“After passing through a good section of the forest, the cabin will appear through the trees on the left (South) side of the trail. While it is marked as the “Big Pine Creek Wilderness Ranger Hut”, it is indeed the Lon Chaney Cabin. Designed by Paul Revere Williams, a famous Los Angeles architect, it was built for only $12,000 in 1929. Unfortunately, visitors are no longer allowed to access the interior of the cabin as it is Forest Service property; however, hikers and backpackers can utilize the porch and exterior areas of the cabin to rest, relax, and take in the bucolic views of Big Pine Creek which passes right in front of the cabin, before turning around and heading back down the trail. From the parking area to the cabin, it is 3.5 miles with 1,700 feet of elevation gain; for a roundtrip distance of 7 miles.”

Here is the view of the cabin from the creek.

The creek water here was fresh and cold.  There was even a small snowbank right near the cabin.  I ate my sandwich and some chips and chugged a Gatorade before heading back down to camp.

There’s even a small pool of water I could’ve swam in if I had wanted to.  But I didn’t feel like having to dry off before hiking back and I was getting short on time.

Here is the historical marker/info on the door of the cabin.

On the way back to camp, the light was much better so I snapped one last great picture of the Palisade Glacier and the E. Sierra.

While driving around earlier in the day, we knew we probably weren’t going to want to deal with cooking dinner so we stopped at Copper Top BBQ in Big Pine and got some ribs and brisket.  It was SUPERB!!  And a perfect trip for our final night of vacation.