[Hitch]

Might want to do something besides dumping partially burned logs into the creek. Remember, wood ash mixed with water is used to make lye. Putting partially burned logs to float and soak in a creek could cause the same phenomenon in a less concentrated form and may be bad for the ecosystem. Any way you go about disposing of them, aside from burying them and letting them decay, results in releasing carbon and other pollutants into the air or water. Might be a better solution to burn the rest of them in a fire pit and enjoy a crackling fire some evenings.

That makes sense. I really wasn’t sure what impact they would have on the water.

 

[fordy]

That makes sense. I really wasn’t sure what impact they would have on the water.

............Ask a Beaver , they're professionals !, fordy

 

[Hitch]

Haven't been doing too much on the work lately. We did get the horseshoe pits in a few weeks ago and the port-a-potty setup. So far it's working out great with very little odor. I think with our minimal use and dropping in a deodorizer tablet every time we're up there we'll be ok. I'm hoping we can go 6-months in between pumping.

This weekend will be our first large group camping trip on the property. We'll have upwards of 20 people camping over the Memorial Day weekend. We're looking forward to hanging out with everyone and enjoying the property.

I've been wanting to put more rock down on the driveway but the guy I was referred to keeps flaking out on me. So I need to look for another provider.

 

[Hitch]

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 2-years since I’ve posted to this thread.

Our original plan was to build a house on the property. But as time has gone by our plans have changed. The main considerations were the high cost of construction, stringent California building codes and the increasing wildfire risks. When you add it all up it just didn’t make sense to build. So we decided to put a trailer on the property.

We ordered a 2021 Cedar Creek Cottage 40CRS Cedar Creek Cottage | Forest River RV - Manufacturer of Travel Trailers - Fifth Wheels - Tent Campers - Motorhomes back in August. We chose a destination trailer since they’re bigger and more like a small home. Plus it gives us the ability to move it if necessary.

We had to fall about 50 trees to make room for the trailer. Work started a couple months ago and the grading started this week. We will have a water tank, grey water drainage pit, septic tank, generator and 250-gal propane tank to feed the trailer and generator.

The trailer was purchased from a dealer in Illinois because it was about $20k cheaper then buying it here in California. Granted I’m going to spent $3,600 to transport it here but it was well worth the savings.

We’re hoping to have the trailer setup by Christmas. Here’s some pictures of the first day or grading.

 

[RJ2019]

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 2-years since I’ve posted to this thread.

Our original plan was to build a house on the property. But as time has gone by our plans have changed. The main considerations were the high cost of construction, stringent California building codes and the increasing wildfire risks. When you add it all up it just didn’t make sense to build. So we decided to put a trailer on the property.

We ordered a 2021 Cedar Creek Cottage 40CRS Cedar Creek Cottage | Forest River RV - Manufacturer of Travel Trailers - Fifth Wheels - Tent Campers - Motorhomes back in August. We chose a destination trailer since they’re bigger and more like small home. Plus it gives us the ability to move it if necessary.

We had to fall about 50 trees to make room for the trailer. Work started a couple months ago and the grading started this week. We will have a water tank, grey water drainage pit, septic tank, generator and 250-gal propane take to feed the trailer and generator.

The trailer was purchased from a dealer in Illinois because it was about $20k cheaper then buying it here in California. Granted I’m going to spent $3,600 to transport it here but it was well worth the savings.

We’re hoping to have the trailer setup by Christmas. Here’s some pictures of the first day or grading.

View attachment 92180 View attachment 92181 View attachment 92182 View attachment 92183

An RV is definitely the way to go in your situation. You can pick up and move it all if you need to and (perhaps more importantly) you can insure it. Getting homeowners insurance in California in rural areas is getting more and more difficult to do. Also agree 1000% that building codes and permit requirements/fees are prohibitive and best avoided. The California housing shortage is totally manufactured by its housing officials.

 

[Hitch]

I thought I should sweep the area with the metal detector before the rock goes down. It is gold country..you never know. Unfortunately all I found were pieces of old tin cans. Makes me wonder about the history of the land. Could have once been a prospectors camp for all I know. Would have been an ideal spot with the creek going through it. Maybe next year I’ll start sweeping other parts of the property.

 

[Hitch]

The gravel pad is done and we extended the driveway to it. The new trailer should be here next weekend. 🤞🏻

 

[melli]

Looks great Hitch!
Really cleaned up well.

 

[NorthernMan]

Yes, what a beautiful property. Congrats, and great work on what you've done. We have been working on ours for three years, and can appreciate all the labor that is involved.

 

[Hitch]

After months of delays we finally got our new trailer delivered a couple weeks ago. It's so nice to finally be done and we can't wait for summer to really be able to enjoy the property.

Last night I was going over our expenditures on the property since we bought it in 2016. We have invested exactly $40,000 developing the property over the years, with over half that spent in 2020 alone.

Here are some pictures of the trailer (2021 Cedar Creek Cottage 40CRS).

From left to right is a 300-gal. propane tank for the trailer and generator. Next is where our generator will go. We have a Zombie-box sound enclosure on order, which should be here in about a month. In the meantime we're using a small Yamaha generator.

Next to the generator is a partially buried 550-gal septic holding tank. We will drain the black water from the tailer into that and then have that pumped by a septic company as needed. Then there is a grey water drainage pit (4'x4'x4') filled with drainage rock. The last thing is a 500-gal. water tank. I bought a 110-gal. water tank for my truck and I will bring water up with us as needed to fill the water tank.

One of the reasons we chose this trailer was because of all the windows, which connects us with the outside. It's also built like a house with aluminum 16" on center framing and excellent insulation. Since we're not going to build we had no problems with buying something really nice that we can keep for a long time.