Dave Pickford – Recreation Specialist – Hell Canyon Ranger District

Summit Ridge was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a lookout cabin. The lookout is across the road here and this is where your lookout people would stay overnight. The lookout tower is still manned when we reach extreme fire danger, but the cabin isn’t used by the Forest Service for overnight. So, for the last ten years we’ve rented the cabin to the public as part of a nationwide cabin rental program for the Forest Service. This is the only cabin on the Black Hills for rent.

Things went into a higher gear as far as repairs about 2005, and that’s when we retained fees by the rental of the cabin to put back in the cabin to repair it and fix it up. And, that has increased since then, primarily because of federal legislation that allows us to retain recreation fees to maintain the facilities that we collect fees on through something called the Recreational Enhancement Act.

Well, last year our big project was the roof. The roof, the rain gutters, the fascia boards, flashing the chimney and ridge cap, and we had historic shingles on here and we replaced our historic wood shingles with new wood shingles that are also fire resistant. So, it has increased fire resistance plus it’s being maintained to historic integrity of its original construction.

Last year we paid for the roof, and we also had a little extra so we spent that little extra to buy a solar kit, which allows us to have solar lighting inside here. It’s only for lighting. It’s not for any plug-in devices. The solar lights themselves will be a LED type of light that has a very low power draw. But, it will allow the folks to use the cabin and turn the lights on versus using a Coleman lantern or a candle or some open flame, which could potentially burn the cabin down. So, that is a concern, and we want to have, not only good lighting, but a safe cabin for the public and to preserve the buildings.

This toilet is designed for maximum airflow, which is why they call it a sweet-smelling toilet or SST design. It’s a cement toilet, but you wouldn’t know it looking at it. It looks like lap siding. It is stained Forest Service brown like all our buildings, but when you walk up to it and actually touch it, you realize it’s cement. It’s made for very low maintenance. The inside is epoxy-coated paint so you can basically pressure wash the entire building. It has the great airflow. The turning radius is five feet, so you can get in there with a wheelchair without assistance. Of course, there’s grab bars for disabled people. The height of the toilet is designed so you can get on and off the stool with no assistance in a wheelchair. The width of the door is wide enough for a wheelchair. So it’s designed for disabled person access. Our new fire grate is a height so that you can be in your wheelchair and have the fire and feel warmth of the fire.

We are booked solid, particularly in the spring for the hunting and fall for hunting. There are usually a couple weekends open in the summer at the start of the year. But, you want to make your reservations early because it’s busy, from about mid April, end of April, through the end of October.

We have Forest Service employees contracted to help. We don’t have volunteer help at the moment doing any cabin maintenance. I will say, the people who stay here have a great love, and I think it’s a special place to a lot of people who rent this cabin—I know it is. And, they take care of the cabin, whether that’s to restock the firewood or to sweep the cabin. We have very few problems and we have very low maintenance here because people leave the place as nice or nicer than they find it. So, in a way, they love it and they’re taking care of it.