These trees were dead and needed to come down. If not they would spread the disease to other nearby trees. Also they could blow down during a windstorm. So ten or so would need to go.
Once on the ground I would winch them, drag them down to the field below.
The Coeur d’ Alene River was high with spring runoff. The animals were out moving now that the snow was disappearing. Soon the cow elk and moose will be dropping their calves.
Two skunks were even spotted on the rivers edge in the sun digging for food. In all we saw eighty elk, two moose, hundreds of deer, geese and ducks. I was hoping to spot my first bear of the season, but no such luck.
What to do with downed cedar trees? I decided to extent the deck of the tent to the side. This new deck space will be where the stainless horse trough will sit. The silver trough will be used for a cold plunge / hot tub.
Cold plunge! Using the water from the creek, I will fill the tub with mountain run off. After the plunge I can use a coiled tube of stainless steel to heat the water. The coil will run to my fire pit.
Hot tub! By building a fire in the middle of the coil the water will heat. As the water heats in the pipe it will rise and be pushed into the top of the tub by a connection in the tub. As this water rises it needs to replace the water behind it. A connection in the bottom of the tub connected to the pipe allows cold water to be sucked out of the bottom of the tub. This circulation will continuously heat the water in the tub.
Along with the pipes going in and out of the bottom and top there will be a valve at the front of the tub on the bottom. When opened, the water will drain off the front of the new deck and back into Trestle Creek headed to Lake Pend Oreille a mile downstream.
First the deck. The deck needs to be built! Using the 36″ diameter Cedar logs as the base, I will add the old truss boards from a blown down barn from up by the Canadian border. These are the same reclaimed truss boards that I used on the platform of the tent.
Getting the large six foot cedar logs from the field across the dirt road was no easy feat. I had to hook up the rear 13,000 lb winch and drag them over as close to my tent as possible. Next I ran the synthetic rope around trees by the creek. After running the line back to the logs I was able to pull them into place.
Next I will peel the bark off them and scorch the outside with a torch. By doing this it will protect against insects and make the logs last longer. Next I will dig two six foot trenches running perpendicular to the existing deck. By burying the logs so only the top 24″ are above ground, This will create the base along with the front log. I left the front log extended six foot beyond the end of the deck just for this reason.
Stay tuned for the progress on the deck and cold plunge / hot tub.
Bald Bigfoot 
awesome
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