I Rent Mountains

This is really true. Once or twice a year, I rent a mountain from the U.S. Forest Service. It’s simple. You make a couple of phone calls, fill out some paperwork and a few weeks later, you receive a key through the mail. Sort of reminds you of an episode from the TV series M*A*S*H.

I tell people the key is so no one can steal the mountains. Actually it unlocks the pad lock on a gate near the base of the mountain. If you follow the road on the other side of the gate, or what the National Forest Service refers to as a road, you eventually end up near a fire tower. With the advance use of satellite technology, the Forest Service rarely use fire towers for their original purpose anymore. Most have been abandoned now.

You can see them all over the Ozarks and they have been boarded up. A few Forest Service districts in the west have taken a different approach. The towers have been restored, registered as historic buildings and then are rented out as rather unique places to spend the night. 

There are many different kinds of fire towers. Some are 65 feet tall, looking like a box on giant stilts, while others aren’t towers at all. Most are simple one or two story structures built on bald mountain peaks. Of course they have a tremendous view. They can be built of lumber, timber, cement block or stone. No two are identical, even though many were built from kits.

Facilities here are primitive. You must bring your own water. Altitude at these locations can reach in excess of 10,000 feet and presents its own problems. Weather is a gamble. You can easily be snowed or rained out of your reservations, or just as easily snowed in at the towers. Some days you’re above the clouds, looking down upon a white carpet and others you’re in the clouds. I’ve been lucky; most of my stays have come with clear weather. And of course, on clear nights the stargazing is amazing. The sunrises are impossible to miss, the sunsets are as late as 11 p.m., and stunning.

The road to many towers can be of the white knuckle driving variety, followed by an equally tense drive back down the mountain. Many were former mule trails. Also many don’t go all the way to the tower. One I stayed at had a one-mile hike from the parking area and the hike was all up. Stayed three days. Took the round trip hike 14 times. Also called in a forest fire from there by using my cell phone. The Forest Service thanked me for my call.

Before using a tower, call the local ranger district and get its particulars, such things as local road and fire conditions. More than once, the particulars for me included a grizzly bear hanging around. Not uncommon in western Montana and a good thing to know about before you get there.

Make sure your vehicle is in good condition and get a local weather report before going. Realize that during a late May heat in St. Louis, a western Montana mountain has 30 feet of packed snow. 

I usually do the tower/mountain rental as a solo adventure but there is safety in numbers, and a friend just adds to the fun. My friends always love it. You’ll find more of these mountain rental adventures on my website and in my first and third books. To get the rental info on these fire towers, check with the U.S. Forest Service.

Take a shovel and a saw. More than once I had to clear a way in or even back out.

As always, check out my website: www.theghosttownhunter.com

Next time:  The Sands of the Sahara, where it all began.