Saturday, October 3, 2009

If Walls Could Talk

I spent last night and today hiking and exploring the edge of the Big Desert where it meets the Targhee National Forest.  Any excuse to get out in the wilds is good enough for me.  Other than the animals and birds I saw, two old cabins dominated my thoughts.  If only their walls could talk and tell me about their history with their occupants.
The first one is just the walls of a small cabin on Crystal Butte about a half mile from the timber.  It is overgrown with sage brush, but I did find a pile of broken glass bottles and rusty tin cans nearby.  There was also an old crushed wash tub there also.


After "roughing" it out in my unheated camp trailer with tempatures below 20 degrees, listening to the elk bugle and the coyotes howling, I traveled to the Davis Lakes area where I found this old cattle linesman's cabin.  It was in much better shape, but still in bad shape.



The front portion on the cabin, almost half of it, was a coverd porch to store enough fire wood for the occupants.  Inside the old burned out wood stove is filled with thistles and mushrooms, a storage area for pack rats.

While the hand squared logs inside are chinked with mud and saplings cut in fourths with nails and spikes used as hangers.
The front of the cabin looks over Davis Lake #3 in a sagebrush flat with fingers of pine trees on each side of it.


As the sun was setting with another storm rolling in, I wondered just how many untold and forgotten stories these cabins could tell me if only they could talk.




With a week off from school, I plan on roughing it three or four days hunting and more exploring in the wilds of Idaho

18 comments:

marmee said...

bill,

thanks for visiting "things i love."
these old cabins would have stories to tell if they could tell you what has happened in and around them. love your sunset photo...have a great time roughing it.
happy autumn.

Loran said...

What a great post! I wish those walls could talk too. Enjoy your week off.

Queen-Size funny bone said...

I love the old stuff and the mystery of it all. The stories behind the ruins is probably nothing we can imagine.

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Bill: Wonderful captures of times gone by, I wish I was with you on the trip except for the cold weather. What a great sky photo you got.

Sue McGettigan said...

If only those walls COULD talk! Have a wonderful week roughing it, what a blessing to be out in the wilds on your own. Love your photos, thanks for sharing.

❀~Myrna~❀ said...

Very interesting, stirs the imagination. Great pics ,beautiful sunset. Thanks for stopping by.;~)
~Myrna Lee

Janie said...

I love exploring old cabins, too, and imagining who lived there and why they left. Great photos of the cabin and sunset.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Oh wouldn't you just LOVE to know everything which took place all through the years in that old cabin??? It's too bad those walls can't talk to you.

You are out in some mightly COLD temperatures.. Brrrrr....

Take care and thanks for your kind words on my blog.
Betsy

Ms. Fiddlesticks said...

Your pictures of the cabin reminds me of the book "The Shack" by William P. Young. A great book. Thanks for sharing your outdoors experiences.

Grayquill said...

You sure do find some interesting spots. I have also wondered when I see an abandoned old house what was the stories of those who lived there.

Anne Lyken-Garner said...

Sounds like an adventure, Bill. I'm afraid I like the comfort of warmth and soft fluffy blankets too much. I could never do it.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Jann said...

Real nice photos of the old cabins. It would be great if the old crumbling walls could talk...somewhere someone must know something of the home's past. Pretty sunset pic too. Enjoy your week off, and good luck w/ the hunting. My huz will start hunting soon too.

Ruby said...

interesting cottage! hb always wanted a wooden house..thanks for sharing! tc!

Explore Germany said...

thanks to the visit in my other site..love especially that sunset!

Mary said...

Bill, this is a fascinating post! And the photos are not only beautiful, they also evoke the wild beauty of the area and the lonely, haunted atmosphere of the cabins. Thank you for sharing your adventure.

troutbirder said...

Hey Bill. Finally home after vacation in the Northwest and glad to catch up on your posts. Those sunset pictures are spectacular and the old cabins certainly provoke the imagination!

Joe Todd said...

Great post. Don't have your kind of wilderness here in Ohio but I have managed to find a few old abandoned buildings to explore. Good luck and be safe

The Pink Geranium or Jan's Place said...

I know what you mean about an old cabin..I so want to hear the stories they could tell...