Cabin in the Woods
In 1971 we started looking for some acreage for an investment and also for a vacation spot. After looking at several parcels we decided on a 10 acre wooded site up in the mountains 65 miles south east of our home in Puyallup. It was covered with fairly large trees as it had been logged off in 1948 and it has a view of the valley below. The road winds up several steep hills, through the trees until you come to a nice flat area where we built a cabin.
We started looking for building materials to start the project when I noticed a house to be tore down in Tacoma for free. So I agreed to tear it down and completely clean the lot off. We started with the roof and worked our way down. To my amazement I found old rough cut lumber with some of it 26 ft long with no knots. It is almost impossible to buy that kind of lumber now days. I also found newspapers under the floor that they had wrapped the pipes with that were dated 1909. Just about all the lumber was excellent for reuse in our cabin. I was even able to cut the floor into 8 foot by 14 foot sections, haul them on a trailer, and install them for the floor of our new cabin. It had 3 inch flooring with 2 by 8 stringers which made a very solid floor. It saved a lot of money as I only had to buy the plywood for the siding and for the loft. It is a three bedroom with a open A frame ceiling which is about 20 foot tall. I did have to buy the windows also.
Over the years we have spent a lot of time enjoying the quiet time up in the back woods. We built a trail down below the cabin down to the bottom of the property on which the kids had many Easter egg hunts. We would hide 100's of eggs for the kids and they would find most of them but I think our dog also found some of them. We had a Doberman which loved it up there and one day a deer ran across the road by the cabin and off she went and was gone for a couple of hours. She came back with her tongue hanging out so we knew she had been running for a long time. We have seen signs of many different animals including bears, elk, deer, mountain lions, coyotes, and many squirrels jumping from tree to tree.
One day we were driving out on our way home when we noticed a buck deer in the meadow just below the road. I stopped the car and watched it for a while and notice that it started slowly to walk up towards the car. Finally it came right up to the car so the kids started feeding it some potato chips out the window. He really liked the salt and just stood there eating them as fast as they could stick them out the window. After they ran out of the salty goodies, I opened the door to get some more for the kids to feed him out of the trunk and figured he would leave. He then did something that to this day is unbelievable. He walked around the car and proceeded to climb into the car with his whole body except his two hind feet. I had to coax him out with some more food. Then the kids got out and feed him some more and was able to stand by him and pet him on the back. The kids really had a blast getting close to nature that day. We finally got back in the car and left him standing in the road and went on home. I bet he didn't last long on the first day of hunting season.
We don't have city power or water so we use propane cooking and lighting and a generator for lights also. I found a large stainless steel milk tank to collect water off the roof and piped it into the kitchen. We pack in our water for drinking just to be safe. I put in an old time outhouse so that brings back old memories of when I was a kid. When it comes time to take a shower we heat the water on the fireplace and pour it into a bucket on top so it is almost as comfortable as it is at home.
What is amazing to me is how the food always tastes so much better when you are out in the open air away from the city. Those early morning breakfasts of bacon and eggs and pancakes sure taste great. We also would pop a big pan of popcorn to snack on while we play card games, and with no TV reception, we would listen to the radio or tell jokes in the evening. With no city utilities we usually would go to bed fairly early to conserve our portable power and then get up at daybreak. It was so neat to set out on the deck and watch the sun come up and listen to all the birds sing.
Over the years we have spent a lot of time riding motorcycles and just recently I bought two four wheel ATVs. There are a lot of trails and roads to spend hours riding on. In the winter we do receive some snow and last winter it was up to three ft deep. If there is much snow you can't get up the steep roads and even if you did I wouldn't want to go down in the snow and ice. I now have a 4 wheel drive SUV which comes in handy to drive up the hills.
In 1980 Mount St Helen's blew her top and since we are about 25 miles, as the crow flies, there was around 8 inches of ash that fell on everything. It plugged up the gutters and was quit a mess. We shoveled it around the cabin and pushed it over the hill. Now you can hardly tell that there was that much ash. Although as I was starting to dig a new hole for the new outhouse the other day, I found the ash still there. It was very fertile and didn't have much acid rain in it. It has been good for all that grows up there.
We have had a lot of Realtors and speculators offer to buy it from us but so far I have held my ground. There could be close to two hundred thousand dollars worth of trees on it. The 10 acres next to us was bought and logged off, so that opened it up and I did lose a few trees to the wind. We had 3 large trees fall onto the cabin and damage the roof some, but didn't go down through it. I will now have to put on a new roof which will be fun as it is very steep.
That will be all for this post but may write more later.
