Early this summer I ventured up to the Hawk Mtn Cabin to have a look after not having been there for a while. I encountered a sad site. The interior was filled with trash, rodent infested sleeping bags and it appears someone was making a fire inside to stay warm. The exterior of the structure is weathered badly, panels are ready to fall off and in need of repair. If none of these issues are addressed soon the cabin may be beyond repair. The Forest Service did their best to protect this beautiful and unique place during the fires but If none of these issues are addressed soon their efforts where a waste of time.
After I returned back home I did some searching and found old project documents from around 2002 that describes the remodeling of the cabin by volunteers. I'm a volunteer for TKO, PCTA and would love to get some feedback and ideas as to who to approach about getting some help.
If anyone is interested, I can share the original project documents and photos I took this Summer.
If it is what I'm remembering (I could be wrong), the "remodeling" was simply painting the exterior. I don't believe anything was done on the interior. I do remember some members painting the cabin quite a few years ago. I think it should be stained, not painted as paint does not hold up well under the snow.
I'd love to see those project documents you refer to. If you are unable to upload them here, please email them to webmaster@trailadvocate.org.
Hey folks,
I was up there last September right before the first rains hit. Yeah, it was a bit of a mess.
When I first got there it was not so pretty. I did some easy maintenance on the cabin. About a short hour of cleanup and it was pretty decent. I saw no signs of folks having fires inside. I swept up about a quart of rat poop. A wipe down of the counters and a brief reorganization of the hardware items and the “survival bedding” did wonders. I added a new logbook to the cabin. It's in the cupboard. I also added a few nails to the shutters on the hinges to secure them for the winter (no, I didn’t nail the windows shut, silly). I bagged up and hauled all the garbage down when I went back. It was an easy carry in a small bag, less than 1.5 cubic feet.
When I left the cabin was in similar conditions to how it was pre-fires, and back in 2021, 2022, and 2023 after the fires, a little rough but not so bad. It is pretty much the same condition as it was in my June 22 2021 “Rho Ridge South End” post. I intentionally do not name this place in my posts in order to foil the search engines LOL, I referred to this place as simply HMLO.
I usually make it up there most Septembers after all the “Summer Folks” have departed the area. Sometimes I can even make it up around Memorial Day and am first in. I generally don’t post or speak about this place much. I’d rather keep it a bit secretive. (Kinda like that special lake near there, right?) I have seen too many places “fixed” and become “tourist destinations”. I like the idea of unpopulated places with no reservations.
Ted
p.s. Even on Sept 10th, after almost no rain for months, the spring box on the trail still had a decent trickle running from it, YAY!
Nice job cleaning up the cabin! Thanks for doing that. I was there in August and the place stank so bad that I didn't spend much time inside. I returned in October but didn't even bother opening the cabin, expecting it to look the same. Now I wish I had gone inside. You're right. It's a special place.
That does look many times better than what I saw in June. Thank you! for doing so much cleaning. This place is special as you mentioned. I still think the place could use some shoring up with fresh paint and some repairs.
Here's a link to a pdf of a previous restoration project document from the State of Oregon's Historic Preservation Office from 2002 outlining the work that was done previously.
I was unable to upload it here.