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Steamboat Springs — The summer John Tease spent at the Pyramid Guard Station in the Flat Tops Wilderness Area was "a magical time" in his life.

"I fished and I hiked and I read and I worked hard," he said. "It was as wild as one can experience."

Tease took care of the 70-year-old buildings and helped write an application to add the property to the National Register of Historic Places.

The five-building guard station, located 15 miles west of Yampa and 30 miles south of Hayden, was built between 1934 and 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the work-relief programs created by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Since then, it has been used intermittently by the U.S. Forest Service as a base for rangers, firefighters and archaeologists.

John Anarella, who runs the Wilderness Trails Program and has been the caretaker of the facility for more than 15 years, said the process to add the structures to the register began in the early 1990s.

"It was kind of a long road, making sure it met all the eligibilities," he said.

The buildings, which include the dwelling, combination building, barn, blacksmith shop and wood shed, all were created by Conservation Corps craftsmen using local materials.

"It shows a lot of pride and local material," said Angie Krall, the former Heritage Program manager for Yampa and Hahn's Peak and Bears Ears district. "A couple of things that just stand out for me are the incredible workmanship. The trimming that was done ... you just don't see that any more."

The buildings have overhanging eaves that have protected the log walls from deterioration. Joints were used in the construction so the logs stay together tightly as the wood shrinks and expands through the seasons.

Tease said he spent some of his time scraping, painting and cleaning up rat droppings, because the building hadn't been lived in for some time when he arrived in the summer of 2007. But, he said, the buildings remain in very good condition.

"They are a pristine five cabins," he said. "For over 70 years old, they are in amazingly good shape."

The key to keeping the cabins in usable condition is finding volunteers such as Tease, who will use the structures and take care of them, Krall said.

"The reason some of these are still amazing structures is that we've kept them in use. Once you let them fall into disuse, they'll go down pretty quickly," she said.

The buildings have retained many of their original features, including wooden shakes for the roofing and other oddities.

Krall said one of her favorite parts is the U.S. Forest Service shield stamped throughout the building, as well as a counterweight on one of the doors consisting of a rock on a string.

The property sits at a trailhead along U.S. Forest Service Road 8 in Rio Blanco County. The buildings, however, are not open to the public.

While he was living at the site, Tease, who now is earning his master's degree in New Hampshire, said he regularly heard mountain lions and was able to commune with nature and the spirit of his daughter, who recently had died.

"That whole era truly affected me. It was magical," he said. "Magical like 'The Dharma Bums.'"