A new U.S. Forest Service recreational cabin is going up this summer on the mountaintop behind Petersburg.
The new Raven’s Roost cabin is being installed at around 1800 feet above sea level at the end of the newly reconstructed Raven’s trail.
Jesse West is owner of Rainforest Contracting of Petersburg, the company contracting to put in the new building for the Forest Service.
West said the structure was helicoptered to the mountaintop.
“Yeah we built the cabin in our shop and put all the wood finishes on in the shop and then we broke it down and put it into bundles and then yeah we flew it up there in pieces,” West said.
West and his crew are hiking the new trail to get up to that work site, getting in good shape. Construction started later than planned because of a late spring and heavier snow pack. He has as few as two and as many as five workers on that job depending on the day. He said the work is going well and it’s been fun, with a few challenges.
“Well just dealing with a lot of hand digging and removal of rock, those are the big challenges, yeah and large timbers, how to handle them and deal with them,” he said.
The wood was supplied by a sawmill in Hoonah. The new cabin replaces one that was further along the alpine ridge, another mile south of town.
“Yeah it is actually going to be a really nice spot and cabin and I think a lot of people will use it,” West said. “It’s a challenging enough hike to feel like you went somewhere but not so far that you, you know it’s worth it to go up there and spend the night I think. And the trail is really nice. The guys that did the trail did a great job.”
Reconstruction of the Ravens trail was done by another company, Oregon Woods, and that work wrapped up this year. West hopes the cabin will be done by end of October or early November. When it is complete it will be available to rent like other forest cabins online.
