Caldwell Cabin

The porch and the meadow

Two Adirondack chairs sit on the front porch of Caldwell Cabin, facing a large grassy meadow ringed by tall ponderosa pine. The Forest Service gives the cabin’s elevation as 7,600 feet; Recreation.gov gives it as 8,000. Arizona Highways, writing in January 2014, said guests could watch elk and mule deer from the porch. In front of the cabin are two family-sized picnic tables and a fire ring. A walk across the meadow leads to points overlooking the West Fork of the Black River and the Mainstem Black River Canyon. The Black River draws trout anglers, and the Black River Mainstream Trail is a short drive away.

After sunset the meadow goes dark. There is no cell phone coverage and no internet. “There are no other lights in the area,” Rick Davalos, a ranger for the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, told Arizona Highways. “It’s one of the best stargazing areas — you’ve never seen so many stars.”

Inside the hand-hewn room

The cabin is a one-bedroom building with knotty pine walls. Its stone fireplace is set with Luna agate, which Arizona Highways described as a stone native to the area. The kitchen occupies the original homestead room. It holds a full-sized Murphy bed that folds down from the wall, a table with four chairs, a two-person bench, a propane stove, a propane refrigerator, solar lights, and a sink. The shelves carry pots and pans, dishes, cooking and eating utensils, a percolating coffee pot, and a can opener.

The great room has the fireplace, a propane wall heater, a second Murphy bed, a futon couch that opens to a full bed, and a game table with four chairs. The small bedroom holds a bunk bed with a twin-size futon and a full-size futon. The cabin sleeps six.

The bathroom has a commode and a small sink and nothing more. There is no shower or tub. “That was done by design, because we do haul our water,” Davalos said. “But we’ve had no complaints about it.” The Recreation.gov listing says the water comes from a potable source and asks guests to use it sparingly.

Guests bring their own bedding and pillows, towels, food, flashlight, toilet paper, and dish soap. For the fireplace they bring an axe for splitting firewood, plus matches and newspaper. Pets are allowed but not on the furniture. The cabin lies in the Mexican gray wolf recovery area, and guests are told to keep food and trash indoors or locked in a hard-sided vehicle because of bears. Checkout is at 11 a.m., and guests clean the dishes, floors, and counters themselves before they go.

Forest Roads 26, 24, 276, and 25H

The cabin is about 30 miles southwest of Alpine. From Alpine the route runs south on U.S. Highway 180/191 for about 15 miles toward Hannagan Meadows, then turns right onto Forest Service Road 26 at mile marker 240. The way continues about 11 miles on Road 26, about three miles on Road 24, and just over a mile from the junction of Roads 25 and 276 to Forest Road 25H. A last mile on 25H reaches a sign for Caldwell. A gate there opens with a combination padlock, and the cabin key is inside the padlock. The gate stays closed and locked at all times.

All the Forest Service roads are gravel. Coming up from Clifton, the highway is paved but extremely curvy and climbs 4,500 feet in about 55 miles. The Forest Service advises allowing three hours from Clifton to the first turnoff. The 2011 Wallow Fire burned through this country, and the Recreation.gov listing still warns of falling trees and recommends high-clearance vehicles.

The Forest Service lists the season as mid-May through early October. Arizona Highways, in 2014, gave it as mid-May through late October. The magazine also reported one group per day, with reservation slots opened six months ahead, and noted that the cabin books up quickly.

From homestead to guard station to rental

The kitchen with the fold-down bed is the oldest part of the building. The Caldwell family built it in the 1920s as a one-room homestead of hand-hewn logs. Around 1940 the cabin gained a bathroom, a small bedroom, and the great room with its fireplace.

In the 1960s the U.S. Forest Service acquired the property. The Forest Service’s own page says it acquired the land the cabin stands on, and Arizona Highways says it acquired the cabin. The Forest Service says the building served as a work station for many years. Arizona Highways says it operated as a guard station until the 1990s.

On December 22, 2005, a notice in the Federal Register announced that the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests proposed to begin charging a fee for overnight rental of Caldwell Cabin. The notice placed the cabin in T4N, R28E, Section 14. It said rentals of other cabins in the Arizona national forests had shown “that publics appreciate and enjoy the availability of historic rental cabins,” and that the rental money would go to the cabin’s continued operation and maintenance. The cabin was expected to become available for rent in July 2006. The contact named on the notice was Richard Davalos, district ranger.

A later Forest Service report on Great American Outdoors Act funds lists a 2021 allocation of $190,000 for a combined Caldwell and Water Canyon Historic Cabin Restoration and Conversion project in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests. The report records the money set aside. It does not say whether the work was done.