Trip Report
Carroll Cave Shelter House Work Weekend
7-14 thru 7-16-23
Trip Permit Number: 2023-010
On July 14th through the 16th we worked on the Carroll Cave shelter house. I was fortunate to have the largest crew so far working on this project consisting of Bill Gee, Jim Cooley, Marty Griffin, Jeff Page, Kevin Feltz, Martin Carmichael, Sean Zimmerman, Caleb Mundwiller, Tristin Whetstine and Nathen and Sam Taylor. Bill Copeland came down Friday but was feeling sick and had to leave. With 12 of us we were able to make good progress.
I left home Friday afternoon with a heavy load. I was pulling a trailer with 20 sheets of ¾” plywood and my riding lawn mower. The back of the truck was fully loaded with a table saw and numerous other tools. One goal for the weekend was to get the plywood installed on the ceiling. It was securely fastened to the bottom edge of the trusses forming a sturdy floor in the attic. The floor was planned so that the four-foot-wide spaces between the trusses can be used for bunk space. (I slept in the attic on Saturday night.) We installed vents at the top of both gabled ends to allow airflow from under the eaves to the vents. A second goal for the weekend was to install the board and batten siding on the gabled ends. We completed both gabled ends and one of the four 8-foot walls. My riding lawn mower did a good job of cutting the tall grass within our 1 1/2 acre fenced area. It even knocked down the dense brush and thorn bushes on the west side of the property. (I now have two flat tires to repair.) We’ll need to buy a little more one-inch oak from the local sawmill to finish the last three 8-foot walls and a future lean-to structure for lawn mower storage.
Just before sunset on Friday the temperature dropped dramatically, and extremely high winds threatened to blow away our plywood sheets. Bill unlocked the silo and the hatch to the “basement” in case the weather got severe. Just before sunset we got a few drops of rain but then the sky started to clear providing a beautiful sunset. A second strong storm blew through on Sunday afternoon as we were packing up and heading out. It produced heavy rain and hail but again it only lasted for a few minutes.
Photos from the weekend follow. Thanks to Martin, Nathan, and Marty for providing some of the photos. And thanks to Sam for taking photos with my camera while I worked.
Submitted By Rick Hines
Time-Lapse video 1 at YouTube Time-lapse video 2 at YouTube
Time-lapse video 3 at YouTube Time-lapse video 4 at YouTube
Editors note – The videos linked above are all by Bill Gee. The photos below are credited as best I can figure out. Several people used Rick Hines’ camera.
