News from the Cabin, Winter – 2023 – Volume 16
Greetings from the Cabins!
Welcome to the latest edition of, “News from the Cabins”, our annual year-end update for cabin renters, supporters, and volunteers, summarizing what’s going on at the Tilly Jane Cabins. 2023 was yet ANOTHER big year of accomplishments worth sharing!
First off, I want to let you know how much we appreciate your support. My favorite part about leading this ongoing effort is the opportunity to create a community around Tilly Jane and interact with supporters like you – our Friends – on a regular basis. You are the heart of this work, and your support means everything to me and all of us here. The Tilly Jane Cabins and surrounding areas rely on volunteers and donations to keep the cabins and recreation in the area open to the public. Together, we’ve had another amazing year of impacts to the Cloud Cap-Tilly Jane Historic area.
2023 Volunteer Caretakers
This year we expanded the Cabin Volunteer Caretakers Team. I want to introduce and give a shout of gratitude for our team that has been actively managing cabin operations and communications this year. If you ever get emails from the cabin, it’s coming from one of us.
Josette joined our crew this Spring. In addition to winter recreating at the cabin, Josette and her pup Rye have been joining us at volunteer events for many years. Now Josette is picking up both administrative support, onsite Volunteer coordination and help with tackling our To Do list at the cabins.
Andre focuses on on-site & off-site project planning and contractor coordination.
I’m Jenn, this year I officially joined the ONC-PDX Board, and I continue to manage volunteer coordination and communication, TJ merchandise, and the content for IG, TJ-ONC and rec.gov websites.
Josh is leading Communications and continues to be a great partner to problem-solve the user-experience and cabin improvements, communications with renters, our Friends of TJ Facebook Group, and supporting our relationship with Thrive Hood River.
Chauncey joined us in 2022 to help out behind the scenes by managing the communications with renters, answering questions,strategizing to improve the cabin experience, and organizing/streamlining our administrative efforts (aka cleaning up our messes!).
2023 Accomplishments
With your help, we are now prepared to enjoy the cabins for the 2023-24 Winter Season. Together we completed the following big projects this year.
Tilly Jane Guard Station Roof Replacement: Over two weeks this summer we removed the old cedar shakes, rehabilitated the remaining wood structure, repaired the upper sleeping loft flooring, and had new shakes and trim installed. Thanks to the help of 46 volunteers and Brown Roofing, the cabin is clean and winterized for the upcoming ski season.
Historic Wagon Road Ski Trail: In August and October, ONC Volunteers completed the work to mark and brush out this alternate ski trail to ensure safe and fun access for skiing. The Historic Wagon Road (now a historic ski trail) was created in 1886 by David Cooper, Henry Coe, and Oscar Stranahan along the Ghost Ridge. The next year they widened the trail for use by WAGONS and obtained a permit to operate it as a toll road under the name of Mt Hood Trail and Wagon Road Company. This historic Road/Trail runs from Cloud Cap Inn dropping +1500’ elevation and crossing the new road 8 times as it winds down to the current Cloud Cap Road and eventually to the Tilly Jane Trailhead parking area.
Tilly Jane Trail Maintenance: We leveled the trail and created water bars near the TJ creek bridge crossing and behind the Guard Station to improve drainage during snow melt and big rain events.
Annual Wood Haul: We held the annual Wood Haul work party on a sunny Saturday, October 7th. We hosted 71 people and logged in nearly 600 hours of work to prepare the cabins for winter use. Solera Brewery donated on-tap beverages to help reward the crew after we hauled and stacked 10 cords of firewood. We introduced our new Tilly Jane merchandise (hats, patches, stickers) and ended the day by holding a small raffle with lots of gear donated by Gerber Gear and other area businesses. And we enjoyed a cozy fire outside the Guard Station with volunteers playing music.
And remember, volunteers earn a FREE weekend stay at the Tilly Jane A-Frame during the 2023-24 Winter Season, you can sign up here.
Partnering with our Community
We began our “Save Tilly Jane” restoration project in 2012 and we could not have completed all the work without the support of the Mt Hood community. Meaning, organizations in the area have donated funds, in-kind goods, and volunteers. Now that the work is complete, we are able to support other partners who share the mountain with us. We believe we are all a community that needs to step up for each other when we are in need. In 2023 we donated a midweek cabin stay to the Thrive Hood River fundraising auction, we gave another matching cash donation to support a new roof for The Crag Rats Search & Rescue Cloud Cap Inn, we provided a cash donation to Temira’s Mt Hood Weather Forecast, and Northwest Avalanche Center . We are proud to have all these partnerships and to support their ongoing mountain safety efforts.
Looking Ahead
We hope this next year will be focused on day-to-day activities without huge projects to tackle. We will lead a volunteer work party one weekend in July 2024 to clean up the cabins and surrounding areas. We will share more details about this next Summer!
Cabin rentals continue to be strong. Both cabins are booked for every weekend this winter and spring. We made no changes to the rental fees, but we did increase the day use fee at the A Frame to $2 to help cover the cost of the firewood. Both cabins can be rented on rec.gov . In addition, we have ONC Member/Volunteer weekends at the A Frame one weekend each month to complete maintenance work and provide a give back to our volunteers and ONC members.Help Us Out
As we continue to reiterate, the cabins rely on all of us to keep them open. If you’re cruising the area and see something that we need to be aware of, drop us a note, don’t assume that we’re aware of the situation. If you encounter someone doing something inappropriate, speak up and let them know that it’s NOT OKAY. We only have one Tilly Jane and if something major happens, it could be gone. Thank you for all your support and care for the cabins. We are 100% volunteer-based and couldn’t do all this without you!
Please, be safe out there and we hope we get to see you on the mountain sometime soon.
Jenn – Oregon Nordic Club