Finishing the Bunkhouse

We left early Sunday morning and met James and Mark up at Tobies in Hinckley for some breakfast. When we got to the cabin site, we decided to cut down the Oak tree adjacent to the Bunkhouse. Removing this tree was necessary because during a high wind the Oak could get pushed over and destroy the Bunkhouse.

This tree leaned over the Bunkhouse, so we needed to set up a block and tackle system to put a little tension on the Oak in order to coax it the right direction when we cut the tree. We also set up a safety line using a come-along to provide a little more tension.

I didn't want to smash the Bunkhouse while cutting down a tree that might smash the Bunkhouse during heavy winds.

With Mark and Corey putting tension on the Oak, James making sure the overall operation was safe, and me running the saw, we dropped the Oak tree right where we wanted the tree to land. Not a scratch on the Bunkhouse.

Corey and Mark also finished up the roof, James installed the second window, James and I installed the door on the Bunkhouse, and Corey and I built a couple of bunks.

Progress...Slow & Sure

Projects

We are starting to make things a little more civilized. This week we made up a bench for the deck, a table for cooking, and installed the bunks and shelving.

Friendly Faces at McGowan Lake

James...relaxing...in my chair

Corey...taking a break after busting his tail all week.

Jackie...waving sharp objects in the vicinity of others.

Addie...looking a little droopy eyed after a long drive up to the camp site.

Clearing the Cabin Site

We spent a couple of days cutting trees and clearing the future cabin site. We had to cut about twenty trees; then haul and stack them. I believe we have enough firewood for the next couple of years.

We are cutting the stumps down flush with the ground which is really hard on the chainsaws; however, the stumps are way too big to pull with the tractor. We pretty much have the cabin area cleared and we staked out the cabin so that it will face south. We will, likely, need to cut a few more trees to to the south in order to let in a little more sunlight.

I had a local welder "Curly" weld up a log arch that I can use behind a tractor or four-wheeler. This arch works great, we used the arch and pulled a couple of thirty foot poplars around the building site.

20 Hour Day

I picked up Corey butt early (about 4:50 a.m.) and headed to McGowan Lake; we returned about midnight...one long-assed day. Corey and Addie have a concert on Saturday so we didn't stay over night.

I was hoping to get the bunk house roof shored up, the shingles installed, and get a start on clearing land for the cabin. Like always, this was a significant underestimate as to the amount of time required to get things completed. We finished making the rafters longer, we installed the roof felt, and we shingled half the roof.

This is why I like Hinckley and cabin building. Things can't be rushed, they don't go quickly, and to make progress you have to be persistent. For example Just getting materials back in the woods is challenge, we have about 3-4 days into hauling things back to the cabin site. Yesterday, we used the new skidding yoke that I just made up because the last time we skidded in equipment, the load dumped 3 or 4 times. This time, I only lost the load twice. This is improvement, but not what I was hoping for (considering each time the load is dumped, it takes thirty minutes to recover).

The weather was great (about 75 degrees), not many bugs, and we had a chance to visit visite with the maintenance guys (Dan and Fred) from the Pine Grove School.

Building the Bunk House

Corey and I spent another weekend up at Lake McGowan working on the Bunk House (and tool shed). We should be able to sleep inside the next time we go out to the cabin site. That way, we have one half an inch of plywood between us and encounters with any bears in the middle of the night.

Two days and we made reasonable progress considering it is such a pain to get materials back to the cabin site. To get to the site, we drive two and a half hours to Hinckley; then it is three miles of dirt road, two miles of logging road, and about one mile of goat path. We can use the pickup truck to get the materials to the goat path through the woods, then we backpack in get the tractor, return to the truck, tie the load to the back of the tractor and then skid in the supplies. It takes quite a while since we have to travel very slow as I have, maybe, one inch of clearance between the trees for my tractor in some of the spots.

The weather was great, bugs were not too bad, and we pretty much finished up the Bunk House shell. Next week, we will finish up the roof and install some bunks. This will give us a place to work and store our equipments while building the cabin. Eventually, we will turn this into a tool shed.

For now, we have Bunk House, a deck, a hammock, and a fire pit.

Lake McGowan Rest Area