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“Okay Brian, have you been coaching these good folks on how to hold the fish halfway between the camera lens and the holder's face?”
“Mossback: your note to Sooper Administrator was hilarious!! By the way, I was up near Isabel earlier this summer. I just HAD to see the remains of the powerhouse and 10-foot Pelton wheel that Phil Woodhouse and others have in their “Blue Book” on NW mining history (pages 115-119). It was an absolute GAS to see and photograph this structure that sits right next to May Creek. You and I have walked past it numerous times!! It is just below a small break in the terrain and can't be seen from the trail. I was also at an old stringer bridge crossing on May Creek with a DNR engineer recently because they are planning some more logging in that area. Things continue to evolve in that area with lots of off-road bike, quad, and 4×4 activity. A few years ago when I last hiked to the lake itself, there was amazing crossings of the creek surprisingly high on the ridgeline. I doubt very much that the fellow you replied to would see any of the features that you recall since the trees have grown up, wood continues to rot away, and people are stirring things around with their tires, or taking things from the forest floor.”
“I took this photo of my son fishing the lake when he was 14 years old. The lake is due south of the peak in the background, and is a challenge to hike to from any direction. This was a Trail Blazer stocking trip. If you figure out the lake's name, PLEASE do not post it here on the Internet. Just go there and ENJOY the fruits of your labor.”
You need to hike to that lake to get the full effect and appreciation for “that other cabin” (wink).
“It's been 20 or more years since I've been to Malachite. It has reproducing cutthroat as I recall, so catching fish should be relatively easy. There was a way trail heading up to it from the main trail to Copper. It is right where you would expect it to be from a cross-country travel perspective. Malachite is a very scenic lake, with deep blue water color. Scrambling in the area would be wonderful, such as climbing Malachite Peak. There is also a mine to explore above the lake, but watch out for old dynamite inside! I recall USFS guys telling me about it, and they were contemplating collapsing the adit since it was so dangerous to move the old powder.”
MB, that looks like Steve Clements on the right. Note this view shows the small window that I put my card beside. I am very glad to have this image in my collection – thanks!
[Edited on 7-19-2004 by bob pfeifer]
“MB:^^^^The loop that can be made via Commonwealth and Rock Creek and out to Alpental does indeed still exist. It is (I have heard) a favorite hike of Bill Longwell's (of Hi-Lakers and Issquah Alps). You go to what I call Red Pass at the head of Commonwealth, drop down to Goldmeyer HS, down the river, then up Rock Creek to Snow Lake and out. This has been on my list of trips for years and years.”
Joe, Please, Please, Please, PLEASE, PLEASE keep the Upper Katrine cabin knowledge to yourself or a very carefully chosen group of intimates. Actually, it is better that you just keep it to yourself.
That cabin was built by one hell of a man over 2 years beginning in 1979. I was able to track him down – he was a logger who worked for WeyCo and lived in Snoqualmie. I asked him why he built the cabin, and that its presence was a good secret with me. I’ll never forget his answer: “Oh, I just had a lot of energy and it was a fun thing to do.” He also made numerous winter trips in there for hunting, and posted his dates on the inside wall.
This guy felled an Alaskan cedar, and packed in a portable chainsaw-driven “sawmill” to build this puppy the RIGHT way. It sits well above the forest floor so it won’t rot out, and the outside and floor is totally built with cedar. If complete idiots with no respect whatsoever for the gallons of sweat this guy put out don’t stupidly burn it down or trash it, it will last many, many years.
I could append a number of great photos of that cabin, but won’t. I have stayed in it a couple of times. Once was the penultimate bonding trip with my young son, along with some good friends.
(I was there a few years ago with Brian, so if a “new” cabin has been built, that would be one HUGE surprise.)
[Edited on 7-6-2004 by bob pfeifer]”
“MB, that plastic was nailed to the top of the door frame, and it basically covered the doorway when it was allowed to hang down. Probably helped keep the flies out. I put a rock on it atop the roof so the doorway would show in the photo.”
Mossback, don’t fret. We still love you
BPJoe, NICE shot of the Tusco cabin. I have 1 or 2 nearly as good. Talk about being BUMMED when some turd burned it down!
Wait until you see the legs on that guy when he was in his prime. Those days of plowing through deep powder on snowshoes created thighs like cedar tree stumps.
“Trappers often worked productive routes (the proverbial “trap lines”), and they often tended to run along ridge lines or plateaus where the wiry SOBs didn't have to do too much vertical stuff on their snowshoes.^^^^They scattered cabins around at strategic locations, and a nice spot like this out of avalanche risk and by a water supply (and possibly also extra protein) would be a good choice.^^^^If you pay careful attention to where you see marten sets notched into old growth, you will tend to see a pattern of how they laid out their lines. They are often found near lakes around here.^^^^For a really great read about a famous trapper who lived alone for many years at Domke Lake, read “Mountain Air. The Life of Gordon Stuart” by Sandy K. Nelson Bryant. DMI publisher. ISBN 0-939688-20-4. This should be on your bookshelf if you are a lover of Pacific NW mountain history.”
Brian emailed me asking me about the cabin history. I just KNEW I was going to be saddened when I opened this string. But, alas, all these cabins suffer this fate unless they are maintained.
I really don’t know anything in particular about its history, but I’m 99.999% sure it was just one of the many trappers’ cabins that were common in our mts in the 19th and early 20th centuries. I have always LOVED, loved, loved these remnants of our history, and Brian knows this.
The Trail Blazers made a few trips in to this cabin in the 70’s, possibly also in the early 1980s to do maintenance (jacked up one sagging corner, etc.) but it was never major or significant.
I was the local fishery manager for WDFW between 1979 and 1999, and managed the high lake fisheries in the western half of the ALWA. I first learned of this cabin when doing surveys of groups of lakes in the general area with hiking buds, some of whom were (and still are) members of the two main high lake fishing clubs around here. I sent several guys over to My to survey it in September 1981 from our base camp at Pratt. The greyish photo attached (if I did it successfully) that shows the open front “doorway” was taken by one of those guys.
I was so turned on by that photo I managed to get to the lake (what with a very young family at that time) in July 1984. I surveyed the lake more thoroughly, and stayed the night in the cabin.
It was hot as hell on that July 19th, and I was so fagged from packing a heavy pack around the area that I slept like a log on the old trapper’s “bed” frame that had some old drying boughs laid on it. I know there were mice, but I didn’t even notice them.
I left my business card in the window frame that was on the east end of the cabin, and several years later a fellow Trail Blazer went in to the lake, found the card, and called me. I really enjoyed that “note in a bottle”-type deal.
I later stocked the lake with the Manager of the Tokul Creek Hatchery (1994 – God, 10 years ago already!!!), and that was the last time I was there. The cabin looked about the same then.
This is why I always take the best photos I can of interesting old structures. They don’t last forever. It is especially cool when they last well beyond 50 years, or more.
[Edited on 7-3-2004 by Brian Curtis]
[Edited on 7-3-2004 by bob pfeifer]
