When Kristie Wolfe saw a fire lookout tower for sale on private land, she was excited to start a new project. She had already built a treehouse in Hawaii and a hobbit hole retreat from scratch. She loved the idea of turning the old tower into a forest hideaway.
Kristie bought 13 acres of forest above the small town of Fernwood, Idaho, where only 684 people live. She paid $67,000 for the land, making it her most expensive purchase. The land came with a historic lookout tower. Today, there are only about 900 of these towers left.
In the past, there were over 5,000 in the U.S. These towers became popular after the Great Fire of 1910, which burned 3 million acres across Washington, Idaho, and Montana.
Wolfe named her project “Crystal Peak Lookout.” The lookout was originally built in 1959 on Stranger Peak, WA. In 1983, it was moved to private land in Northern Idaho and used as a hunting lodge.
When Wolfe bought it, it had been empty for 25 years, except for some bushy-tailed woodrats that had caused damage.
Wolfe worked mostly by herself to fix up the lookout. She turned the cabin into a cozy place to stay overnight. It now has a fireplace, a small kitchen, and views all around. The location is off the grid, which means it’s away from city services like the internet.
The town of Fernwood doesn’t have internet service, but Wolfe set up a small solar power system. It provides enough energy for lights and to charge phones.
With help from her brother and mother, Wolfe moved an old shed down a hill using pipes and a pulley system. She turned it into a cold-water shower and sauna. Another old shed was transformed into a composting toilet.
Wolfe does all the work on her properties by herself, with help from her family, and she never borrows money. For the past seven years, managing her properties has been her full-time job.
Recently, she created the Big Idaho Potato Hotel. It’s a one-room shelter made from a 6-ton potato sculpture. The sculpture, made of concrete, plaster, and steel, was originally used to promote the Idaho potato industry.
