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Mountaintop Adventure & Cabin Building
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06-10-2014 2:32am#1
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An Auspicious Arrival
Leaving Chicago for Denver was without note, but on nearing the infamous Denver International Airport a ferocious thunderstorm and tornado came out of nowhere and for about an hour the airport had to close.
As the plane I was on was (for whatever reason) low on fuel, it had no time to circle at a distance, instead the pilot announced he'd be heading for Colorado Springs where he'd refuel and then fly us back to Denver.
Here's a picture of Dan Dan the Petrol man fueling up those thirsty wings...
The delay of about one hour didn't bother me, but the crippling altitude sickness began to send me reeling. No amount of eyes-closed, resting, deep breathing would subdue it. Days later it's hard to describe the impact but it felt like wave after wave of nausea from my belly up to my head.
The plane was back in the air again after about 30 minutes but by the time we'd reached Denver the sickness was getting worse.
I managed to stumble through the airport, get my bags then stagger about for the next twenty minutes finding where the shuttle bus zone was. I managed to get my ticket to the Greeley Grotto (GG) and waited in an airport cafe for my bus to arrive.
The Star Spangled Banner anthem was playing for some hockey game on the TV in there, while it's jovial, jingoistic vibes raised my spirits a few degrees the sickness lingered relentlessly.
I got on the shuttle bus though without incident, the driver on board took one look at me.
"Have you just flown from a low altitude area?"
I responded that I had indeed.
"You've got altitude sickness man, but don't worry it'll pass, you gotta tough it out." He said and rambled about a few things. I conversed as best I could, toughing out the urge not to vomit in his nice bus.
I arrived at Mountain Man Mike's location without puking and my sickness had begun to abate. The next day I had a busy few days to get through but more on that later.0 -
Rolling Out!
The next morning there was no time to waste, my last transport vehicle, the Wolverine had broken down thanks to a busted transmission and Mike's bang-and-rattle, Blue Beast was nearly as old as fred flintstones rattle wagon!
Once again I would have to procure a vehicle and hopefully with more fortune than last time.
I scoped out the classifieds using the high-speed internet at the fast food place. Within about 4 hours I'd narrowed down my search to 3 pickups with one being a keeper.
After a few phone calls I was on my way to the first location.
It was a fancy area, All-American suburbs, fresh buildings surrounded us. The GPS guided us right to the door where the gutsy white pick-up that had caught my eye now waited
The Chevy Pickup with extended cab had the right stuff about it.
It was in very good condition, clean interior, with new air-con and a service history. The cargo-bed had a custom lockable cover which was handy and it came with two winter-tyres with studs. The 6.5 ft cargo bed was not the longest one (at about 8 feet) yet it wasn't the shortest (4 ft) either.
Like the vehicle, the owners of it were an All-American family - 2 parents, 2 children, all blonde and brunette with that oh-so-innocent attitude so common to trusting middle-America.
I was already using my profiling ways to build up a picture of ownership. He looked the careful type, bedrock middle-class doing the White Flight thing to the outskirts of the city.
Compared to the shady dealer I got the Ford Explorer from 2 years ago, I wasn't dealing with deceptive ways but a fairly open stance...
The Chevy it had high mileage too at 261,000 miles and lacked 4-wheel drive. Yet the engine was powerful; a 5.7 V8 engine. It also had a looked-after feel to it, all the equipment on it worked, no damage.
I went through the checks - apart from the seatbelts having what I reckon to be a faulty inertia reel lock it was good. The owner had used it for a couple of years in the mountains of Colorado where (according to him) it had coped with 2 foot snow drifts no problem. Prior to that it was a ranch vehicle in Texas so was likely used on flattish terrain and in a dry climate. Probably towed some stuff about but with a 5.7 liter V8 engine that would not have been a hardship.
The fuel economy was probably like that of an armored car, I asked the owner and he reckoned about 15 -- 16 mpg on the highway, that's half of what my Nissan Skyline sports car used to get! Thankfully fuel is as cheap as chips here (compared to rip-off UK anyway).
