My 15.75 x 30 Jemez Cabin

[glenn kangiser]

Careful, Don.  She'll think I'm there.

[MountainDon]

If I didn't have to still work for money I'd be there all the time.      Life seems so simple when I'm up there. All I need to do is get connected to the internet (Alltel wireless), stock up on some more food and I'd be all set for a peaceful winter.  It does have its attractions.

I'd love to have a REAL  snow machine...



or, a little more modern...

[John_C]

Don,
They might cut you a deal on that Expedition vehicle.  Where is, as is .... kinda deal

[MountainDon]

It would seem those guys were very lucky.   

[MountainDon]

I drove up today with hopes that I could drive all the way to the cabin, through the past few days snow. My expectations were that I could not. I was prepared to see impenetrable quantities of snow. The last 13 miles of highway was snowpacked, but there wasn't much actual depth off to the sides, so my hopes grew more positive as I approached the turn off.   

The first couple miles of gravel road were snowpacked as well, but there had not been enough snow to get the grader out to clear the road. Another good sign. 

Past the still open forest service gate the windy road deserved slower than usual speed, but no problems. There had been previous traffic. Turning off onto the secondary forest road I found there had been some traffic as well. It looked like maybe 5 to 6 inches of snow. About 3/4 of a mile later the tracks of previous vehicles stopped and turned around. A short on foot exploration revealed the snow to be passable in my estimation. I forged onwards.

At the downhill turn to the more primitive final mile I had another quick reconnoiter and took the plunge. Here and there the snow had drifted slightly but it was okay. I made it to the gate, unlocked and opened it and passed through. Now the final hill. 

When I hit the first mild grade section what I feared, happened. My tires are too wide for good snow tires.  They're great on dirt, sand and rock, even mud for the most part. But in soft fluffy snow they ride on top and break through. I made a couple attempts, backing up and cautiously trying again. I could all I'd do is maybe get to the steeper section and then be faced with backing down the hill. Not my favorite thing.

I strapped on my gaiters and my new MSR snowshoes.    I pulled my small Rubbermaid utility box, loaded with a few more food stuffs to leave in the cabin, behind me on the first trek up. I got a fire going in the 31 degree cabin. It was 16 outside. I made four more trips up the hill, each seemingly longer then the previous. Three of those were to carry up the cabinet doors we stained and clear coated back at home. The fifth and final trip was for the can of hinges and screws I left behind in the Jeep.

Here's the trail up. You can see the Jeep tracks as far I went. I then turned it around and backed up a ways in  preparation for snowshoeing the supplies up.



Here's a look down from the top of the road up the hill. The speck at the bottom is the rear of the Jeep.



As the cabin warmed I installed made a cup of tea and  had a sandwich for lunch. I installed the cabinet doors.



I had a short debate with myself on the advisability of staying overnight.  I won    deciding the forecast risk of 1 to 3 inches more snow overnight with blowing winds wasn't worth the risk of making ScottA's prediction of November 28 come true.    Sorry Scott, if you had any money riding on that. 

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2335.msg73681#msg73681

So I retreated down the hill to the Jeep and drove out. I clicked the front locker on twice on a couple uphill stretches with some drifted snow.

The next trip will likely demand the use of the snow machine, unless we get a wave of warm weather.

[ScottA]

I had a short debate with myself on the advisability of staying overnight.  I won    deciding the forecast risk of 1 to 3 inches more snow overnight with blowing winds wasn't worth the risk of making ScottA's prediction of November 28 come true.    Sorry Scott, if you had any money riding on that. 

There's always next week Don.  I woulda stuck it out but I have a bad habit of tempting fate. Cabinets look good. 

[MountainDon]

... but I have a bad habit of tempting fate.

If it wasn't for one uphill section with a drop off on the right and a sharp left at the top I would've felt more comfortable...   

[MountainDon]

Cabinets look good. 

Now we need to decide on what pulls to use.   

[phalynx]

I don't know if you like the snow or not but I am truly envious.  I would LOVE to live in a place that snowed like that. I miss the snow.  I do think the green cabinets look really nice.

[MountainDon]

I like the snow where it is, up by the cabin. I say that because as it is NM is home to some of the worst drivers around. Maybe they'd wise up around town here if it snowed more down here, but I don't think so. Too many never slow down for anything, heavy rain, dust storms, whatever.

We like having the snow close by, but also like not having to deal with it every day around town. I'd be just a tad happier if I could drive up to the cabin through more of the winter, but the snow machine is fun too. We really could use two of them and maybe a sled to tow behind.

I really hated to leave there today, so serene and beautiful; but like I said... concerns about the weather and getting back out...

Thanks for the kind words about the cabinets. I wondered how they would turn out when K suggested it. 

[brian_nj]

I like how the cabin is progressing it is looking really good. I feel your pain with the roads and the weather I have had to leave our property more than once due to storms coming in and not wanting to chance the roads in the weather. And if it snowed where you lived the drivers would not get any better I am from NJ and snow was common about the only thing that slows most of the idiots on the road down is the tree they smack when they loose control.

[Native_NM]

I bet somebody is very glad they did not stay in Jemez Sunday;  we have 4 inches at our place in the foothills of Albuquerque.  The forecast is 12" in the Jemez area.   

[MountainDon]

That would be me!!    Yessir!!

We've got a floor to tile, and walls and ceiling to paint first, here at home this coming weekend and a few days after, but after it's done we're dragging the snowmobile up; spend a few nights.     It checked out fine today, except I couldn't find the keys  , so I bypassed the locking switch.

[MountainDon]

Don and Karen's Year End Adventure!

