Cabin Lake Guard Station facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Cabin Lake Guard Station
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Cabin Lake Ranger Station in 1935
Location	Deschutes National Forest
Nearest city	Bend, Oregon, USA
Built	1934 -1938
Architectural style	Simple rustic
NRHP reference No.	86000827
Added to NRHP	1986

The Cabin Lake Guard Station is a group of six simple, old-fashioned buildings. They are located in the Deschutes National Forest in central Oregon. This site was first built as a main office for forest rangers. It was called the Fort Rock Ranger District headquarters. Later, it became a summer station for forest guards.

Today, the guard station is closed. However, the campground next to it is still open. Even though it's far away from towns, it's a popular spot. People love to visit for bird watching and taking nature photos. The Cabin Lake Guard Station is a special place. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's an important historic site.

A Look Back at Cabin Lake

In the 1920s and 1930s, it was hard to travel deep into national forests. Roads were not very good. To help forest workers, the Forest Service built ranger stations. These stations were in key spots in the forest. They gave homes to full-time employees. They also helped fire patrols and work crews in faraway areas.

After World War II, the Forest Service built many more roads. This made it easier for workers to reach most forest areas quickly. So, many isolated ranger stations closed. Some were changed into summer guard stations.

The Cabin Lake Guard Station is in the Deschutes National Forest. It is about forty miles southeast of Bend, Oregon. It was the main office for the Fort Rock Ranger District. This was from 1921 until 1945. During most of that time, five rangers lived and worked there.

From 1934 to 1938, a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was nearby. The CCC was a program that helped young men find work during the Great Depression. CCC workers built the guard station buildings you see today. They built seven buildings for the ranger station. These included homes for rangers, a warehouse, and a gas station. Six of these buildings are still there. One building was moved to another station after this one closed.

In 1945, the main office moved to Bend. The ranger station then became a guard station. It was used as a bunkhouse and supply spot. This was for Forest Service fire crews. They patrolled the forest during the summer fire season. The Forest Service closed the guard station in 2002.

Today, no one lives at the guard station site. But Forest Service archaeologists are working with volunteers. They are fixing up the buildings. Once they are restored, the Forest Service might open two of the ranger homes. People could then rent them for vacations.

The six buildings have a rustic, old-fashioned style. The site is also important because it was an early Forest Service ranger station. Because of this, the Cabin Lake Guard Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

What the Buildings Look Like

The Cabin Lake Guard Station is in a very remote part of the Deschutes National Forest. It is near the edge of the forest. Beyond it are high desert lands. The guard station has six main buildings. There are also a few smaller structures. They are surrounded by open forest land. The elevation here is 4,510 feet high.

The forest around the station has Ponderosa pine and western juniper trees. The ground is covered with sagebrush, antelope bitterbrush, Idaho fescue, and bluebunch wheatgrass.

The guard station buildings are made of wood. They have concrete foundations. The outside walls are covered with weatherboard. The roofs are made of wooden shingles. All but one building are painted light green. They have dark brown trim. This helps them blend in with the forest landscape. One home is painted a cream color with brown trim.

Inside, the ranger homes have pine wood walls. The living rooms have brick fireplaces. Some homes still have simple furniture. This includes wooden chairs and tables. Besides the homes, there is a warehouse and a maintenance shop. There is also a gas station. These buildings make up the guard station area.

There is a Forest Service campground next to the historic guard station. The campground has 14 simple camp sites. However, there is no water or toilets available there. The dirt road to the guard station can be rough. Regular cars can usually make the trip from April to November. A four-wheel-drive vehicle is suggested for the rest of the year.

Bird Watching Fun

Bird blind near Cabin Lake Guard Station

There are two special shelters for watching birds near the guard station. They are called bird blinds. You can easily walk to them. The blinds are about 300 feet apart. They are 8 feet by 12 feet shelters with roofs. They have veiled window openings. These let you watch and photograph birds from about 15–20 feet away.

To attract birds, each blind has a small concrete basin. It's called a guzzler. This basin fills with water from a nearby tank. The tank gets water from special collection areas.

The Cabin Lake Guard Station is located where two different environments meet. It's between the eastern Cascade pine forests and the high desert areas. Because of this, the guzzler's water attracts many different kinds of birds. You can see birds from both environments here.

Some common birds at the site include:

• Lewis's woodpecker
• White-headed woodpecker
• Hairy woodpecker
• Northern flicker
• Gray flycatcher
• Loggerhead shrike
• Clark's nutcracker
• Mourning dove
• Pygmy nuthatch
• Steller's jay
• Pinyon jay
• Canada jay
• Common poorwill
• Green-tailed towhee
• Mountain chickadee
• Brewer's sparrow
• Chipping sparrow
• White-crowned sparrow
• Cassin's finch
• Red crossbill
• Mountain bluebird
• Western bluebird
• Yellow-rumped warbler
• Townsend's solitaire

Many bird photos used in Wikipedia articles were taken at the Cabin Lake viewing blinds.

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  • Lewis's woodpecker
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  • Red crossbills
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  • Mountain bluebird
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  • Mourning dove
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  • Cassin's finch
• 

  • Green-tailed towhee
• 

  • Brewer's sparrow
• 

  • Least chipmunk

Other thirsty animals also use the guzzlers. During the day, you might see least chipmunks, yellow-pine chipmunks, golden-mantled ground squirrels, and American badgers. In the evening, mule deer, bushy-tailed woodrats, deer mice, and several types of bats come to drink.