The Yurt is ready for snow visitors
The Mount Tahoma Trails Yurt
I'm the manager for the Mount Tahoma Trails Association (MTTA) Yurt in the Tahoma State Forest in the Washington state Cascade Mountain Range southwest of Mount Rainier. The Yurt is located at about 4200 ft elevation and about six miles over a couple ridges from the snowpark. I've spent quite a lot of time up there this summer and fall getting some projects done and others still in progress... My last trip up there (it's about 120 miles up there from my home on the Kitsap Peninsula in Puget Sound) was last week and it rained every day but each day the sun and some blue sky made their appearance a few times... then, on Sunday morning just as I was leaving, the rain turned to snow... I went up to High Hut to help out with closing in the new addition there with a few friends so the rest of the work will be out of the weather. Right now, up there, the snow is probably too deep to drive in but not deep enough for the snow equipment... (which is all still in storage away from the vandalism that seems to happen during hunting season. --idiots with guns in the woods)
Spending time alone at the yurt is lonely and I often have to go out on the deck to yell at Griffin Mountain... I have come to depend on podcasts to keep me sane... In the evenings up there, there is a noticeable lack of good music by our former manager yurtmeister Pat and one of his stringed instruments. Pat and I traded positions manager/assistant manager this past summer and with help from other volunteers we have a new floor (seen in these photos) and re-electrification of our lighting, albeit minimal but to be added to... Downstairs (the 'Lair') is progressing slowly due to lack of volunteers and publicity but this past week, I sealed up the big draft causes... I weatherstriped and taped and weatherstripped some more and more duct tape... and, I installed a sliding door between the yurt lair and mudroom as well as installed a new floor in the mudroom. it looks a lot better or better to say less rough... but, hey! it's a tent (albeit two story) in the woods. But after the six miles of trail, a welcome, warm, dry, comfortable place to stay...
More recent Yurt photos on my website at: EdBookPhoto (the photos of the pond are of the heli landing spot that also serves as a 'borrow pit' (quarry) and last week the DNR borrowed several dumptruck loads to build some new logging roads.
Peace