The Wide Wide World of Witteveens: January 2010

What has been more than a year in the making finally came to fruition. Jamie and I conquered the Green Timbers wilderness, battled blizzards (more like a light dusting,) sub-zero (lows in the mid twenties) temps, ice floes cracking beneath our feet (that actually did happen to one foot very briefly,) and basically everything that mother nature could throw at us with a stiff upper lip. The only downside to the trip was that the snow was not very deep. We were both hoping for enough depth to be able to use our snowshoes. As it was, there was only a stretch of about a quarter mile that would have even begun to work with snowshoes.

Jamie, with his pulk.

The "Green Timbers" cabin. Our home the first night. Some thoughtful soul tarped the entrance of the cabin to keep out the wind. It actually worked much better than it looked.

The inside of Green TImbers. Dank. Dumpy. Home.

I had an idea in my mind of digging out a shelter, placing a tarp over the top and having a roaring fire in front, and enjoying a sip of good bourbon. Rest assured, dear reader, that the bourbon was for snake bites only. Alas, Jamie had the idea of using huge rolled snowballs for the walls, which worked great. We slept warmer in the snow shelter than we did in the cabin.

Melting snow in a homemade wood-stove.

The third night we hiked into the "Honeymoon Cabin" about two miles north of Green Timbers. What a fantastic site for a cabin! It is located on a bluff overlooking the river, surrounded by beautiful woods. The cabin was in much better shape than Green Timbers also. It looks like local hikers take pretty good care of these, even leaving little treats for follow on visitors, things like cans of beans, sardines, MRE's, Pringles, etc. We left some coffee. We also tried to bag some meat for the pot by hunting. We left without even seeing a rabbit, nevermind actually shooting anything. We did teach those cans a lesson though.