Camp property found, now updates.

[ArlyA]

Bulldozer track?

Not sure, but I'd guess some forestry harvester.

 

[MossRoad]

I don't suppose you're lucky enough to have a vein of gravel on the property?

That's a great question.

When we bought our property, it was mostly sand and muck. We had to cut a road in as a specific place due to it being on a highway. My forester friend gave me a soil map book (all info now available free on-line) that showed a pocket of gravel right at the same point we were required to cut the road in! Very fortunate. I dug out a foot deep 10' wide trench in the sand about 400' back into the property and used the gravel to fill the trench 6" deep. Then we trucked in enough slag to fill the rest of the 6". Very sturdy road and half was free. Never would have known that gravel was there, if not for that book.

It specifically said there was a 6-12' layer of gravel under 12-24" of sand, and sure enough, there it was.

 

[MossRoad]

Seen at the parking lot. View attachment 4094023

Could make an interesting retaining wall for a planter at the entrance.

 

[MossRoad]

Some of the logging road mud holes are simply the dirt was pressed out via trucks, creating a berm that retains water. So the berm needs to be cut out. Other area's are so grassy, we can't see whats there and retaining the water.. The owners had been driving out there some years ago, before the last logging operation. We looked at historical moisture level for the summer which showed 6 or 8" of extra this year.

Have you looked at any soil maps of the property? See my other post about that. Very helpful, in our case.

 

[dodge man]

I have a friend that has a large piece of ground that is his camp property. He is lucky enough to have a creek that has gravel in it that he gets a few bucket fulls in his end loader every year.

Don’t forget to enjoy the process. Sometimes you get so caught up in things you forget to enjoy it.

 

[MossRoad]

I have a friend that has a large piece of ground that is his camp property. He is lucky enough to have a creek that has gravel in it that he gets a few bucket fulls in his end loader every year.

Don’t forget to enjoy the process. Sometimes you get so caught up in things you forget to enjoy it.

I've never seen him frowning in any pics so far, be it working or playing. I think he has it down pretty well.

 

[deezler]

Here's his county soils report if anyone wants to spend wayyyy too long mining the data, haha. I think Arly's place is on "sheet 56" on page 380 but then you have to cross reference all the soil type numbers to the inventory. In short, he appears to have a nice mix of rocky upland and peaty MUCK. Doubtful there is readily available gravel anywhere near the surface to easily extract, IMO.

Soil Survey of Baraga County Area, Michigan : United States. Natural Resources Conservation Service : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

archive.org

 

[ArlyA]

Here is google map of the place. The camp is at the bottom of the pic. 46°30'02.9"N 88°29'11.9"W

 

[ArlyA]

Here's his county soils report if anyone wants to spend wayyyy too long mining the data, haha. I think Arly's place is on "sheet 56" on page 380 but then you have to cross reference all the soil type numbers to the inventory. In short, he appears to have a nice mix of rocky upland and peaty MUCK. Doubtful there is readily available gravel anywhere near the surface to easily extract, IMO.

Soil Survey of Baraga County Area, Michigan : United States. Natural Resources Conservation Service : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

archive.org

As little as we've tramped around out there, we'd agree. The current owner said the logging company had a excavator going down the road the cabin is on. Its Baily Road if anyone cares. And asked him to check for gravel as he went along. Before he told us this, we noted these 4x8 holes dug along the way for unknown reasons to us at the time. He said he didn't find any gravel, just rock and clay.

 

[dodge man]

It looks like you still see logging trails.

 

[paulsharvey]

That looks like a very boggy area to the north and North East of the pin, that eventually out flows to the river or creek to the north. Basically, a fairly typical wetland basin. So, although some minor work might help somewhat, the area will largely remain a wetland without major work

 

[paulsharvey]

.

 

[paulsharvey]

"System Palustrine (P) : The Palustrine System includes all nontidal wetlands dominated by trees, shrubs, persistent emergents, emergent mosses or lichens, and all such wetlands that occur in tidal areas where salinity due to ocean-derived salts is below 0.5 ppt. It also includes wetlands lacking such vegetation, but with all of the following four characteristics: (1) area less than 8 ha (20 acres); (2) active wave-formed or bedrock shoreline features lacking; (3) water depth in the deepest part of basin less than 2.5 m (8.2 ft) at low water; and (4) salinity due to ocean-derived salts less than 0.5 ppt.
Class Forested (FO) : Characterized by woody vegetation that is 6 m tall or taller.
Subclass Needle-Leaved Evergreen (4) : The dominant species in Needle-leaved Evergreen wetlands are young or stunted trees"

 

[ArlyA]

Our regrid software shows the same thing.

 

[ArlyA]

Anyone here from Niles MI? This is where the owners reside. It was their "deer camp". Nothing exciting to report, camp purchase wise. We'd would have driven down over the weekend to clear brush but NOAA is now predicted 50% chance of rain. Sure has been a wet summer here.

 

[MossRoad]

Anyone here from Niles MI? This is where the owners reside. It was their "deer camp". Nothing exciting to report, camp purchase wise. We'd would have driven down over the weekend to clear brush but NOAA is now predicted 50% chance of rain. Sure has been a wet summer here.

Niles is about 6 miles north of me. Nice little town. Cheap movie theatre, bait shop, nice river walks, etc...

 

[MossRoad]

Niles is about 6 miles north of me. Nice little town. Cheap movie theatre, bait shop, nice river walks, etc...

Also, I used to work at their airport in 1979.

 

[deezler]

The only time I see Niles is on the Amtrak train to Chicago; last stop in Michigan before you hit Indiana. Edit: I forgot about New Buffalo

Wet summer? Dang, we are dry as a bone down here in the far southeast corner. No rain for weeks already and just more weeks of dry 80 degree, sunny days on the forecast.

 

[ArlyA]

Slightly updated to do list for the fall listed in order of importance.
-----------------------------

1. Clear the parking area.

2. Somewhat clear the mile in to the cabin. (this will allow us to see how much we can improve it next summer)

3. Clear back the cabin area of trees, brush and weeds.

4. Prep cabin from winter use and check wood supply there now.

5. Find someone local who could plow the parking area for us.

6. The fellow with the 4066 JD wants to sell it before see how much he will lower price now.

 

[Shenandoah MF1760]

... I got a one-trip 40' hi-cube with doors at both ends. Makes access to the far end trivial and easy to see without extra light during the day, plus plenty of ventillation. Mine is a light tan color which keeps cool even in 50% summer sun; I've been in dark green and dark brown containers and even in morning sun they're saunas.

I Had to look at the poster of this since it almost sounded like my Conex.

Mine is also a double-ended 40' Hi-Cap with a pair of solar fans for ventilation as I also keep gasoline powered equipment in there as well as my cab tractor.

I have had zero issues with this in the past 5 years, other than wasps insisting on using the lock covers for nests. I currently live 100 miles away from this site and only get up on weekends.

One advantage to a shipping container is that they are not considered to be permanent structures and not taxable as such (at least down here).