Refurbished rentals offer panoramic views
Editor’s note: Second of two parts.
For years, some longtime residents have enjoyed reasonably priced woodsy hideaways maintained by the U.S. Forest Service for summer vacationers – rental cabins and lookouts available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Most rental properties in the National Forest System 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.
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.
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. See last week’s Handle Extra for information about more area rental cabins and lookouts:
After a 23-mile drive south from Wallace, you’ll have to hike 3 miles over moderate terrain to Arid Peak Lookout. That’s on a 20-foot tower overlooking scenic Loop Creek and the Hiawatha Rail-Trail that’s been built on the track bed relinquished by the Milwaukee Railroad.
Its elevation is 5,306 feet, and furnishings include two cots with mattresses, basic cooking gear, dishes, a propane lantern and camp stove, a table with two chairs, a replica fire finder and a wood stove. There’s an outhouse nearby.
It’s available for $25 a night from June 20 to Sept. 3.
Arid Peak Lookout was built in 1934 to provide early detection of fires sparked by lightning and railroad engines. It was last staffed in 1969 and sat idle for a quarter-century. Thirty volunteers, the Forest Lookout Association and Forest Service personnel restored it in a two-year effort that began in1996.
Surveyors Lookout is perched atop a 30-foot tower about 100 miles southeast of St Maries. At 6,000 feet, it overlooks the spectacular Mallard-Larkins Pioneer Area, Snow Peak and surrounding mountains.
It’s generally available from July 15 to Sept. 30, depending on snow levels. Access is via a rugged single-lane road with pullouts, and a high-clearance vehicle is recommended.
Furnishings include a propane refrigerator, cook stove, heater and lights, table, chairs and a bench, a twin bed and an extra mattress. A privy is nearby.
Surveyors rents for $35 per day.
The original pole structure was built in 1931 as part of a network of lookouts used to watch for fires in the Upper St. Joe country. It was replaced with the current treated timber structure in 1964. Surveyors is on the National Historic Register for Lookouts.
The Clarkia Guest Bunkhouse is 30 miles south of St. Maries and near the St. Maries River. It’s the only rental in the IPNF that’s available year-round.
Ideal for groups or families, the bunkhouse accommodates up to 15 in two-person, three-person and four-person rooms and rents for $30 to $45 per room per night. Or, the entire bunkhouse can be rented for $200 per night.
Included are a communal kitchen and dining facilities, shower and laundry facilities, cooking utensils, dishes, barbecue grill, and single and double beds.
Nearby activities and attractions include bird watching, the Hobo Cedar Grove Botanical Area, a historic logging display at Marble Creek, the Lines Creek Historical Trail, Fossil Bowl, motocross cycling, fossil digging and the Emerald Creek garnet area.
The only rental facility in the forest that’s not on the national reservation system is the Red Ives Cabin, a former ranger station 86 miles southeast of St. Maries on the St. Joe River.
Owing to the high demand for the cabin, the St. Joe District Office conducts lotteries to assign reservations. A lottery form is available at www.fs.fed.us/ipnf/rec/ yourplace/rentalguide/redives, or may be obtained from the St. Joe Ranger District’s Avery office, phone 245-4517.
Available from Memorial Day weekend through Sept. 30, the facility can house eight and rents for $60 a night for a maximum of three nights per party.
The cabin comprises two bedrooms, kitchen, living room with a massive stone fireplace, and a bathroom. It’s equipped with a propane cook stove, refrigerator, hot water heater, flush toilet and showers. A generator provides heat and lights.
Pets are not allowed.
The ranger station was named for a redheaded placer miner who worked a claim on the creek that now bears his name. He built a dugout for shelter on the site when he was prospecting there in the late 1800s.
The district began as the Pole Mountain Ranger District in 1913 and became the Red Ives Ranger District 20 years later when the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed hundreds of miles of roads in the St. Joe National Forest, making the area accessible. The station served as district headquarters until 1984.
The ranger’s house was built in 1936. In 1986, the five original buildings remaining on the site – the ranger’s house, administrative building, the garage/warehouse/shop, barn and powerhouse – were added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Local activities include fishing and hiking.