Second Week (in pics)
Week two report. The short of it is: we’re still doing it!
Years ago, my mom gave us this canopy tent (see pics above). In our great downsizing efforts last year when we geared up to sell our house in Missoula, this canopy was a keeper for sure. In all the years we’ve had it, we never put it up. It also didn’t come with instructions. So we had our work cut out for us in simply trying to figure out how all the poles, parts, and pieces went together. It took us two-hours from start to finish, which is pretty darn good considering we had extra poles but didn’t know it until we went to put the canopy on. We’re not sure what we’ll use it for just yet, but it’s ready for action.
Solar Power!
Since we have no electricity nearby, we’ll be using solar power & gas generators to power us up. Our solar package components arrived just last week! Mike’s been working with our friend Brian, who’s been helping him figure out all the things.
In order to make it a little easier to access Morning Sun Meadow, Mike did some trail work using parts of a well-used game trail. Now getting up the hill to the meadow is a breeze, for a gal like me with mobility issues :)
Since Mike is interested in crafting our cabin using cordwood masonry, he decided it would be good to do a test run on a smaller scale. So the current build project he’s working on (see pics above) is a cordwood shower. The base consists of rocks we harvested from the land but his plan is to then build up the walls using cordwood (wood rounds). And instead of using concrete as mortar, which he’ll use for the cabin, he’s using the silty soil from the land.
Our multi-purpose canvas wall tent. Part kitchen, part living room, part tool shop, and yes! Part music room and exercise room too (can you see my old-school excer-bike in the back left corner?)!
Get Ur Postal Mail On!
I even made some time for one of my fave things: written correspondence!
We’ve also been doing some exploring of our new home base area around Superior. Top left: A sandy beached swimming hole on the Clark Fork River, which is just 3-miles down the road from us - it even has a rope swing! Top right: Saturday market in Superior. Bottom pics: a local playground/picnic area/skate park in Superior that we enjoyed with our good friends Nathan, Jenn, and their kiddos Anna & Mikha.
And one evening, we took a lovely drive to check out our own backyard. Further on down our gravel road, it turns into National Forest land. The road goes on for quite a-ways. Along the way, there’s a trailhead you can take to walk alongside Keystone Creek, where some lovely cedar trees grow. There’s also a great scree pile where we can fetch more rock from. And the bottom left pic is an above view of the canyon where we reside, taken from the forest service road.
Feather Find!
I’m a feather hunter from way back. My eyes are keen on the prowl near always for feathers. And just two days, I spotted this beauty on the land: a flicker feather! Best treasure ever!
So. This past week, we did some things. And this coming week, we’ll do some more things. And, whelp, we’ll keep on a-doing more things after that too, I reckon. What things, you ask? Whelp, honestly, we’re still figuring that out. We’re definitely winging it here, friends. We’ve got a lot to learn and we’re taking things one day at a time right now. Our first larger build project might be a storage building/temporary living quarters. We also need to get our solar panels and system up and running. We need to do some parking out of our main camp area, too (which means thinning out some trees). And did I mention that I’m also working remotely 3 days a week, which requires I leave the land to find wi-fi?
These first two weeks on the land have involved all the things: nourishment, challenge, stress, overwhelm, heat exhaustion, joy, love, ease, sweat, tears and frustration. And, thankfully thankfully, I start every day in Little Bell Hall, where I’ve learned that the sun this time of year, rises over the mountain at 7:30am.
