News from the Cabin Fall Edition ❄ 2019 Volume 11

/ Tilly Jane / By

Greetings from the cabin!

This is the 2019-Fall edition of, “News from the Cabins”, a summary of what’s going on at the Tilly Jane cabins.  Last time I shared that we completed phase 3 project work involving the completion of the structural repairs at the A-Frame including replacing the remaining original rock footings and rafters, stabilizing the roof apex to prevent further log separation, rebuilding the wood storage alcove log walls, rehabilitating all exposed log ends and culminating in a new cedar shake roof.  Here’s a full recap of cabin activities in 2019.   It was another BIG year, but first!

A-Frame Cabin Rentals

The 2018-19 season is shaping up to be another strong rental season:  I anticipate the A-Frame will host over 1300 guests, generating over $26K in rental income.  This is an increase of 100 user-nights over 2017-18.  Friday and Saturday nights continue to book early, you won’t have difficulty finding a spot midweek.  Please visit ​Reserve America​ to book your stay!  You won’t see any changes to the booking process, BUT you must ​PRINT your reservation permit​ (up to 7 days in advance of your stay at the A-Frame) to obtain the door lock code information.

As in year’s past, the cabin is “closed” to public rentals one weekend each month for ONC club/volunteer maintenance.   Please consider becoming an ​ONC​ member or volunteer at one of the work parties to take advantage of this amazing benefit.

Cabin Operations

The annual October work party saw another strong volunteer showing, we hosted around 75 people on Saturday October 5th!  ​THANK YOU!!​ We had an early snowfall for the event and there was still 3” of snow on the ground when we arrived.  It really felt like fall/winter but the road was clear and it was melting out by Sunday when we left.

  • We hauled 8 cords of wood between the A-Frame and Guard Station cabins 
  • We cut/split another 12 cords from the on-site supply.  Both cabins should have enough wood to make it through the season. 
  • The annual pot luck was AMAZING with tons of food brought by volunteers and beverages supplied by ​Base Camp Brewing Company​. 
  • We also hosted ​Gerber​, who brought some premier axes for folks to try their hand at splitting wood.  Some lucky people even took home Gerber items from the small raffle we held. 

Thank You​ to everyone who came out and gave back. ​Remember, the cabins rely on YOU​               …..volunteers to remain open and affordably priced! 

How to keep the Cabin ready for the entire Peak Winter Season:  

  • If you have a fire outside, please use the fire ring and the pile of wood outside.  PLEASE – NO BONFIRES! This will ensure everyone has enough wood to keep the fire going in the wood stove throughout the winter season. 
  • Please REFRAIN FROM OVERFILLING THE WOOD STOVE AND SPILLING WATER ON THE GLASS DOOR.  These are the main reasons the door glass breaks.
  • Please LOCK THE CABIN AND CLEAN UP before leaving for home.  It’s the responsibility of the renters to re-secure the cabin before leaving.  This may require you to ask any day-trippers to depart before you leave and coordinate who will complete this task with other renter groups. 
  • The cabin will soon be snow covered.  Please DO NOT CLIMB ON THE ROOF, IT’S NEW AND WE WANT TO PRESERVE IT.
  • AND REMEMBER, if I don’t know what’s happening up there, we can’t address it so please let me know about any issues you find!  You can also, help by calling out behavior you deem inappropriate!  Remember, it takes a village to maintain the cabins!

2019  Phase 4 Rehabilitation Project Recap

First off, a huge, THANK YOU, to those of you who purchased tickets and attended the, Finish Line​             Fundraiser​, held at the ​Lagunitas Community Room​ in Portland last March.  We hosted 200 guests who purchased tickets to attend the event.  It was our largest and best fundraiser event to date with some incredibly generous prizes donated by many of our sponsors, including a custom skis package donated by ​Deviation Ski & Snowboard Works​ and The Mountain Shop.  We also had a second set of skis from​ ON3P Skis​, along with tons of other awesome gear.  ​We raised over $18,000 at the event, surpassing our goal of $12,000!​  This, along with continued cabin rental income has allowed us to reach the fundraising goal for all the planned restoration activities!  Thank you to everyone who attended!

We successfully completed phase 4 project work between July and September!  We were slightly delayed while waiting for all approvals, but they came in and we got it done.  We completed two bodies of work this year:

  1. At the A-Frame, we replaced the aging exterior cedar wall shake and installed a new de-composting toilet system.
  • This is different than a composting toilet, in that, the resulting material will not be pathogen free once the bugs do their work. 
  • Another major design feature includes the separation of the liquids and solids which should promote decomposition activity.  This required a complete cabin alcove redesign. 
  • The old pit toilets were decommissioned, and the interior alcove walls were moved around to accommodate the new toilet space. 
  • We also patched a few holes in the concrete floor inside the cabin and installed some new bench seating around the wood stove.
  1. The second body of work took place at the ​Guard Station Garage​.  Many of you know that the garage was basically falling down.  The foundation was busted up, the structure was leaning to the East and the roof was gone.  It was decrepit!
  • We jacked the garage up off the foundation, removed the old foundation and replaced it and then re-leveled the building.
  • We replaced what was left of the original cedar shake roof.
  • All of this is important as the building is used to store the equipment, we use to keep the cabins going! 

Check out our Instagram and Facebook sites for pictures of the cabin, or better yet, book an overnight stay and look for yourself.  You can also view ​pictures here​.

The work was led by me, Mary Hepokowski and ​Wells Construction​ out of Hood River with lots of help from many of you.  The project took 3 weeks to complete with the help of 75 individual volunteers who donated over 600 hours to the effort! The project budget was $113,042 but we came in under budget at $85,409.00.  We had another $633 in donated materials, thanks to help from ​Gary’s Sandy Shake​ and Soil Solutions Environmental Services​!   All in all, I’m proud to say that ​we saved $27,000 off the original bid through the efforts of our volunteers and donated materials!​  ​THANK YOU​ to everyone who donated your time and effort to the cause, as you can see, every bit of help adds up to a meaningful contribution!

Looking Ahead

With the completion of the phase 4 project, the Save Tilly Jane Restoration Project is winding down.  The structures have been stabilized and should be good to go for another 80 years of continued public use. There are still some smaller project tasks that will need to be completed next summer but the heavy lifting is done.  Going forward, the plan is to perform all needed repairs in a timely fashion which will avoid any deferred maintenance which caused this project to be so large.  I’d also like to see an endowment created so future caretakers won’t have to fundraise for needed repairs.  There’s also still talk of building a proper sleeping loft access stairwell to replace the current ladder system and fixing up the old amphitheater to the West of the AF cabin.  More to come on these projects.  For now, enjoy the winter season, check out the cabin, and I hope to see you on the hill.

Cheers

Andre’ Oregon Nordic Club