It gets pretty cold - maybe not 60 below, but certainly down to 40 below, even lower sometimes. I’m gunna email Jim tomorrow about the propane .. he’ll know. he knows all that stuff.

What’s a parking brake?

I’ll be almost at the end of the road - you turn right about 1/4 mile before the footbridge, and go down parallel to the river. I’ll be a coupla miles off the road, so traffic shouldn’t keep me awake at night.

Cheers

Carl

Sounds like a really cool cabin!

Interesting they haven’t had problems with the propane - maybe it doesn’t get as cold as what we used to get down by the river. I guess it doesn’t get near as cold in general. Kind of funny - I remember the propane would stop working when the temperature starting dropping to near 50 below - I incorrectly assumed it was freezing. I just did a quick search on google, turns out the boiling point of propane is -44. I guess it wasn’t freezing, it just doesn’t turn to a gas - it remains a liquid.

Maybe this doesnt apply anymore, but in the “old” days, parking brakes would freeze on in real cold temps. To this day I don’t use mine because it is a hard habit to break when its cold. Maybe it won’t get cold.

How far out the road will you be?

Ron

Thanks for all our info man - I still need to get a few things .. I think the generator is fine for the vehicle - it’s about 1500watts, so I hope so. If not, guess who just got AAA?

The cabin is one of the old cabins originally used when they built the train line .. they had folks who walked the line every day to keep it clear, etc, and so they had these little cabins every 10 miles for them to stay in - I forget the name they had for that - something - anyway, it’s been lived in pretty well - and the folks who own it set it up with extra insulation, etc. Regarding propane, the fellow who owns it says they use propane all the time - he’s lived in McCarthy since the 50’s - longest resident of the town. so we’ll see how that works - if it freezes I’ll just pack up and move into his house and tell him to go live in the cabin.

There’s some firewood cut, but not an awful lot - I’m a pretty amazing wood chopper - my dad will attest to that I’m sure, when he chimes in.

By the way, per your email -”down booties” cost less than 40 bucks. Get yourself and Janine a couple of pairs!

Cheers

Carl

I can’t believe I asked if you are bring a generator - of course you are, you will need it to start your truck. I hadn’t really stopped and thought about some of the challenges you will face until today while I was working out. I suppose you need a big enough generator to start your truck, but small enough to get be able to get it in the cabin to get it started. I know some people who tried to start their truck with a weed burner. I also know some people who burned up the vehicle trying to start it with a week burner.

Does the cabin have propane lights or kerosene lanterns? Have they used this cabin in the winter? A lot of cabins have propane lights - but propane freezes in the winter. We used to wrap the regulator with insulation and keep a light bulb in with it, but you won’t have that option. Well, you can’t beat kerosene lanterns for simplicity. You are going to have to haul a lot of sutff!

Does it have firewood, or will you have to gather some? It is super easy to split firewood in the cold - hey at least cold has one benefit!

Ron

I’ll work on some long exposure, night-time photography I think.

Not many day light hours, although the days do start getting longer in a week or so! Here comes the solstice - woo hoo!!!!!

Right now dawn is really about 10:00am-ish, and sunset maybe 3:30pm .. I don’t pay as much attention to the time as I should, but it seems like thereabouts - Ron probably has the times down to the nearest second.

Lotta long nights by a fire reading, writing and playing guitar.

Cheers

Carl

Thanks for coming by the site man, I appreciate it.

Yes, I’m sure it’ll be [i]“something”[/i]. It remains to be seen how long I’ll stay in a cabin when it gets down to 40 below. Uggh! I’ll be getting back and forth here during the winter, so I’ll try to post when possible. Also, a few folks in the area have said I could use their internet access from time to tome, so I should be able to check in reasonably regularly if all goes well. They use satellite receivers out there for internet.

Hey Ron,

For power, most folks use generators, though solar panels are pretty common. The fellow who owns the cabin I’m going to stay in has a whole shed set up with solar power, it heats all his hot water, and a bunch more. Works really well, but like you said, not so good in the winter.

Cheers

Carl

Yeah, Discovery was working with Paul at Ultima Thule.

I wouldn’t think solar panels would be very effective this time of year.

Ron

Well, not THAT far off the grid - but it should be pretty cool, yes. I’m looking forward to it, definitely.

I’m hoping to do some backcountry stuff - have spoken to a couple of pilots about drop offs, etc - it’ll depend on cash and weather and whatnot - typical stuff. We’ll see how it goes.

As for winter, it’s been balmy here, up til the last few days. Hardly any snow at all around, although over n the park they have some more.

Cheers

Carl