I took it for a test drive and decided that this would be the new Mountain Cabin transport wagon. Some may call this cavalier but sometimes you gotta go with your instinct. Before parting with the cash I haggled using the seatbelt issues as leverage, the owner was adamant but knocked $100 off the price.
The next two days saw the truck legal and ready for the road. All being well this should see good use at the mountain land for the next 5 years before replacement.Behold the White Wolf!
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From This...
To This took a week:
In that time I waited for it to melt a bit more I explored about a bit.
Utah:
Idaho:
W. Yellowstone:
Yellowstone Park.
I entered Yellowstone having paid my $25 for a seven-day pass.
As I drove through the Yellowstone Highway every now and then a line of cars were just parked up witnessing some spectacle of mother nature.
I saw three elk, ducks and at one point a small brown bear that scuttled across the road so quickly I had no chance to get a picture.
Biscuit Basin:
A trip to Yellowstone wouldn't be complete without a visit to the legendary Old Faithful geyser.
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The wild plains of Wyoming were like a buffer zone between the Tetons and the next wave of National Forests.
I made it to Casper having passed through some characterful towns of Central Wyoming. The oil and gas industry is big here, lots of fabrication, manufacturing keeping folks in decent work. I sure can understand it's a better place to work than in some desert hellhole elsewhere that's for damned sure.
I picked up some .22WMR ammo from the bare shelves where .22LR used to be then did some routine shopping. I met a few interesting people here and there, amazed and surprised at a far-flung Briton in their midst.
I doubt they'd met many that had some mountain land and made sure to return another day before hitting the road again...
Mountain Entrance - The Way In
A week later and things were looking up, a helpful cabin neighbor had used his snowcat to plough the snow drifts apart so a causeway wide enough for a single vehicle at a time was created.
Driving through it I stifled the notion of the wall of snow suddenly cascading down and drove deeper into the gulch.
Once again though the obstacles of fate appeared. This time a tree lay in my path, lacking the means to shift it at that time I went around the ways coming in via the rough-rider trail.
This is a dangerous part of the Hold, one person was injured and another sadly slain when their ATV went tumble-down on a corner. I took it slow and in manual gear and was soon facing into the fabled Mountain Hold.
Look how much snow is still about the place! It’s nearly July and still snow lingers in great drifts and clumps!
I did a quick recce for bears, predators, signs of intruders etc but found none thankfully. This done I scrambled about getting things pre-prepared for later arrival. I had a cabin to build and what's more a mystery guest was due to arrive in about a week too.
Got some free sawdust from the local sawmill. Handy for chemical / composting toilets.
Nice and cool at the underground storage area too:
The drifts may not have looked steep but believe me I had to use my tough oil rig boots and lots of scrambling to get up them otherwise you'd slip and tumble-down them...
After about 3 hours of lazily, carefully and gingerly sliding about, climbing over and across the vast snowdrifts I was ready to tackle the tree barring the way in directly.
In my book felling trees across roadways kept the bad folk from getting to the Hold, but as it’s not the apocalypse just yet I set about dragging the fir tree clear, hopefully my civic prowess raising the vibe with some of the other cabineers while I was at it…
The interesting thing about the tree was it wasn’t like most that fell over due to snowpack but it was quite neatly snapped about a quarter of the way up. Perhaps it was a sudden gust of Wyoming wind or a lightning bolt? Whatever it was I got the proper rope attached, put her in manual top gear and began hauling ass!
The massive 5.7 V8 didn’t miss a beat and those bad ass tires I'd had put on it helped a lot. Within less than a minute it was all over and the way to the Hold was open once more...
I might return later and chainsaw the tree into log-sections, unless someone beats me to it that is…
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Toiling of the Land
Having been on the Hold for over 3 weeks I was soon in the routine of things, yet in that time much happened.
Here is gathering water in the pristine wilderness from the fresh water spring!
Most of June and July saw the Great Golden Gates nearing completion.
Although MMM had not said anything I wanted to get them at least mounted before starting on my cabin build.
And get them ready I did.
Then it was time to work on the final gate frame, this would need mounting as well, no mean feat let me tell you...
After 2 days of labor I'd sized, peeled, spiked and attached the hinge straps plus hammered and screwed in the hinge bolts. The weight of the frame must have been at least 180lbs and even with Mike's help the height to the top hinge bolt was nearly ten feet!
