You could stay in a plain old motel room — or you could try something a bit more adventurous: Bedding down for the night in a historic Civilian Conservation Corps house or a onetime ranger’s cabin in a scenic national forest setting.
The Coronado National Forest is adding three renovated cabins to the “Rooms with a View” program, which offers cabins for public rental on national forest lands.
Two of the cabins are in Cave Creek Canyon southeast of Willcox, an area known for its forests, sheer canyon walls and abundant birdlife. The other is at the Palisades Administrative Site in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson.
ROOMS FROM THE PAST
“The Civilian Conservation Corps house is a fieldstone masonry cabin in Cave Creek Canyon dating from the 1930s,” said Kathy Makansi, an archaeologist with the Coronado National Forest. “There’s a huge, dramatic cliff in back of the building. The area is renowned for its dramatic rock formations, diverse wildlife and exceptional birding.”
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The cabin, which has four rooms and can accommodate up to five people, rents for $125 a night. Like the other newly renovated cabins, it has a fully equipped kitchen, indoor plumbing and running water.
In the same area, about 1½ miles west of the canyon community of Portal, is the three-room Portal Bunkhouse, which can accommodate up to four people.
Built in the mid-1930s, the Bunkhouse will rent for $100 a night.
“There are a few things to complete before it’s ready, but it will probably be available in the next month or so,” Makansi said, noting that the other cabins are available now.
MOUNTAIN SPLENDOR
The cabin in the Catalinas, at an altitude of nearly 8,000-feet, was built by the CCC in 1935 and served as a forest ranger’s residence.
Nestled in a pine forest at the Palisades Administrative Site near mile marker 20 on the Catalina Highway, the five-room cabin can accommodate up to four people. It rents for $125 a night. (See the box on Page A2 with this story for information on reserving cabins.)
The three newly renovated cabins bring the number of rentable forest cabins in Arizona to 17, Makansi said. Seven of the cabins, including the newly added ones, are in the Coronado National Forest of southeastern Arizona. Two cabins in Northern Arizona will be added to the program this summer.
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