 1928 fire burned through the drainage, the original cabin was built in 1931 as a staging area for trail maintenance and fire-fighting.

The cabin was used less and less by the Forest Service starting around the 1960s, and backcountry visitors began filling the void.

Winter logging has kept access up the Smith Creek Road open all winter. Within a few hours from the plowed parking area, skiers have been breaking trail and navigating three miles or so up to the new digs in the Selkirks.

It helps to have been there before, since the trail is buried deep under the snow, and you can’t even see the cabin until you’re within spitting distance.

Bring your own oil for the lamp. Wood is in short supply, too, but we gathered a small bundle from far away. A little wood goes a long way in the efficient stove.

The fire started easily with the dregs left in a couple of discarded whiskey bottles plus the wadded remains of the one vulgar drawing someone felt compelled to leave in the journal. Wilderness tamed.