After the first attempt at lifting it resulted in it nearly falling we took a break.
I used a couple of branches as a crude pulley and got a rope attached to the top horizontal log on the frame. Then with the fortunate passing of a couple of other cabin neighbors we got it mounted.
A bracer was soon attached by lag screws in the middle and bottom sections leaving it hanging about quite happily.
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A lot of it is content that's been written in advance, while in the car on the way to the town, sitting on a bus, that kind of thing. I didn't know last year when I happened upon his posts and videos and as it turns out he's totally legit. Spends his summers working high up in the hills and getting down to the town to upload videos or send email and post replies sporadically.
It makes for an interesting burst of stuff when WR is finished the season on the mountain and pulls everything together, all the stuff that's gone on other boards, youtube, emails and puts it together in a thread. Might read a little strange, but shouldn't once you know what the background is all about.
BTW, if it's too much information too fast, read slower. And WR probably doesn't care if you 'believe' him or not. I don't know him but I've watched many of his videos and read many of his posts and it's pretty plain to see, he's not exactly a social conformist.
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Here's the next databurst, someone make sure Esel is strapped in, don't want to see them falling out and getting their feathers fluffled :
The winds of Wyoming blow and blow but up at the Hold much of the turbulent air breezes on above us at about 10,000 feet.
Clouds breeze by like ships of the air and against the bluey sky it makes for a nice spectacle for you all to enjoy...
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Not Your Ornery OnagerJoin Date:Posts: 21557
Don't mind me, I was a bit OTT there all right.Watch Ryder wrote: »Hmm, interesting wordage from you.
It's me and I'm releasing content from the adventure in a datastream, just go with it and be in the moment...
Or do I need to take a picture of myself holding a paper with 'Watch Ryder' on it?:rolleyes:;)
Not your ornery onager
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The Mountain Cabin
This is what it looked like before:
My work began almost as soon as I had, with Mike's expert guidance on the area, chosen a site to call my own. The access to the area was steep and the sloping terrain would deter lesser folk unused to such rugged lands but I faced down any notion of being deterred.
The first order of the day was to level the land so a 16 x 16 cabin could be built. The dirt and rock that was to be removed could not just be flung about randomly either, I'd need to landscape it into the mountain.
Mike helpfully suggested using some of his long metal fencing posts as bracers for the logs that would be laid down horizontally for shoring. I readily agreed and got the Poulon buzzed up to make up the logs from dead wood laying about the place.
Following some careful placement all I had to do now was level the land and add to the shoring once the dirt reached the top of each log etc.
This was day one of digging and I took off the first layer of grouse berry grass where I was going to make my first cutting.
Day 2.
Mike was surprized at my industrious capacity and reckoned I'd have it level within 25 days, we shall see...0 -
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Day 5
Getting the tools and gear up to the cabin site was being a pain so I used some tarp for shelter both from the elements and from the bright color of some of the objects from standing out. Nosy passersby, some not even residents / guests of the area, would occasionally look up / about as they drove on by from the private road...
By this stage of the cutting the bigger rocks were starting to make an appearance. Some of them were quite strange, others were nice and flat. These would make for a useful rock-building project someday methinks.
Land is slowly but surely getting leveled.
Day 6
That's the last update on the cabin build for now, the landscaping is about 1/3 done and hopefully the remaining 2/3s will be not too difficult...
The Mountain Evacuation
So just before we departed from the mountain range we encountered one of the usually bothersome cabin neighbors. Having chatted with him for a while he said he'd be leaving shortly and that was that we thought.
As I was removing some things from the dead Wolverine vehicle the neighbor drove over again in quite a state.
I overheard that his wife was in a state of poor health due to the elevation and Mike began gesturing that there was an emergency, EMERGENCY he howled like a wolf.
Emergency indeed, but what to do?
So we jumped in his Japanese 4WD sedan and zoomed over to his cabin.
His wife was indeed in a state of immobile disarray and not only was it necessary to get her out of the cabin to the car (then down to a lower elevation town where a clinic could take a look at her) but we had to somehow get her down and through an upper floor hatch!
