Forest Service Cabins: A Chance To Rough It In A Jewel

ELDON, Mason County - If luxury is what you want, this is the wrong place.

There's no telephone, no electricity. There is running water, but your hosts advise against drinking it.

They also ask that, when you check out, you take your garbage with you.

Bats nest behind the shutters. The management is aware of their presence - but wouldn't dream of evicting them.

You'll find more creatures than creature comforts at the Hamma Hamma Guard Station, owned and operated by Olympic National Forest.

It's rustic.

It's also delightful.

My family and I spent the summer solstice here. We want to go back.

That probably won't be anytime soon, unfortunately. The cabin is booked solid through October. Every weekend through Christmas is taken.

What makes the place special? Solitude. Scenery. History. A fine location - Hood Canal minutes to the east, Olympic Mountain trailheads minutes to the west.

A lot of class for little money

I like camping. My wife doesn't.

For us, the Hamma Hamma Guard Station proved the perfect compromise. And, at $25 a night, the price is right - especially when the state park a few miles away is charging $10 for a tent site.

The cabin is one of more than 30 old fire lookouts, ranger cabins and packers' sheds around the Northwest that the U.S. Forest Service has made available in the past few years for nightly rental. The idea is to expand recreational opportunities, raise money to restore and maintain historic buildings, and reduce vandalism.

Most sites are in Oregon. The Hamma Hamma Guard Station and nearby Interrorem cabins, both of which have been open only since May, are the only ones in the Puget Sound area. Each is just a few miles from U.S. 101, on paved roads that climb quickly from tidewater into forested foothills.

The Hamma Hamma cabin is in a clearing above the river of the same name. Hamma Hamma means "stinky stinky," a reference to the spawned-out salmon carcasses that once covered the riverbanks.

But the cabin is no stinker. It's a jewel, a monument to the Civilian Conservation Corps crew that built it 57 years ago.

Thanks to the CCC et al.

The CCC put thousands of jobless young men to work during the Depression, building trails, shelters and cabins throughout the West. They used native materials, and their craftsmanship was legendary.

The Hamma Hamma Guard Station has been nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. The CCC touch is evident throughout, in the built-in bookcase and bench along one side of the dining table, in the pine trees carved in the cabinet doors under the kitchen sink.

When the place was built, the road up the Hamma Hamma Valley went no farther. The CCC crew built a trail register with stone walls and a shake roof that still looks as if it could withstand a nuclear attack. It built stone-and-rail fences that still circle the parking area.

The "guards" for whom the guard station was built were Smokey Bear's disciples, roaming the back country in search of forest fires. After the last full-time occupant moved out in the mid-1980s, the place slipped into decline. Windows were broken, furnishings stolen.

But Jack Janda, recreation officer for the Olympic National Forest's Hood Canal Ranger District, thought the cabin, if spruced up, might appeal as a base camp to hikers in summer, cross-country skiers in winter.

He was right.

It took two years to get it ready. Girl Scout Troop 624 in nearby Hoodsport, Mason County, adopted the cabin, made curtains, planted flowers outside. Most furnishings were donated.

Base-camp amenities

The cabin is small but not cramped: two bedrooms, bathroom, a sunny, south-facing living room, and a kitchen with stove, refrigerator, sink, and all the dishes and utensils you'll need.

The beds have mattresses, but no sheets. Bring your own. Better yet, bring sleeping bags. And bring drinking water; it's available at a campground a half-mile down the road, but only in summer.

The lights and appliances run on propane, as does a brand-new fireplace stove that is the only heat source. I'm mechanically challenged, but still managed to get everything to work.

The place is dotted with knickknacks and dried-flower arrangements. There are puzzles and games, even a Frisbee and a jump-rope in the covered walkway between the cabin and the locked garage.

The eclectic collection of books and magazines is just what you'd expect at a cabin: Readers Digest condensed books, an out-of-date L.L. Bean catalogue, a 1973 World Almanac.

Outside, there's a shiny new picnic table, a campfire ring, plenty of dry firewood and a view of nothing but mountains, trees and sky. Hummingbirds buzz the yard.

The river is a short walk from the cabin - I flushed a grouse during an early-morning stroll. Even closer is shady Watson Creek, source of the cabin's water and a good spot for summertime wading.