Sunday we drove up to the cabin; or rather to the Fire Station along FR10. We parked the Jeep and trailer there and took off up FR10 from there. FR10 had a lot of snow cover and it was all chewed up by AWD ATV's. That made it a rough ride on the Polaris. Once onto FR10B it was mostly virgin snow and the going was better.

However, after the turn down off 10B (100 ft drop in approx 1/10 mile) onto our access road we suddenly ran into extra deep, extra powdery snow and we bogged down in the right hand turn. We dug it out (much work) and continued on down the road. We bogged down again and dug out again (much work). Forging onward we made it to within 200 feet of our gate. There was a large tree across the road. It seemed there was a viable detour. The snowmobile and I started across a fallen tree under the snow before sinking about 15" into 24"+ deep powder. Discouraged we broke out the MSR snowshoes, left the snowmobile and headed for the cabin. The walk up the hill and to the cabin is about a quarter mile. We were soon in the (not so) cozy 27 degree cabin. It was 36 degrees outside so I suggested we open the door and windows to warm up while I got a fire going.



That was at 1:30; by 6:30 it was 70 degrees inside.   

I measured in several places and came up with a figure of about 22 to 24" worth of snowfall around our site.



Monday we played out our pyromaniac fantasies.    Well, yes, back in the summer and fall we had made several piles of trash fallen branches and trees, pine cones, and needles. We had covered some with strips of building paper and some with plastic. That kept the rain and snow off. They were piled high with the recent snows, so after shoveling and pushing off a great deal of the snow we were ready to burn. With the aid of a little gasoline at one side of the pile, a little kerosene at the other side (the side where the match was applied) we soon had a roaring blaze.





Then two blazes, then three... The piles safely burned through the night into Tuesday. By Tuesday late afternoon they were almost all burned out. We felt that the trip up was well worth it; not only did we enjoy the serenity of the forest in snow, but we got rid of a lot of trash.



Tuesday afternoon we tried digging out the snowmobile. What a formidable job! I should also mention that after getting out of the second bog down the centrifugal clutch was giving me some concerns. It seemed to be slipping a lot more than before and was smoking as I'd never seen before,    . With that and a hill covered in deep powder to be ascended on the way out we weighed our options. A. Snowshoe out, leaving the snowmobile covered where it was, a little off the main trail and close to the end of the public road, or B. dig some more, manhandle it around to go back, and take a chance on [1] the clutch being okay and/or [2] getting or not getting bogged down in the uphill powder right in the middle of a road/trail.   

[MountainDon]

So, back to the snowmobile...  We decided to tarp the snowmobile where it lay and snowshoe out to the Jeep. The thinking that went into that was that if we couldn't get up the powder hill the snowmobile would be (buried) in the middle of a public road.   Might be the right thing, might be the wrong thing.

It's only 3 1/4 miles from the cabin to where we parked the Jeep, and the trail had already been broken by the snowmobile, 1 4/10 miles of it by many snowmobiles.    So Wednesday morning we closed up things and set off down the hill. The trek out only took 1 3/4 hours, not too bad for snow shoes.





Other notes of interest: Monday evening I was outside near the east end of the cabin. All was quiet. Suddenly there was a rumbling sound. I looked up at the end wall to see virtually the entire load of snow on the roof slide; both north and south sides at the same time, followed by a loud caaarruummpp! We had a laugh over it and also were thankful neither of us was in the fall zone. We noted to make the walk path well inside the eve drip line.



The remnants slid off in smaller pieces over the course of the next day.

So now I want a real Sno Cat. (These are snow Kittens... really.)





or modern variant





Anyhow, we're formulating plans to go bck on a rescue mission if possible; if not a rescue until spring, then possibly a couple snowshoe trips up over the next month or two. We've enough water, etc stored up there.  

[phalynx]

Why not have the best of both worlds.....

[NM_Shooter]

Don, any chance of getting your jeep in there with chains to extract the snowmobile?

-f-

[MountainDon]

Why not have the best of both worlds.....

I've seen those    but they have the same shortcomings as owning one of the purpose built snow cat type machines. You can't drive the 60 miles of pavement up to the dirt roads in them.

BTW, the first two pictures, of the 2 Sno Cat Kitten variations are late 50, early 60 models that now probably would cost more than a new Jimmy pickup with treads.

[MountainDon]

Don, any chance of getting your jeep in there with chains to extract the snowmobile?

-f-

Yep, there's a chance.... I think the chances of getting the Jeep in there are about 20%
Getting it out about 1%   



If you recall the sharp left downhill off 10B, followed by the sharp right, downhill all the way to the cattle water tanks... that's the worrisome section. I was amazed at the amount of powder there and the sun doesn't hit it much to get a melt, freeze cycle going. The snow was up to the top of my kneecaps on the slope.

[phalynx]

Can you get a plow for the front of your jeep?

[MountainDon]

Can you get a plow for the front of your jeep?

As far as I know there are no plows made for the Cherokee. Even then, if there are it would cost more than I have invested in the snowmobile. Plus as I recall from my younger days pushing snow can be hard on a vehicle; I don't think it's something a unit body Jeep should be subjected to. Thanks for the thought.

I'd have to plow slightly over 3 miles of snow covered semi rough dirt road with a net gain in altitude of about 600 feet, a gross gain of about 900 feet with the ups and downs along the way.  Most of the change occurs in a couple of short sections.   A dozer might be better suited to the task. 

I'll be talking with my neighbor up there to see if he has any ideas. He does have a skid steer, but I don't know if he would want to use it or not. 

[MountainDon]

I had some fun making a panorama shot...



Happy New Year!!

[ScottA]

Looks like alot of fun Don. 

[MountainDon]

This would be fun, and useful, too!!   



A Bombardier tracked snow blower. 8.3 tons per minute.

[Dog]

The place looks great! I finally made it through your entire thread!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!