It was accessible only by a ladder and I quickly thought up a plan of action. I asked the distressed husband of the woman (who was in her 80s) if he had any thick rope.
He had rope but it was less than a 1/4 thickness in diameter, certainly not ideal for what I had in mind.
The wife of him was in no state to stand, crawl or even roll about making the job very challenging. The good news was she was only a small little thing probably about 160lbs and quite docile.
The man of the house told us she was fine coming up to the mountain but overnight her health had deteriorated to the point that she would not get up in the morning, it was like extreme lethargy was upon her, possibly delerium also.
For me nausea and discomfort was normally the worst if I was struck by altitude sickness, but at the Hold it did not affect me thankfully (strange as the altitude is much higher than Denver where I got hit by it).
Anyway I kept cool and semi-took charge, or at least did the best of it given I was in the mans inner-domain of the bedchamber with his wife!
I described that the best way to get her down was to effect the rope similar to how helicopter rescue folks winch people up and out of danger, except we'd be lowering her down. The rope / harness goes under the armpits and behind the head. As long as she kept her arms down all would be well. He agreed and I directed things a little bit.
The man of the house and I would be lowering her down through the hatch while Mike had the less glamorous but most important job of taking her lower half and guiding her down the steps to the ground.
The rope was substituted for twisted bedsheets, something I was ok with but the length of them would mean we'd be leaning down some of the way until she reached the ground. This meant a risk of falling but such are the ways.
After shuffling and cajoling her we had her down the hatch and MMM guided her feet onto the rungs as best he could, we both above took the weight all the time and gingerly payed out slack in this fashion.
All went well until the sheets began to reach their extent and leaning through the hatch was required, with Mike down below he gently lowered her the final 3-4 feet. Mike later said that despite her short stature and frame she was deceptively heavy, some folks have that effect on others when carried I've noticed. Dead weight is a dangerous factor in rescues.
Anyway once down on the ground a stretcher was required and a ladder was brought out along with plyboard. Mike got some thick blanket duvets and pillows on top and I got some rope doubled up and made so as to strap her in securely. I made a loop with the doubled over rope, reeved the live end through it so as to make it tight, then secured the bight with a timber-hitch and half-hitch type completion. She wasn't falling off the stretcher that was for sure!
Then the husband fussed about getting insurance papers ready while Mike and I wondered at the whole strange event.
As he got the car ready I made sure the casualty was still responsive and she was, but I got the impression that she was thinking it was a dream and drifted in and out of awareness.
With the car ready (back seats down and cleared there was just enough room for her to be laid down in the back) we stretchered her out of the cabin and down to it. Ladders don't make the best of stretchers but we made the 200 yard distance without stopping and had her in the vehicle for evacuation.
Some may wonder why we didn't just call in an ambulance from the nearest city but the last time there was an emergency on the mountain help took 2 hours to arrive and struggled to find the area to turn off!
As they zoomed down the mountain road we followed to learn what was what.
At the clinic the neighbor thanked us and said that the doctor wanted to take her to a hospital! It may well have been more than just mere altitude sickness, yet certainly it was an aggravating factor in my opinion. Indeed had she spent another night on the mountain it may have proved fatal!
That was that and the drama ended, we may learn more from him if we see him again in a few months time...0 -
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Almost got my land leveled at the cabin site.
This area is where the trail will run to, it'll be widened too eventually.
Making the square.
Getting a trench dug for the posts:
This will be one of the purlin logs, the log behind it will be a wall post all being well.
This was my second full-length tree that I felled...
It was dead, not partly rotted like the last one and fell quite nicely, I had to leave it overnight due to crazy rainfall, but in the morning down it fell following some mallet-work with the wedges...
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Dragging a felled tree to the cabin site!
Peeling all this bark took some time...
Digging out the trench for the main cabin.
Here's the cable wire I set up to get the posts lifted off the ground (for the main cabin).
Post is in place!
