Rangeley camp, another year in the books. NDR

Fantastic camp in a beautiful location! I'd say your a lucky man, but I'm sure hard work had more to do with it than luck!

I'm about to make my first trip to Maine. I have no specific destination, I'll be camping and hunting out of my truck and trying to stay mobile. We'll see how it goes!
 
The foliage has changed so much from last weekend to today. Hope you had a good trip. We often snowmobile to Bosebuck's for breakfast on the weekends when we are up there, it's a great place with good people too. Here's a picture from today's outing.



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Troy
I grow up in mexico and spent a lot of my youth swimming at coos canyon, have you ever been to the caves at the base of tumbledown.
Best Bill Perry
 
Hi Perry, I haven't yet. I'm actually planning to spend some time in that area next summer. I'm usually just rolling through on my way to camp.
 
Troy Fields said:
I'm in Rangeley most weekends if you get over that way give a holler. Enjoy your visit.

I was planning on heading up to the North Maine Woods, on the north side of Moosehead lake. Not for any particular reason except isolation so I'm open to suggestions. Just me and my 18 month old lab. Figured I'd could get in two and a half days of hunting from Thursday through Saturday. Primarily for grouse, but I have some campsites picked out near water so we'll see.
 
Time for another update, this is year 4 on the 5 year plan. I still have a couple weekends of work to do but this gets us close. This summer was sporadic at getting up to camp and all weekends were not spent working on it, some we played.

Here are some pictures of the gable end trim work


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When you need more extension than your extension ladder can give.


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Corner boards up!


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Rough wiring for porch lights.


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And porch lights installed.



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I ended up selling my sled and purchased a Kawasaki Mule side by side. Here are a couple pictures from a non working weekend.



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Here's a trial named "Rocky Hill"
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A nice Rangeley buck in the making.


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When we got to the top the rocky hill trial this bull moose was standing off to the side in the woods watching us go past.


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My daughter checking the mail!


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My daughter and I did a little hiking one day. We summited Saddleback Mountain which is the ski area mountain in the region and also part of the Appalachian trail.



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While up there on the summit, we met a couple Appalachian trail through hikers (a through hiker is one that does the trail in its entirety without coming off, approximately 2100 miles from Georgia to Maine) ...this gentleman in particular though was the exception to all. The AT starts in Georgia, this gentleman started in the Florida Keyes and walked to Georgia before getting on the AT! The AT stops at Mount Katahdin here in Maine, afterwards, he was going to continue hiking on towards Canada! He was hiking what is called the Eastern Continental Trail.





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Here's the trail he took.



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Nice work on your camp Troy. It must be satisfying to use lumber from your own property, milled at the family shop.

The hike up the mountain will get you in shape for birds, only a short wait left. Must be great to hike it with your daughter.
 
Thanks for sharing Troy! The cabin is coming along great.

That gentleman is pretty impressive walking from the FL Keys up to Canada. That would be a tough trip to pack for with the very different weather from the two extreme locations. Though I suppose he could have mailed himself stuff to different post offices along the way and sent stuff home. Either trek is impressive but that's the first I had heard of the FL Keys to Canada trek.
 
Love that milling Troy. I'll be interested to see how the 45 degree lapping works out. Are you gapping those boards to account for seasonal wood movement? Love the Northwoods, hope you find a few grouse. Any woodcock around?
 
Thanks. Yes, the floors and interior will be done from pine cut off my property down here in Shapleigh. I'm fortunate to have a father and brother who both have pretty impressive shops. It is a joy hiking with my daughter, she's in Illinois currently so we make the most of our time when she's home. Thanks again
 
Thanks Dani.

I agree, I couldn't believe it when he said it! An amazing journey. As for gear and supplies, most have a lot of help from family and friends and also mailing items ahead. One through hiker we spoke with was on his 3rd pair of hiking boots. He figured about 900 miles a pair. Impressive task to say the least, but not on my "to do" list, haha. Have a great fall season!
 


Thanks Brad. I put them together tight. When we did the floors, we used the same concept, less angle thought. We also glued and screwed when we laid the floor and then I went back and plugged the holes with wooden plugs. The first wall went together good yesterday. It took a little bit of time cutting outlets and working with the staircase, but all cuts were true the first time, so happy with that. I had to drill and screw the butt joints as the cut nails I'm using split the ends on a trial piece. I also did the same around the outlets. I'll go back and plug those with wooden plugs as I did the with the floor. The rest I drilled pilot holes and used 7D old fashion cut nails and face nailed everything. I'm not expecting much, if any movement, but if I do get some it will simply add character lines to the wall, or so I call it. Bird season opens this coming Saturday and waterfowl the following Monday, so mornings will be spent not working. I have not seen one woodcock, north or south.

Enjoy!

Here a couple pictures of yesterday.






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Troy

I'm really enjoying seeing your construction methods and carpentry. You have some talented woodworkers in your family. Excellent work and the style is perfect for your retreat. BTW, I spied a sweet old Parks planer tackling your lumber.

Eric
 
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