Cabin Life

[Lost River]

I figured I would put up some random pics here. Part of these are from my most recent trip to the cabin, which was the weekend of the Eclipse. I had guests come visit and it was definitely the most people I have ever had present at the cabin at one time.

Anyways, a couple days prior to this, I had been up early and stepped outside to answer natures call when I heard the familiar "Meeeww" of a cow elk. There were a bunch of cows, calves and spikes hanging out just about 120 yards behind the cabin. When they saw me they headed for higher up in the basin to hang out in the Mountain Mahogany trees, which give them plenty of shelter from the heat that would come later in the morning.

The Mountain Mahogany trees are deceptive to those not familiar with this country.

They drive by and think "scrub brush" and that there is no game in there, as they would be able to see it.

https://i.imgur.com/BfHY1xY.jpg?1

What they don't realize is that what looks like "brush" are dense patches of trees that the elk like to hide in.



https://i.imgur.com/1mWBRHH.jpg?1


https://i.imgur.com/FmkFw9X.jpg?2

https://i.imgur.com/OW2ymYN.jpg?1

[Lost River]

https://i.imgur.com/o4DAXiu.jpg


I took some old barn tin and lined around the area where my little wood stove is, Plus added a 2x10 top. I am not really sure what to do, as far as a type of finish for the top of the 2x10.

https://i.imgur.com/dU9qBUa.jpg

The picture does not show it due to the light, but on the other side of the wall is the stairs to the basement, where we have a bunk bed and keep food. It does not freeze down there in the winter, and stays cooler in the summer. I could have built a larger cabin, square footage wise, but I really wanted a basement for for such reasons. :cool:

[Arbninftry]

You have a really nice set up. The ultimate man cave. I would probably stay permanently, if I had a setup like that. Have you spent much time in the winter there? How are the snow drifts?

[LOKNLOD]

Love these posts, LR.

[Lost River]

Airborne,

Thanks for the Kudos Friend! The cabin has been a lifelong dream, and is a pay-as-I-go project. I do small construction projects as finances allow, so I don't owe anything. The place is far from fancy, but it is solid. Due to the extreme cold temps of winter, when we insulated the place, we went really packed it in heavy. It may be small in size, but short of catastrophic fire, it should last generations. Hopefully my kid's kids will be sitting in chairs around the campfire out front sipping beverages one day telling stories about childhood trips to the place.

Right now I don't have a well, as water is over 400' deep, and is going to cost a significant amount of $$ to have dug. This last year or so we had some significant financial issues that really set us back, so the well is not going to happen any time soon. The bad part was we were really close too, but sometimes life throws some really bad things at you, and it was our turn I suppose to have some serious setbacks.

For now we will keep hauling water up and sticking it in the barrels, that have spigots in them. Plus the outhouse has a nice window with a great view of the basin where the elk were hanging out! :cool:

Plus we consider this our fallback point if the world completely falls apart. Our neighbor has a well, and is truly a fantastic guy. He is definitely a guy you would want in such times, as he has multiple doctorates in engineering, and builds a lot of his own things.

As far as winter goes, I snowshoe in to the place after elk season when the drifts get too big to drive in. The neighbor has a huge tractor, with an enclosed cab that he plows his drive out to the highway (about a half mile driveway), and he lets me park at his place and snowshoe into mine, which significantly shortens the trip.


https://i.imgur.com/1CfLn4V.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/vvbknLl.jpg


From the porch

https://i.imgur.com/fMNfjdc.jpg

[Jay585]

Lost River, I hope someday to have the same thing going. I thought I wanted a cabin in Alaska, but after seeing how expensive it is there, I decided to find a clone here in the lower-48.

Finally accomplished goal #1, and that is get to Idaho. Now to get up north towards Sandpoint and scope the area out. Have you been up that way?

[Lost River]

Springtime from a couple years back:

This is not too far from the cabin.

https://i.imgur.com/3AWgvVp.jpg?1



And from the Eclipse weekend:

Our Minions were freaking Filthy!



https://i.imgur.com/UIqOxAy.jpg




I have never had more than 2 or 3 guests at the cabin at once, so that weekend was pretty fun. Lots of folks, lots of fun.

https://i.imgur.com/kMirljC.jpg


My oldest kiddo and an Idaho gentleman who showed up with his crew to watch the eclipse and talk about .44 magnums and such.

https://i.imgur.com/pfsJY9E.jpg?1


A SPECIAL THANKS TO PAUL D !