So far so good. 0 -
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The voltage gets to about 14 volts and over then backs down as the charge controller kicks in. I've managed nearly 7 AMPS at peak suntime too
By the time I’d relocated to the Golden Hill with my tent and some of my supplies things were starting to get underway with the cabin site. While I hadn’t even finished the cabin trench a corner post and a wall post were in place and I’d managed to get the floor frame level for the a Log Shed.
The Bear Cometh...
September and October, Mike had cautioned me, were the bear months when they’d be out and about on the prowl. One of our neighbors had gone out on the first day of hunting season to bow-hunt them and this would no doubt encourage them to mooch into the Mountain Hold territory.
On the 2nd of September the bear raided the lower reaches of the Hold. He was a somewhat bold one as he’d gone within ten feet of MMM’s own tent where he was sleeping to ransack some of my food cases. I’d figured that the noises we’d be making by day with chainsaws, guns, mechanical bangs and clouts would deter the bears but this one tore open a blue supply box and cheekily tore into my powdered milk and cereal foods. All this took place in the silent hours in the dead of night which is when black bears are normally active.
In the morning I descended from my cabin site and saw the mess. Mike had already seen the damage which wasn’t much but galvanized him into relocated to his own cabin work site. I helped where I could while I cleaned up the mess.
On the 5th of September the bear returned. This time he’d timed his raid very early in the night, just after 2000 hrs to be exact.
I heard some noises and a thunk of a box falling from a table. No doubt he was out to rummage through my blue box again! Although I’d moved all the perishable food stuffs away into my truck for the most part Mike’s own supply tent was a few feet away and the door-flap was broken making it an easy target.
I drew out my trusty CZ 75 P7 and fired off an aimed warning shot in the hillside. I was so focused on the moment I hardly noticed the loudness of the firearm, yet the report echoed out across the mountain valleys and gulches nicely, in a most cinematic fashion.
Mike came over, perhaps concerned I’d accidentally shot off a round or just shot off a round. I told him the bear was back and it ought to be deterred with man’s technological prowess over the beasts (or words to that effect). MMM’s method is much simpler and not really my style – he took up a piece of wood and a flashlight to investigate.
I must give Mike his due for courage and I followed with my CCW weapon along with my Mosin Nagant and the bayonet extended!
At the lower Hold my blue box was on the floor again with a set of fang marks in it. Despite searching the area with both our flashlights the bear had scarpered, my warning shot had done the trick, or so I thought…
MMM made some hullaballo and banging sounds with his wooden cudgel while I looked on.
“Don’t just wound the bear if you shoot!” Growled MMM at me.
He had no need to worry about that, if it charged at me or him I’d be giving it all 15 rounds of FMJ and Hydrashok HPs left in my pistol!
After the drama was over we returned to our tents.
Then at 0300 hrs…
There was a terrific tent-rending sound from the lower Hold and the noises of items being trashed, our furry nuisance was back and it sounded ****ed-off.
Nevertheless I wasn’t about to sit in my tent at the Upper Hold while it destroyed our stuff either. I couldn’t tell if it was attacking my cabin tent or Mike’s supply tent in the Gulch. Firing off another warning shot would only wake Mike up again and I didn’t want to have to face two angry bears.
Nevertheless I set out to drive away the bear by getting closer and not using a distant warning shot. I’d shoot close by this time and face my fate. Black bears, which it was almost likely to be are much less dangerous than grizzly bears though, so typically a human-encounter will , most times, result in the black bear backing away, especially when it’s away in anothers territory.
On donning cold-clothing and my EDC I went down the mountain again, pistol in one hand and my torch in the other scanning this way and that. As I passed the cabin tent I saw it was intact, this was reasurring and I heard the sounds of the bear moving away out of the lower Hold and up into the national forest, towards the fresh water spring.
The beast was clumsy, branches and twigs cracking as it went. My torch beam and presence was doing the trick and I reached Mike’s supply tent.
The beast had not just made a mess of the tent via the entrance flap, it had utterly destroyed it! In true predatory style it had rended it’s way through the sides and then swept all off the supply tents contents across and outsite! Careful sifting was not it’s style and I felt bad for Mike, most of his food was not in there thankfully but a lot of useful nick-nacks and miscellanious stuff was.
I went to Mike’s tent and told him the bad news. He didn’t answer me but in the morning he told me he’d heard my words.
