By Doug Stark, EHMI Treasurer
I’ve been fortunate to have made two trips to The Cabin since EHMI acquired the property, to focus on maintenance and repair projects. The first trip I went with my daughter, Kristabel, who had not been to The Cabin since our first trip as a family nearly 20 years ago! Like so many of us, Kristabel fell in love with The Cabin all over again and says she hopes to return more often in the future. For me, getting to spend special father-daughter time was the highlight of the trip.
The weather was right around 50 degrees on our hike, but we were so glad we had hitched snowshoes to our backpacks as there was deep snow on the ridge that made the last 30 minutes of hiking much easier with the snowshoes on. It goes to show that being prepared for anything is a must when hiking up to The Cabin in springtime – or just about any other time for that matter.
Kristabel and I planned on doing some Cabin clean-up and a few minor repairs to chip away at the long list of to-do items. Some of our efforts were spent reorganizing the inside to more easily accommodate four people gathering around the wood stove (see picture below).
We also worked on consolidating some of the books, supplies and assorted knickknacks inside The Cabin into wooden storage boxes between the beds in the loft. The Cabin’s signature “EAST HAVEN 1989” sign was all but falling apart, so we were able to replace the lettering and give it a fresh coat of paint (see picture).
Finally, I took on the initial updates to revitalize the outhouse with paint and a new toilet seat (see pictures).
While we planned to stay for two nights, a major oncoming snowstorm was on its way the next night and our car was not equipped to handle the storm. Thankfully we made the right decision as we later learned that nearly a foot of snow blanketed the area that night!
I made a solo trip to The Cabin two weeks later, spending two nights to complete the outhouse updates as well as doing a lot of additional cleaning to the inside of The Cabin.
Using metal reflectors, I also marked the short trail to the outhouse so there should be no reason to get lost on any late-night trips in the future! The weather was ideal for this solo trip, but snowshoes were again a must to pass along the ridge.
As much as I’m pleased to be preparing The Cabin for future guests and to further this ministry, I am really looking forward to being able to comfortably guide others to the Cabin once the pandemic situation makes that prudent. God has His hand on this ministry and during this stretch of down time, it’s a great opportunity for us to get The Cabin in tip-top shape for the future.
RSS Feed
