Solo Tour

I was able to return to the cabin by myself for a second trip in 2011. The plan was to get the hardwood floors down, help Dan on his project and hopefully find time to fly fish.  Since I only had a week and it was only myself I flew into Helena this trip.  Dan was kind enough to pick me up at the airport so after a quick supply / food run, North we headed.  I was quickly reminded how much I miss the view as you transition from the valley surrounding Helena towards the mountains to the north. 

Light rain and cloudy conditions welcomed me back to the cabin.  With the shakes wet they looked stained and the whole cabin had a finished appeal to it.  A few dead trees had fallen close to the cabin but to my surprise everything was just as we had left it.  The first order of business was to inspect the cabin for visitors. I immediately noticed droppings, likely those of a pack rat, at the front door sill so I expected the worst as I open the door. To my amazement, I did not find a single indication that anything had been inside the cabin. Actually, I only found one spider, no flies or stink bugs and most important no bears were seeking refuge in our little shack.

I started by pulling out all of the T&G redwood board from the salvaged silo in Northern Wisconsin from underneath the cabin.  I had decided earlier that planed boards removed too much of the patina from the boards so the plan was to sand the boards leaving a small amount of the grey hues.  The problem I found was that the Honda generator I was borrowing from John was very quiet but unfortunately under powered for my commercial belt sander.  The result was two and half days of sanding, sore arms and ultimately not a happy camper.  I was not able to take off as much of the weathered top surface as I had hoped.  Not wanting to run all the boards down the hill and plane them at Dan's I proceeded not knowing how dark the boards would ultimately be after sealing. 

I was able to walk the property that first day I arrived.  I decided to walk down towards the stream and found some nice game trails and remnants of a recent Mule deer kill.

I did learn from John, the neighbor from Alaska, that a cougar had been seen the week before crossing the road and then heading up towards the cabin.  The thought of our roaming kitty was on my mind a few mornings as I had stayed stayed down with Dan and Dawn and then walked up to the cabin in the dark.  With the elevated portion of the hill well above my head the whole way up which made for a perfect launching point.

With all of the boards sanded I started to frame out the walls where the bathroom, half wall and benches would be that define the sitting area below the loft area. The plan is to have benches on three walls under the loft and on the adjoining wall to the bathroom a murphy bed will fold down and rest on the benches when in use.

With the walls framed I started to lay the redwood boards.  Sherry and I had been in a store in Madison that had similar T&G boards and they did not try to butt the boards tightly but instead exposed the space (created by the tongue) in varied gaps.  I was glad this was the look we were looking for because 150 year old boards do not fit perfectly together after that many years of weathering. The work went fairly fast other than when I had to cut boards to go around beams and braces.  Overall I was only marginally happy with the look of the floor as it was definitely darker than I had hoped for but was still optimistic that when sealed the grain would be much more pronounced.  

Next I assembled the stairs that went up to the loft.  I had created some simple threads that were pegged into place.  Working with dimensional lumber versus green timbers was challenging and I was definitely not as pleased with my joinery.  Once completed I then assembled and raised the loft railings that were fabricated from 4x6 timbers and boards from a barn I had disassembled some years ago in Wisconsin.  This was one time I could really have used one more set of hands, but with some creative rigging I was able to get both the rails and stairs attached without too much swearing.

With the stairs up the final step was three coats of ploy sealant.  The wood was extremely porous and the first coat was absorbed almost on contact. Again the finished product was not as I had envisioned but I think over time it will have a nice rustic feel to it.  The following are a few pictures of the end result.

The part that did not work as planned was the amount of time I had left to help Dan.  The sanding and sealing took much longer than I had anticipated.

Dan's "cabin" is truly a sight to behold.  Coupled with the fact that he is largely doing it all by himself, it is CRAZY.  I was able to help him with laying some "blue" pine that he had harvested and cut with his Woodmizer.  The following are a few pictures of the stealth cabin.



From an animal standpoint the mountain was fairly quiet during my visit.  It wasn't until the last couple of days that I started to see the Mule deer again.  I had to pause for the following group as I was leaving the mountain for the last time for 2011.

Oh yeah, my fly fishing.  Forty degree temps, high winds and limited spare time did not allow for me to hit the river on this trip. 

NEXT YEAR !!!