This is picture after Mike had cleared half the mess up, I’d glad no-one was in there when it happened. First my powdered milk and cereal and now Mike’s tent had been raided, I wondered if it would be bold enough to try and raid the Upper Hold where our new cabin sites were dotted about?!
That day there was a gunshot from about a mile away and I wondered if the bear was being discouraged from raided another cabin elsewhere…
The next few nights saw the bear return, there was less chaos this time and he seemed to like sleeping on the ruins of the old supply tent. As he was not assaulting the Upper Hold an uneasy truce ensured, I remarked to Mike that it was like the bear was taking over the lower Hold by night while we maintained the high ground. I decided there’d be no more warning shots, unless it started making moves on my tent. Mike’s way was noise and angry words, plus his sidearm if necessary.
With the drama subsided for the most part I resumed the building of the storage cabin…0 -
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Log Shed, Storage Cabin
The storage cabin was essential if I was to have a bear-proof refuge for my stuff while I was away for whatever reason. It had to be simple, rugged and take me less than a month to build.
Unlike my primary cabin which is a sizable 14 x 16’ this one would be tiny – only 4 x 6’. Nor would it be too fancy or require sophisticated lifting methods but it would mean I’d have to put my cabin build on hold until next year alas.
Nevertheless I rushed it a bit - not bothering to even concrete 3 of the 4 corner posts and deliberately not making any square calculations.
I corrected with some extra posts, and piered the footings with rocks, then made a floor frame. Once I’d leveled it I set about building the walls.
For this it would half-log cladding, I’d use froe, mallet and splitting wedges to achieve a true rustic, rugged effect.
Here’s one wall almost done.
For the roof Mike generously let me use plenty of his left-over lodgepole logs that were between 6’ and 9’ long. After many trips up and down the slope I had quite the stack building up, nevetheless there never seemed to be enough.
My tents pretty crowded since getting the supplies up from the lower Hold area.
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Thanks mate, here's something you may enjoy...
A thread set in the USA wouldn't be complete without some gunplay.
Before anyone get's gimpy I jumped through all the legal hoops (weapons bought at gunshops with correct paperwork etc etc. CCW license obtained etc) and passed the background checks.
Anyways, here's some of what I bought
Taking it out for a test-drive on the private range
Some fun with the AR-15 'Evil Black Rifle'
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On my way back from a shopping trip in a nearby city I nearly ended up as a crashed Ryder!
But kept it on the highway and cruised back to town for two new tyres. This near-blown one was over ten years old!
Here's the damage it did to the inner wheel arch! It cracked the wing mirror when the cap ripped off the tyre too! It was like a semi-truck shedding and quite awesome to behold, while keeping the pickup from crashing off the interstate that is.
Picture of the wheel arch damaged by the remold shedding its 'skin'
This was taken after it had been partially bent back, a mallet had to be used to get it the rest of the way...0 -
There's a Bear in the Woods!
Last night I was chucking M-150 fire crackers outside my tent and the big beast was discouraged!
I threw one badly and it nearly landed on my tent! Thankfully it just blew a hole in a tarp instead.
The past few days have not been kind overall. While I was at a lower elevation recovering from altitude sickness the bear destroyed my tent and some food supplies. On my return in them morning I had to drive all the way to the nearest city to buy a new tent and some supplies!
My charge controller also broke (my fault in working 'live' while rewiring the inverter system) but I got a new one ordered in.
Just got two walls up entirely plus a third partially ready. Then it's just the door and I'll have a bear-proof (hopefully) Cabin Shed!
On the upswing though the sun has been shining for four days straight instead of the Mordor-esque clouds of early Sept....0 -
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For the side walls I needed something with raw weight and toughness to give much needed mass. I found it in a tree I'd felled a few weeks earlier. It wasn't quite straight enough for long posts but for a short wall log it was perfect.
Folks, it's time to meet the first of the Balbek Logs! I call them this because they dwarf the smaller logs and also pay homage to the mighty Baalbek stones of ancient times...
I mounted, drilled and bolted this in myself which was quite a feat (foolhardy with the drop-off directly behind me but I managed it).
