October 14-17, 2021
Knowing how I get antsy for a little trip in mid-October, several months ago I made a reservation at the Fry Meadow Guard Station in the Umatilla National Forest. This cabin was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the early 1930s and was once used by the Forest Service but is no longer needed and is now part of the recreation rental program:
The cabin has two rooms and was refurbished a few years ago so everything is in good shape. (As of this writing the photos on the Forest Service website still show the pre-refurbished cabin interior.) The front room has a long counter, cabinets with lots of kitchen supplies, a table and four chairs, and a gas cookstove. There used to be a woodstove or fireplace here at one time (you can still see the upper part of the chimney sticking up out of the roof) but the chimney inside has been boarded up. You can see it next to the cookstove:
The back room has a little loveseat in an alcove, a propane heater, and a set of bunkbeds that could sleep up to six:
I would have preferred to see photographs of the surrounding area, but the walls are instead adorned with Smokey Bear art:
There are two gas lanterns in the front room and one in the back room:
The windows have screens, but not all of them are intact:
The cabin sits at the edge of Fry Meadow. Previous guests wrote in the logbook about all the wildlife they saw here, but none made an appearance during my visit:
There is a picnic table and fire ring, which would be nice in summertime:
An outhouse is tucked into the trees behind the cabin:
I saw a few good sunrises, including an amazing one Friday morning:
And on Sunday morning:
It was a nearly-full moon during my visit, so not the best stargazing conditions, but I took a few shots anyway:
Although I went on a hike around Jubilee Lake and the Wenaha River Trail, I also road-walked Road 6231 a few times. During these walks I picked up an obscene about of trash that was thrown from passing cars, mostly beer cans and bottles. Disgusting. I think I picked up about five pounds worth. This is just one of the piles:
I lucked out with gorgeous sunny weather during my stay and I had a lovely time. The roads getting here were in good shape and the cabin is only $40 a night.
One thing to know if you stay here is that the heater is temperamental. The pilot light had a tendency to go out, shutting off the heater. So I had to restart it many times. Also, any time the heather, cookstove, or lanterns were running I had to have as many windows open as possible, not just one window. I learned that the hard way the first night when the carbon monoxide alarm went off. I opened all the doors and windows to air the place out and the alarm still went off for another half hour. The rest of the time I opened windows in both rooms any time I had those things going.
By the way, the Verizon signal was very weak here so I just went into airplane mode and enjoyed nature. 🙂