You reach it by wandering down an old woods road past a mouldering collection of Forest Service junk - rusting campsite grills, piles of plastic pipe, a graveyard of mossy old picnic tables.

Janda plans to clean all that up soon. He also hopes to open another room in the cabin for sleeping, once the ventilation checks out.

A few nitpicks: The cabin's windows lack screens, so visitors much choose between fresh air and bug bites. Janda says he can't install any; they'd interfere with the exterior appearance of the historic structure, a big no-no. We were, however, able to get a resonable cross-draft going by opening both doors, which have screens.

We also wished we'd brought our camping lanterns from home. The propane lights in the kitchen and living room provided minimal illumination.

A more primitive choice

The Interrorem cabin, built in 1907 by a ranger for his bride, is smaller and more primitive - just one bedroom, no running water, a one-holer outside rather than a bathroom in.

The cabin's forested setting is cozy, but we preferred the Hamma Hamma Guard Station's expansive views. The Forest Service opened them up recently with some judicious pruning and thinning.

On the night of our stay, we sat around the campfire, toasting marshmallows for s'mores. We watched evening shadows creep up the imposing flank of Jefferson Ridge, just across the river, covered with trees but for a single clearcut at the summit, 3,000 feet above us.

To the west, above the headwaters of the Hamma Hamma, the setting sun faded the aptly named Sawtooth Range of the Olympics from purple to blue to black.

At dusk two rabbits appeared, browsing on clover in the lawn. So did the bats, shadow-dancing in the covered walkway between the house and garage. An owl hooted somewhere in the woods to the north.

Otherwise, the valley was silent. We felt as if it were all ours.

IF YOU GO PLANNING A STAY AT FOREST SERVICE CABINS ------------------------------------------------ -- RESERVATIONS:

To reserve either the Hamma Hamma or Interrorem cabins, contact the Olympic National Forest's Hood Canal Ranger District, P.O. Box 68, Hoodsport, WA 98548, phone (206) 877-5254.

They'll make tentative reservations for you, then mail you a permit application, information on the cabins and nearby attractions, occupancy rules, a list of suggested provisions, and another list that spells out what the Forest Service provides.

You have 15 days to mail back the completed permit application and $25 rental fee. Once that's received you'll be mailed the signed permit.

Stays are limited to seven nights. Party size is limited to six people at Hamma Hamma, four at Interrorem.

No smoking or pets are allowed.

-- GETTING THERE:

The quickest route to Hoodsport from Seattle is south on I-5 to Olympia, then north on 101 through Shelton and the Skokomish Indian Reservation. It's about a two-hour drive.

Or you could take the ferry to Bremerton, then follow state highways 3 and 106, joining 101 at the Skokomish Reservation.

You must drop by the Hood Canal Ranger Station in Hoodsport, just off U.S. 101 and clearly marked, to pick up the keys and leave another $25 as a damage deposit. Office hours are 8-4:30 daily from mid-May through mid-September; Monday through Friday only the rest of the year.

To reach the Hamma Hamma cabin, drive north on 101 from Hoodsport about 14 miles to Forest Service Road 25, signed "Hamma Hamma Recreation Area," just past the hamlet of Eldon. Turn left onto the paved, one-lane road with turnouts and follow it six miles until you see a sign for "Hamma Hamma Cabin/Occupied Residence." Turn right onto a gravel spur.

In a few yards the road will be blocked by a locked gate. One of the keys you picked up in Hoodsport unlocks it. The cabin is just a few more yards ahead.

To reach the Interrorem Cabin, follow 101 north from Hoodsport 22 miles, then turn left onto Forest Service Road 2510, a paved, two-lane road marked "Duckabush Recreation Area." Follow it four miles to the end of the pavement. The cabin is on the left.

-- WHEN YOU LEAVE:

Wash the dishes, sweep the cabin and lock it up. Return the keys to the ranger station in Hoodsport, or leave them in the drop box in the cabin.

If you've left the place clean, the Forest Service will return your damage deposit in a week or two.

-- OTHER OPPORTUNITIES:

For information on other Forest Service cabin rentals in Washington and Oregon, write for a copy of the 1994 Recreation Cabin Rental Directory from the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, 333 S.W. First Ave., Portland, OR 97204.