Louella Cabin

The cabin has white walls and a covered porch, and it faces downhill across a fruit orchard and a valley. Louella Cabin stands on a gentle slope in a forested open meadow in the northeast corner of Olympic National Forest, with tall Douglas-firs on either side. The access drive leaves Palo Alto Road, also called Forest Service Road 28, beside a sign board. The Forest Service calls it a bulletin board and Recreation.gov calls it an information kiosk. The drive passes a first building, and the cabin is on the right. In heavy snow the road may require chains, and the last eighth of a mile is not plowed.

Four rooms above the orchard

Olympic National Forest rents the cabin by the night to groups of up to six. It has four rooms. The living room has a futon couch that unfolds into a bed. One bedroom has a double bed by the Forest Service’s listing, or a queen by Recreation.gov’s. The second bedroom has twin bunks. The kitchen holds a table and chairs, a cook stove, a refrigerator, and a short stock of dishes, pots, silverware, and utensils. The cabin has electricity and a propane heater, and the propane is furnished. Outside are a fire ring and a covered picnic table.

The sources disagree about water and plumbing. The Forest Service page lists portable toilets and no potable water. Recreation.gov lists potable water and an indoor toilet, with no shower. Arwyn Rice of the Peninsula Daily News wrote in 2014 that there was no water and that the bathroom was an outhouse. She added that for all its kitchen and lights, “the cabin is still very primitive.”

Guests bring their own bedding and linens and mouse-proof containers for food. They also bring flashlights and extra batteries in case the power fails. Candles, smoking, and pets are not allowed. Cell service is spotty, and the nearest telephone is five miles away at Sequim Bay State Park. Guests pack out their trash and clean the cabin before they leave. The Forest Service says the fees go directly to the cabin’s maintenance and preservation.

The Dungeness and the Buckhorn

From the cabin there is access to the Buckhorn Wilderness, which has more than 58 miles of trail for backpacking, horseback riding, hunting, mountain climbing, and hiking. The Dungeness River divides the wilderness into two parts. North of the river the ground falls from mountains to lowlands. That country is heavily forested in fir, hemlock, and cedar, with moss, ferns, and berry bushes beneath. South of the river the land climbs to alpine meadows and rocky ridges. Elk, black-tailed deer, black bears, and mountain lions live in the old growth.

The river rises high on Mount Mystery in Olympic National Park and descends to Dungeness Bay on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Anglers fish it for steelhead, cutthroat trout, and chinook, coho, and pink salmon. Recreation.gov also suggests the area around the old Tubal Cain mine in the Buckhorn, and the Ned Hill Lookout site for views of the Olympic Mountains.

Cheney’s guard station

The building began in 1912 as the Louella Guard Station. It was built by E. M. Cheney, a Forest Service employee, who dedicated it to his wife, Louella. The Peninsula Daily News describes him as a fireguard. A fireguard was stationed here in summer and fall, and the buildings were closed for the winter.

In 2015 the Peninsula Daily News counted Louella among three rental cabins in Olympic National Forest. The other two, Interrorem and Hamma Hamma, are near Hoodsport. Interrorem was built in 1907 as the forest’s first administration building. Hamma Hamma was built as a guard station in 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Camp Louella, F-60

During the Great Depression the Civilian Conservation Corps built a camp in the lower part of the meadow below the cabin. It had barracks, a bathhouse, and a mess hall, and it was designated Camp Louella (F-60). The Corps worked in the area on fire lookouts, trails, bridges, and roads. It also planted trees where forest fires had burned in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Vic Olsen enrolled in the Corps at Everett in April 1933. He trained at Fort Worden and Fort Casey and went to Camp Easton (F-32) near Cle Elum. In November 1933 his company was moved to Camp Louella, and he served there until an injury and an honorable discharge. Decades later, in 1983, he and his wife, Mae, founded the Everett chapter of the CCC Alumni Association. Their collection is now at Western Washington University’s Center for Pacific Northwest Studies in Bellingham. It includes a folder for Camp Louella, dated to the 1930s and to about 1981.

The James F. Justin Civilian Conservation Corps Museum lists another man, Robert Bulchis of Company 937, who also served at Camp Easton and Camp Louella.

The camp closed in 1939. Other agencies then used the cabin, the U.S. Army among them, until 1976. After that it stood unoccupied until it was repaired and opened for public lodging.