leatherman
Huh?
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2012
- Messages
- 138
With the January doldrums in full swing and the realization that traditional backpacking into the high country was still months away I was looking for something to break out of the mid-winter routine. And I found it. I rented a Forest Service cabin that is used by Forest Service personnel during the summer months but is available to the public from October to April. The best parts of this adventure are the view the cabin has looking over frozen Redfish Lake in the Sawtooth range, the easy 2 mile hike in from the highway and the number of other packed snow trails to allow for further exploration.
In anticipation of the trip and the necessaries I would be needing I was thinking about just stuffing everything in my backpack. Then I remembered a plastic toboggan I had bought for ice-fishing many years ago which was now sitting in the garage with as just many years of dust on it. Perfect. I did a quick internet search and found a plan to make a simple harness out of seat-belt webbing. I didn’t happen to have any seat-belt webbing but I did have an old 3” wide tie-down strap that I proceeded to cut up, attach some snaps and grommets then assemble to the toboggan.
We arrived on Friday morning around 11:00 with temperatures right around 10 degrees. I layered on the clothing, secured my gear in the toboggan, put Rudy the Newf’s pack on him and up the well packed road we started. I should tell you that there are literally hundreds of camp sites located around this lake that during the hot months of July and August make it one of the more popular places in Idaho for escaping into the high country. That was not the case on this day. I saw exactly one other person on the 2 mile hike to the cabin, a hearty soul that was also dragging a toboggan behind him and was planning to camp in a tent. I didn’t see in what direction he ended up going so I can’t say how well he faired, although his vehicle was still there when I left the parking area on Sunday morning.
About 5 minutes into the hike I realized I was overdressed and started peeling off some of the insulating layers. It was a great day – not a bit of wind, impossibly blue skies and crisp, squeaky snow underneath my boots. And I was not at work. We reached the cabin in just over an hour. The cabin was built back in the 1930’s but was renovated just a few years ago. It offers a bit more than just the basic amenities with a gas fireplace, coffee pot, an electric stove and a refrigerator. The water of course has been turned off – which makes the 75 foot trek to the outhouse in -10 degree weather in the middle of the night kind of interesting. The porch faces west which made it an extremely comfortable place to sit and enjoy the warmth of the mid winter sun, consume a cold beverage or hot toddy and contemplate the scenery spread out before you.
We returned to the vehicle on Sunday morning. I knew it was below zero on the walk out which is slightly down-hill and which also meant I wasn’t going to be shedding any layers of clothing. I had placed a 2 liter bottle of water in Rudy’s pack and by the time we reached the Suburban it had frozen almost solid. I was a little concerned about the condition of the battery and if it would have any charge after a couple of sub-zero nights. I inserted the key and with just a moment of protest the 454 turned over. We let the engine warm up for about 15 minutes while scraping the frost from the windows and watching the snowmobile traffic pass on the nearby trail then started home with the thought that we should do this again sometime soon.
Featured image for home page:
In anticipation of the trip and the necessaries I would be needing I was thinking about just stuffing everything in my backpack. Then I remembered a plastic toboggan I had bought for ice-fishing many years ago which was now sitting in the garage with as just many years of dust on it. Perfect. I did a quick internet search and found a plan to make a simple harness out of seat-belt webbing. I didn’t happen to have any seat-belt webbing but I did have an old 3” wide tie-down strap that I proceeded to cut up, attach some snaps and grommets then assemble to the toboggan.
We arrived on Friday morning around 11:00 with temperatures right around 10 degrees. I layered on the clothing, secured my gear in the toboggan, put Rudy the Newf’s pack on him and up the well packed road we started. I should tell you that there are literally hundreds of camp sites located around this lake that during the hot months of July and August make it one of the more popular places in Idaho for escaping into the high country. That was not the case on this day. I saw exactly one other person on the 2 mile hike to the cabin, a hearty soul that was also dragging a toboggan behind him and was planning to camp in a tent. I didn’t see in what direction he ended up going so I can’t say how well he faired, although his vehicle was still there when I left the parking area on Sunday morning.
About 5 minutes into the hike I realized I was overdressed and started peeling off some of the insulating layers. It was a great day – not a bit of wind, impossibly blue skies and crisp, squeaky snow underneath my boots. And I was not at work. We reached the cabin in just over an hour. The cabin was built back in the 1930’s but was renovated just a few years ago. It offers a bit more than just the basic amenities with a gas fireplace, coffee pot, an electric stove and a refrigerator. The water of course has been turned off – which makes the 75 foot trek to the outhouse in -10 degree weather in the middle of the night kind of interesting. The porch faces west which made it an extremely comfortable place to sit and enjoy the warmth of the mid winter sun, consume a cold beverage or hot toddy and contemplate the scenery spread out before you.
We returned to the vehicle on Sunday morning. I knew it was below zero on the walk out which is slightly down-hill and which also meant I wasn’t going to be shedding any layers of clothing. I had placed a 2 liter bottle of water in Rudy’s pack and by the time we reached the Suburban it had frozen almost solid. I was a little concerned about the condition of the battery and if it would have any charge after a couple of sub-zero nights. I inserted the key and with just a moment of protest the 454 turned over. We let the engine warm up for about 15 minutes while scraping the frost from the windows and watching the snowmobile traffic pass on the nearby trail then started home with the thought that we should do this again sometime soon.
Featured image for home page:
