Well,made it up to the Beta Site.

First thing was to get the platform I built finished up, on its blocks, and leveled. (Why isn’t it spelled ‘levelled’? Seems like it would have the double L…) It worked out pretty fair if I do say so myself:

That thing is 4’x8′ so it should accommodate rather handily one of the individual combat tents I picked up a little while back. Additionally, the prefabrication-in-town, transport-in-the-truck, and assemble-on-site aspect is good practice for when something bigger gets put up. And, gy the way, when that happens, this chunk o’ wood and it’s twin (which is going up there next weekend) will be repurposed as creek-crossing bridges. Speaking of the creek:

Pretty placid, huh? We’ll see what the water flow is like in August.

Also on tap for this trip was a bit of exploring along an edge of the property I havent really spent much time on. It runs along the border of the state land and, wow, it is thick thick thick with blowdown, snags, and deadfall. There is literally a lifetime of firewood laying out there. At some point I’m going to have to clean up some of the more egregious tangles that have pulled down the fence between my place and the state land.

To my surprise, it turns out that if you head off the edge of my property and hop two ridges over on the state land….strong cell signal. Too far from my anticipated habitat to really make a difference, but good to know its there. Speaking of communications, the Starlink setup will, supposedly, be here Friday. This means that, maybe, next weekends posting about the Beta Site might actually be from the Beta Site. We’ll see…gotta iron out a few bugs first.

So…progress being made. Forward movement is being made, just need a lot more of it.

Well, today is Saturday of a three-day weekend. My plan was to head to the Beta Site today but a project went into overtime, so it’s gonna have to be tomorrow.

Im working on a deck for up there to give me some space off the ground to put a tent, or just a couple chairs. I’m building two 4’x8′ “decks” that will sit on concrete deck blocks. Just some eight foot 2×6 covered with wooden decking. I’ll bolt them together side-by-side and that should give me an 8’x8′ platform. And, once I no longer need it, the two 4×8 decks will wind up becoming footbridges over the creek.

Assembly took longer than planned so I’ll be leaving tomorrow in the morning.

A buddy of mine came by and we were chatting about the Beta Site and I mentioned that I was going to, at some point, get StarLink for up there. He mentioned that his experience with it was positive. I told him I had no idea he had StarLink. He said he’d bought it a few months back, and then proceeded to pull a Pelican case with the whole setup contained within from  his truck. Well,  nothing accelerates my desire for something like getting to actually handle and examine the tangible goods. I knew I wanted to get StarLink for up there and now that I’ve gotten to see it up close I just need to open a new browser tab and order the thing. I’ve run the math and decided that if I move some money around into a fund specifically for StarLink subscription, I can have my dividends pay off the subscription fee meaning it won’t be an out-of-pocket expense…I’ll just use dividend and interest revenue to cover the $55/month fee.

Among other things tomorrow is hitting the Montana cadastral for approximate locations of  where the corners of the property are, snagging the GPS coords, and going to see if I can find the actual corners. Last trips adventure showed me where three of the four are supposed to be.

And, finally, I’ve a friend with a goodly amount of experience driving logging trucks and pretty much anything else that eats diesel and winds through the woods. He’s off the opinion that we can get a small trackhoe up there without too much difficutly (assuming he’s doing the driving.) If thats the case, then its time to mark out where I want the holes dug for the polytanks I’ve got in the queue.

So, of to the Beta Site tomorrow. Details and pics when I get back.

An interesting and remarkably informative day at the Beta Site. This was the first time I’d ever gone up there by myself and I was looking forward to doing whatever I wanted, at whatever pace I wanted, however I wanted, without worrying that I was eating up someone elses time. So, I get up there and I’m trimming some branches from the road, making notes to myself, when I hear a fourwheeler in the distance. And, it seems, it is getting closer.

I looked up on the  hill and, sure enough, on my road, comes this old guy on a beat-to-crap four-wheeler. He comes to a stop and I say howdy. “Im your neighbor”, he says. We shake and introduce ourselves.

He has the 20 acres kitty corner to mine. As we talk, he tells me that he used to live up here full time but now (he’s 80) his wife wants to live closer to the hospital. So, he comes up here on weekends and whatnot ‘to get away from the wife’. Alright, I don’t want to tip my hand too much because no doubt anything I say will get passed around as hot gossip. I ask for recommendations for people to deliver propane, who does excavation, etc.

Then, I tell him that he might see some surveyors creeping around and that theyre on my dime. There hasn’t been a survey done since Wilson was president so theyre gonna be wandering around a bit.

He looks at me like I have two heads and says “Nah, hop on the back and I’ll show you where your corners are.”

Uhm..okay.

So he leads me to two corners that are approximately where the cadastral and OnX says they would be. One corner marker is an old t-post surrounded by a cairn of painted rock and reflectors. Dubious, but things were a lot more casual back in the day.

Other corner is a bright, shiny, and dang near new looking cap with flagging tape that hasnt even faded yet. This too was approximately where Onx and the cadastral said it would be. I took photos of the newer pin with all its info engraved on it and forwarded it to the surveyor. I am hoping this will provide enough info to be useful to them and possible reduce the workload, thereby reducing the price for this project.

The neighbor and I talked and I tried to get across that I’m not here to change anything, Im just looking for a place to enjoy the quiet and be left alone. Hopefully that message got across.

Next weekend is a three day weekend and I’m really keen to spend it out there camping out. Working on a platform this week to put together up there.

A very nice day here in western Montana. Was the weather good enough for me to get into the Beta Site without the SxS? Well , here is last week:

And here’s the same thing today:

So, I’m gonna call that a yes.

First thing I gotta say is – getting the Milwaukee M18 chainsaw was not the worst idea I’ve ever had. Does it do everything a gas saw does? Probably not. But where it absolutely shines is for ‘touch ups’ and quick jobs. The situations where you’re driving along, turn a corner, and theres a lodgepole pine crossing the road. Hop out, grab the Milwaukee, zip zip zip, and youre done. Lightweight, no fuels to mix, no muss, no fuss. It’s just handy. And even though it has a grip safety of sorts, I like that I can pull the battery when Im done and the thing becomes absolutely harmless unless you drop it on someone.

After cutting a buncha downed timber, I had put down the saw and was moving the cut pieces when I slipped and took a backwards tumble. And somehow, in the tumble, without even being aware it happened, my glasses got snagged off my face. Trying to find your glasses, when youre not wearing your glasses, is a major pain the posterior. I had a set of prescription sunglasses in the truck, but was I in the truck? No. I was well away from the truck. After about fifteen minutes they were found. So, since the Beta Site likes to teach me lessons here’s the two I learned that day: first, the dorky safety strap for the glasses is going to have to become a thing. Second, I need to keep a spare pair in the pack that I’m carrying around when I’m off doing this sort of stuff.

While I was up there I also moved the Monovault that I left up there a few weeks ago. Since I could get in with the truck, I tossed the Monovault in the back and took it further into the property and relocated it. In a few weeks, I’ll be burying one of these and that’ll serve as my hidden stash until I get things built.

Another thing I did while up there was to grab some water samples from the creek. Be nice to see whats in the water up there before I make any plans around it.

And, finally, I am in discussions with a surveyor to get the place pinned and marked so i know exactly where I can and should not be doing stuff. Good fences make good neighbors and all that jazz. I have no intention of putting up any fencing at the moment, but I very much want a definitive answer to where the borders are so I don’t inadvertently violate someone elses property. It ain’t gonna be a cheap process but its gonna be a buttload cheaper than fixing an encroachment problem at a later date. And, most importantly, I want to know exactly how much of that creek is on my side of things.

All in all, a good trip. I found out the most important thing I needed to know: that the conditions now are such that I can get the truck into the property. This means that I can now start shifting a goodly amount of material to the Beta Site…supplies, tools, etc. Also, Im thinking that maybe next week I’ll bring the camping gear, which needs to get stashed out there anyway, and stay out there for the weekend. Explore the property at my leisure, say hi to the  bears, that sorta thing.

I had mentioned that the gamecam hadnt been doing its thing. Well, atmospheric conditions must have changed or something because all the buffered and backlogged pics since 4/24 just landed. And, it look like there’s been some activity:

Well, its confirmed that there are indeed mule deer up there, and foxes, and moose. Still waiting on the elk and bear.