Character Peak Crows Nest

Hike-In	Abandoned
Elevation: 4900′	Coeur d’Alene National Forest

History

Character Peak was the location of a forest service fire fighting camp in 1932 along the north end of the ridge.

A crow’s nest lookout was in place about the same time about 1/4 mile away from the camp.

The camp and crows nest were abandoned by 1947.

Our Notes

We read in Ray Kresek’s book FIRE LOOKOUTS OF THE NORTHWEST that the crows nest was still standing as of 2010. This area of the forest was hit very hard by the Deceitful Gulch Fire last summer, 2021, so we didn’t know what we would find if anything.

The campsite was easy to locate – we were able to find trash dating to the correct time period. We were very distracted by the crazy amount of fire morels covering the area. Ok, I say “we” but I really mean “Me”. Poor Billy was bored to tears with how slow we hiked as I scavenged morels along the route to the crow’s nest.

One of the bottles we found at the campsite.

We stopped at the highest point on the ridge to locate the crow’s nest, it seemed like the most likely spot. Billy almost immediately found it! It is actually two very large trees that would have had a platform set up between them. Unfortunately, the trees did not get away unscathed from the recent fire. The first 4 to 5 feet of these two trees are completely scorched. However, luckily for us, the trees remain standing.

The spikes are still in one of the trees leading up to the platform site, although there is no platform left – a victim of time or perhaps that recent fire.