NE Oregon 20 x 30+ 1.5 story

Started by CabinNick, June 01, 2015, 11:16:39 PM

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CabinNick

After many years of reading posts on this forum I am very excited to finally get to write a post of my own! 

I have been scouring the real estate websites daily for many years and finaly found the perfect property for our family. Last month we closed on 80 acres of forested property in NE Oregon surrounded by National Forest.  The property is primarily timbered with ponderosa pine and Douglas fir but has a small stream that winds through the property with some wet meadows and upland springs.  There is some cool history on the place with the remnants of an old sawmill that operated in the early 1900s. 

We have been up at the property most weekends learning the lay of the land, picking morels, spraying weeds and selecting a spot to build our cabin. 

We settled on a cabin location on a small hill top between two forks of the creek with views of the mountains in the distance.  Our hope is to work on putting in the road, culverts, septic test pits, ponds, permitting, design, etc over the next year or two and then start the cabin in a few years.  For now we have just set up a nice campsite. 

I would like to build the 20 x 30 1.5 story but will probably expand it a bit beyond 30'.  Looking forward to using everyone's experience on this forum to help along the way. 



View of the mountains from the site we selected to build the cabin.



This will be the view out our back door but we have quite a few trees to clear first.



The view looking out the front door.



Looking across the meadow toward the cabin site.  Cabin will be up the hill in the middle right of the photo.



The campsite we cleared and built over Memorial Day.  The cabin site is on top of the hill the background of the photo.

rick91351

 w* From your neighbors across the river in Idaho.  Eagle Caps? 

Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.


CabinNick

Yes, those are the Eagle Caps.  Looking east from our property we can see the Seven Devils in Idaho. 

Redoverfarm

 w*  Nice piece of property.  Looks like you have able body helpers there.  Good Luck.

rick91351

Quote from: CabinNick on June 01, 2015, 11:47:47 PM
Yes, those are the Eagle Caps.  Looking east from our property we can see the Seven Devils in Idaho.

Love that area of Oregon - have many many close friends from LaGrande and Hinkle (Hermiston).  One of the best vacations we ever took was a wild hair in the middle of winter on TV no radio cabin over at the Wallowa Lake Lodge....  We have traveled a lot - seen a lot.  But for some reason we both just loved that week.....
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.


northwoodsrider

I'm jealous of your mountain views! Looks like a great spot.  That really expands your usable land being right up next to the public land.  Your own wilderness sanctuary!

Mark

CabinNick

It has been a busy summer of planning at the property.  I am trying to get all of our ducks in a row this year so next year we can build a pond, do some forest thinning, fence the cattle out of our property (open range around us), put the road into the cabin site, clear the cabin site and get our septic put in. 

It has been really cool checking our trail cameras and seeing the diversity of wildlife on the property.  Thought folks might like to see a few pictures from the last month:







pmichelsen

Great shots, I've been trying to capture some of the mom and cubs on our property but they've been fairly elusive.

NathanS

Wow, what a beautiful property.

Are you hoping to full time there once the cabin is up, or will it be a vacation spot?


UK4X4

I think you have enough fresh BBQ meat on site !

CabinNick

This will just be a weekend cabin and a working family forest that we harvest for firewood and lumber.  It is only about 34 miles from our house but it takes about 1 hour to get there.  We had a cabin that I frequented as a kid that was about 5 1/2 hours away.  After all those long trips, 1 hour seems like a great distance. 

The only downer right now is the amount of cows in our stream and wet meadows.  We are in the middle of a USFS grazing allotment.  The legal grazing in the pasture we are in does not start until Sept but we have had cows on us since June 6th.  Next year we hope to fence off about 24 of the 80 acres to keep the cows out of all of the springs, stream and meadow. 

MountainDon

Cool!!  Very nice game camera shots.  I like the one of the bear looking at the camera. Our elk photos always seem to have at least one staring right at the camera. Sometimes a big tongue ready to lick the camera.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

CabinNick

Last weekend we made our first "official" step towards building......a small step, but hey it is a step!   A good friend helped us dig the soil test pits for the septic system, so we will be able to start the permitting process first thing next spring. 

Good friends are great to have.  Good friends with backhoes are priceless! 

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CabinNick

I have been spending many hours each week sifting through the forum, planning projects, looking at budgets, etc. since we can't get into the property due to snow.  A while back I couldn't take it anymore and snowshoed the 5 mile roundtrip into our place. 

It was -4 but a beautiful day.  There was 36" of snow at the time but now there is over 50" of snow.  I went in there to take this picture.  This is will be the view from the picture window of the cabin.  I figure I can post the image all over our home to encourage us to save money for the cabin build!



MountainDon

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

midrover170


stices

You should have T. Axness paint that picture you took during the winter time so that you can hang it in the cabin when its done. That is a nice piece of land. There is fair chukar hunting near by.

CabinNick

Yes, good chukar, quail and hungarian partridge hunting a short distance away out in the sagebrush grasslands.  Good ruffed grouse hunting right there.  We are fortunate to have some world class wing shooting in eastern Oregon. 

stices

It's kinda funny, I just happen to click on your post and started to realize that I too looked at that piece last spring. That is if I'm not puzzled about where your property is?

Did you grow up in the area?



Aerco

How was the permit process? I hear Oregon is expensive in that regard.  Any restrictions on what you can or can't build?  Was it expensive?  Any info would be appreciated.

CabinNick

Yes, Oregon has some of the most restrictive land use planning laws in the country.  Luckily our property is buildable but most rural forested properties are not buildable unless they have >240 acres.  I am just starting looking into the permitting process but it looks like it is going to be several thousand for the permits.  Just the septic permit alone will be over $1,000. 

rick91351

If I were shooting for one permit and watching them creep up both $$$ and restrictions I would do septic first.... or plan for an other type of toilet. Just in case they get more crazy.....   
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

CabinNick

This winter we purchased a used "Tiny Cabin" - basically a cabin built on a 24' trailer.  I did some renovations on it this winter and we were finally able to move it into the property this week.  This will be our base camp on the property until we can get the cabin built.  No More Tent Camping!!!! 

We also cleared our first regulatory hurdle this week towards building - the soils in our septic test pits were approved for a standard septic system.  :)



Bevis