Here is the Chronograph he put up in the Karma section being used to document loads off the new shooting bench:

https://i.imgur.com/jOGmjwk.jpg

My awesome neighbor built this. He has one identical to it right out his front door, and steel targets out to a grand. He literally can walk 20 feet out his front door, sit down and start ringing steel. :cool: I had previously hauled up 10 80 pound bags on concrete (he used 9) and he brought down his tractor to auger out the holes. He spent a significant amount of time on this bench , even topping it with trex decking. It is seriously rock solid, and the cattle can scratch against it all day and it is not going to budge!

https://i.imgur.com/8t8rMwM.jpg?1

[MistWolf]

That gentleman looks familiar :D

https://i.imgur.com/pfsJY9E.jpg?1

That's not filthy. That's just a good start for a happy child

https://i.imgur.com/UIqOxAy.jpg

[Lost River]

When the full eclipse happened the temps dropped significantly and the fire felt pretty darned good.


https://i.imgur.com/yqoCMbS.jpg


A close up of the Mahogany trees that look like scrub brush from a distance, through some forest fire smoke. People not familiar totally dismiss it at a distance as scrub brush. Los of game hide out in the stuff.

https://i.imgur.com/jhVCQEq.jpg?1



It is a somewhat crowded valley....

https://i.imgur.com/k6s8EyS.jpg?1

[Lost River]

Lost River, I hope someday to have the same thing going. I thought I wanted a cabin in Alaska, but after seeing how expensive it is there, I decided to find a clone here in the lower-48.

Finally accomplished goal #1, and that is get to Idaho. Now to get up north towards Sandpoint and scope the area out. Have you been up that way?

I have spent a bit of time in north Idaho. It has rather dense forests, and not a whole lot of wide open spaces as compared to many other parts of the state. While very pretty, it also sees a significant amount of rain and snow. I am much more fond of the central part of the state.

[willie]

Have you considered installing gutters for trapping and directing rain water into barrels? Before electricity became available in the rural South(after 1945 in many places)cisterns were used to store trapped rain water.

[DamonL]

Your rifle range is awesome and that is an understatement.

[Lost River]

Have you considered installing gutters for trapping and directing rain water into barrels? Before electricity became available in the rural South(after 1945 in many places)cisterns were used to store trapped rain water.

That is not a bad idea, but I honestly don't want anything on the roof that will catch the snow and cause it to build up. It has a pretty steep pitch, so it slides right off, which is preferred, since in post big game season, it might be a couple months at a time between visits. Good idea though. We have some 45ish gallon pickle barrels with spigots and haul up 5 gallons jugs, and it works well.

Eventually the well will happen. If life would stop throwing curve balls into my face that would help immensely!

[Lost River]

Your rifle range is awesome and that is an understatement.

Thanks!

I only have a few steel targets up at 600, 700 and 800. There is a target board at 100 yards, but the cattle scratching against it have broken one of the posts, so I need to repair it. Plus I would REALLY like to rent a tractor and take out a bunch of sagebrush for a straight path to the target board. No shortage of projects! Only a shortage of funds. :)



https://i.imgur.com/nixT3XJ.jpg

Like the Johnny Cash song: One piece at a time...

[Totem Polar]

Again: epic, LR.

[SeriousStudent]

Your guest list is definitely "A List", sir. I would be honored and humbled to have Mr Hackathorn as a guest at my abode.

And I know you were joking, but an outhouse with a good view is truly an important thing. As a child, I often had a chance to ponder the view of a beautiful mesa from one. It created an appreciation of the desert that exists to this day.

Along with an appreciation of indoor plumbing in the winter. :cool:

[Paul D]

I think I've told you this before but you sir are very rich. Absolute heaven.

[ACP230]

I was hunting deer in Utah and saw a large red bovine wandering through brush that looked
sort of like the stuff in your pictures.
I mentioned it back at the truck later and one of the locals asked me,
"You know what we call those around here?"
"No."
"Slow elk."

Good pics of good country.

[Malamute]

Thanks!

I only have a few steel targets up at 600, 700 and 800. There is a target board at 100 yards, but the cattle scratching against it have broken one of the posts, so I need to repair it. Plus I would REALLY like to rent a tractor and take out a bunch of sagebrush for a straight path to the target board. No shortage of projects! Only a shortage of funds. :)



https://i.imgur.com/nixT3XJ.jpg

Like the Johnny Cash song: One piece at a time...

It would be slow, but cheap. I made a choker out of 3/8 or 1/2" wire rope (cable) and pulled sagebrush with the front hook on my truck. Had an guy loop the brush, I backed up (so I could see what was going on), he unhooked it, looped up another,.....

