Well we are deep in the throws of setting up a new yurt site for guests. Instead of the yurt being a B&B with the cabin or house, it will be available all alone on its own site.
We’ve been looking for a new site for a while and I had cleared a spot overlooking the garden area but it wasn’t perfect. Just up the hill from the trailhead a beautiful site revealed itself to us. I spent days cutting trees and clearing an area. Lots of wood chips were made clearing the branches, much to Lucy’s delight. We had a backhoe in to clear the stumps, level the area and do a bit of landscaping such as making a stone walkway.
After that it was moving the yurt, or first off, moving the old yurt platform from the LoneWolf cabin site to the new one. This time we vowed to make a bombproof platform so the first thing I did was to cut five popular logs for the foundation. Zac came in really handy lifting those logs into place. One was just too crooked though so out it came, and a pine log went in its place.
Then it was time to knock down the old yurt platform into six manageable pieces and transport them to the new site. This was done with the old trusty rowboat and the ATV and flatbed. I don’t know how many times we’ve used these to transport our stuff.
Building the platform was going to be a lot of work, so I hired my friend, Mike, to give me a hand. Seventeen hours later, we had the logs leveled and the platform installed in place. I had numbered all the pieces so the platform 2x6 structure went together fine. The plywood top was also numbered so we knew how those pieces went together, but I hadn’t thought that it mattered which way the round platform went on the 2x6 frame, but it did, so we got Josh and Hanna, Lucy and myself, Mike and my pop, Sam, all together and we walked the platform around 180 degrees until everything all lined up. Even though we had put strapping across to hold the platform in place (Mike’s brilliant idea) some of the tongue and groove came loose and we had to bang it all together again. Yes, Mike, I hear you, you don’t recycle tongue and groove as the tongues and grooves get busted, but that’s what we did and it all worked out okay. Now the platform is so sturdy you can have a dance party on it and it doesn’t shake!
Well the platform is up so next is the yurt. Although you can set a yurt up in 4 hours, it takes two days to empty it of furniture, move furniture and yurt in two truckloads to the new site and reassemble, making sure you don’t forget to put the bed on the platform first before putting up the walls as the bedframe won’t go through the doors J . Oh yes and those rotting bales of hay that kept the yurt so warm in the winter, don’t ask.
So the yurt is up, but we need a kitchen for folks to cook in. Originally we thought of a bbq with a small shelter but, as things happen, this grew into a 6x8 foot shed complete with propane stove, fridge, sink, running water and power. We had Jean and his son come up to build it but as usual, Dwight got to dig all the rocks out and get the site flat. Lucy did much of the finishing inside and after getting the wrong shingles delivered twice, I’m ready to finish off the roof.
Propane fridge and stove? Well these have to be bought of course and then propane has to be installed which means tanks, regulators, pipes drilled through floors, shut off valves, etc. Quite a job.
Power means an electric system so two solar panels are on order, the cedar post is prepped and ready to be lifted into the sky. We have four batteries ready, a battery box has yet to be built, charge controller and inverter are already in hand … Lots to do there too.
The water system is in. Jean and I carried a 1000 liter up to the highest spot above the yurt. I then decided it wasn’t clean enough so I rolled it down and rolled a clean tank up. From the creek I pumped water up to a holding tank on the trail and then pumped it up to the tank on the hill. The first pump was 80 feet (1 hose) and took 35 minutes. The second pump was three hoses (probably 200 feet) and took about 2 hours, quite a bit of time. I also filled some 55 gallon barrels from the spring on the back of the truck. I tied them off to prevent them from sliding forward when going down the hill to the trailhead and this worked fine. However not 20 feet up the yurt hill road and I heard a huge bang as the two barrels pushed open the tailgate and spilled all that water. Oh well, it was too hot to work anyways, time to chill in the blue lagoon with sweetie.
Well with all this water you need a shower so we moved the old shower building from the cabin to the yurt site, again floating it across the lake. Lucy painted and shimmed it up and got the hot water heater hooked up so there is nice hot water for a shower, too hot in fact, even on it’s lowest setting so I’ll probably splice in a cold water line.
Also traveling was the outhouse from the second yurt site at Owls Nest (have yurt will travel). This too came on the flatbed behind the ATV. It must have been a funny sight to see!
Lots of landscaping done, including 5 buckets of sand for the kids sandbox (It’s amazing what we have to offer) and lots of rocks pulled out of the creek to make a small dipping hole to cool off in.
Well the plants are in and the grass is growing. Everything should be ready soon, which is a good thing as our first guests arrive in 9 days!!!
Have a look: http://www.lonewolfcabin.com/yurt.html
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