For the second Balbek Log MMM helped me as it was too high to even dare suspended from one arm alone!
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Getting the roof on was not going to be easy, not only was the roof pitch in excess of 45 degrees (about 45.5 or 12.2?) but I'd never laid a roof before.
Still there's only one way to find out and that's to get stuck in and at it!
Plywood wall trimmed.
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Time for the plywood roof to get installed!
As much as I like being ultra-self reliant, 4x8 plywood at 1/2 inch is too awkward and once again help was essential in lifting and holding while I lined it up for drilling...
Tarpaper is going up! I've not installed this the correct way though, as I ought to have to running along the roof and not from top to bottom. Hopefully they'll be no leakage issues...
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Watch Ryder wrote: »It's pretty bad ass and designed to deter a bear from pulling it apart!
That I was thinking of, but the fact it was only two of them left me wondering if there was another reason for the larger size.
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Getting the asphalt shingles on.
A friendly neighbor let me have a bundle of these for free, but strangely would not let me have the paired second bundle, little did I know this would later bite me on the behind, but more on that later.Starter Course
Subsequent courses.
I ran out of shingle and had a devil of a time getting more of the same type and shading.
I got the last bundle at a nearby store but even that wasn't enough! I need a third bundle!
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This is what I made three of the logs into.
I suspend it from a chainblock and cut it from top to bottom with a chainsaw!
It was much easier than leaning it against a tree. I'll be using a saw-horse in future times though...
I managed to install it myself! It was as heavy as the first ones but I semi-cheated by passing it in from the interior of the structure and the rafters helped keep it from toppling down to the ground. I added the bracers shortly afterwards. When MMM came by later to see how I was getting on he initially thought I used a winch. :cool:
The other Balbek Log I cut into two smaller pieces and here they are on the alcove side.
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This is what the rain looks like when it drains off the roof, it's a foot clear of the posts too keeping it far enough to keep subsistence down to a minimum.
I'll add some stones to this at a later stage so it doesn't erode the ground away.
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My neighbor kindly let me have an old door from the materials stockpile. He told its tale and made mention that it's at least 100 years old! From a relation in homestead lands it now has new purpose at the Ryder's Redoubt.
Thanks for that one Mike!
With his help this and other materials soon arrived and it was time to get the door screwed into place...
Getting a door on is no mean feat but with shims, boxes and other things to level it up I managed to get it square and installed.
Ready and I've got a hasp lock installed too, I'd like to see a bear figure its way into that one.
We had a man with his two sons come down yesterday to get some firewood and whilst getting it Mike related how one of the sons took down a grouse with nothing less than a small rock!
From about 50 yards distance the lad hurled the stone like a baseball pitcher and hit the bird square on the head! It flopped and wobbled about before Mike insisted they finish it off and so they did (with a bigger rock) before promptly stuffing the thing away for some grouse dinner. 0 -
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This is the last day at the Mountain Hold and the weather began to close in like a mystical mountain fog...
The Cabin Shed / Storehouse is complete and the great rain and snow looms in the coming days. I only just reached the construction-finished point with days to spare before my return to prison island uk and here's the final pictures of it.
The gaps and crannies have been sealed, with the exception of the rafter-gaps which I did not have time to block off with noggins etc.
So while I've hopefully got the deer mice and voles sealed off from the interior squirrels and maybe a pika will take up (temporary) residence, plus perhaps a wasps nest over the winter.
The morning of departure was a busy one, not only was there a lot to do but the temperature was freezing.
Just look at the roof!
Icy coverings were everywhere but the sun shone bright and soon melted it all away...
Mike helped brace up the cabin, hopefully it won't end up tumbling down under the weight of the snow but as a safeguard several logs like this will help prevent it.
It's my first ever building I've built myself (with lifting assistance and some advice from MMM of course).
I can only hope it will stand the test of winter! I real test at 9,500 feet in the Rocky Mountains, time will tell...
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Ok, this will probably be the last post for now, thanks for all your views, support and encouragement.
I must be away to other realms and adventures alas but I will leave you with this video showing the making of small cabin-shed.
As always, may Eire be with you. 0 -
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