[Totem Polar]

Quick question, LostRiver: how's the air quality where you are? It sucks up north right now, and y'all are in the thick of things.



Your guest list is definitely "A List", sir. I would be honored and humbled to have Mr Hackathorn as a guest at my abode.

And I know you were joking, but an outhouse with a good view is truly an important thing. As a child, I often had a chance to ponder the view of a beautiful mesa from one. It created an appreciation of the desert that exists to this day.

Along with an appreciation of indoor plumbing in the winter. :cool:

The Hack pic is definitely part of the entire amazing package.

This is horribly OT, but, a story:

When I was a lad, our house was on the last street in town before the landscape and city limits gave way to pines and rolling wheat fields that went on forever. The bathroom on the second floor had a window that opened up to overlook our back yard, and then said expanse. The window sill was also the perfect height to use as a bench rest whilst ensconced on the crapper. So throughout the last of elementary school, all of middle school, and the first year of high school, part of my after school ritual was to retire to the can for a dump, and a few minutes of quality time with the crossman 766 hammering Starlings.

If one believes in traditional eastern Karma, I am almost certain to come back as a Starling, over and over through the course of a century, before I get another shot at being a middle-class dude in the PacNW again.

[Lost River]

It would be slow, but cheap. I made a choker out of 3/8 or 1/2" wire rope (cable) and pulled sagebrush with the front hook on my truck. Had an guy loop the brush, I backed up (so I could see what was going on), he unhooked it, looped up another,.....


Excellent Idea Malamute!

A bit of brush immediately surrounding the cabin has been cleared away, but I would like every piece withing a 50 yard radius cleared, in case of a range fire, which is my biggest concern for the place, plus a nice straight path from the bench to the 100 yard target board.

Sidheshooter,

The air quality was terrible at the cabin the weekend of the eclipse. A number of time you could not see the entire mountain range across the valley floor, which is normally crystal clear. Everything was very smokey due to the fires. A couple of times the winds would switch up and we would get a wind from the south and it would clear things up a bit, or a quick shower, which helped even more, but overall, the smoke was pretty thick.

Pretty funny story about shooting out of the 2nd story window. When I was rodeoing, I had a good friend who had a ranch in Cambridge Idaho. From the second story window he had a pretty commanding view, and told me of shooting a number of animals including if I recall right (I think it was that window), a cow elk.

I used to have one of those old crossman pistols, a 1377 pump pistols, and from my bedroom window I had about a 20 yard shot to the horse trough. The various birds would be watering at the trough, and I would pick them off, except the Robins and Killdeers. Doves were free game though!

[Malamute]

If you make one, I suggest using the eyelets on the cable loops, and a double clevis link for the slip on the loop. Mine bound up and was hard to get released when choked up tight until I used the double clevis.

[11B10]

LR, thanks again for sharing your beautiful world with us city folk.

[Lester Polfus]

If you make one, I suggest using the eyelets on the cable loops, and a double clevis link for the slip on the loop. Mine bound up and was hard to get released when choked up tight until I used the double clevis.

I made a rig very much like that to pull some pernicious, waist and shoulder high scotch broom and it worked real well.

Not sure how old your kids are, but if one is old enough to set the choker, and the other is old enough to work the gas and brake, it might keep 'em busy for a few days....

[Lost River]

This is a pic of the oldest one, taken this last weekend at a mounted cowboy action shoot in Washington.

https://i.imgur.com/qafPcgZ.jpg

She has a driving permit and could certainly be the "wheelman", but the other 2 minions are very young!


Here is the middle one from last Christmas Eve day's Jackrabbit Safari.

Stuffed animal in one hand...

https://i.imgur.com/nmy2QvW.jpg

And the mini Minion, who likes to run around the house screeching like Curious George, while jumping off the furniture...:eek:


https://i.imgur.com/xoFdfal.jpg


There is a reason why when I go to the cabin, I usually try to go alone, or maybe just with Henry.... My house is LOUD!

[Malamute]

The stuffed animal in hand while hunting is too cute! :D

[Lester Polfus]

That's awesome. You are blessed (and I understand why you have the cabin)

[richiecotite]

How much land do you have at the cabin? How long is the drive from your house to the cabin?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WDR]

And the mini Minion, who likes to run around the house screeching like Curious George, while jumping off the furniture...:eek:


My grandfather used to call my cousins, brother, and I "House Apes"... I never really understood, until I had children of my own.