News from the Tilly Jane Cabins – Winter – 2022, Volume 15
Greetings from the Cabins!
Welcome to the latest edition of, “News from the Cabins”, our annual year-end update for renters, supporters, and volunteers, summarizing what’s going on at the Tilly Jane Cabins. Bear with me, I’ve got a lot to share about 2022!
First off, I want to let you know how much we appreciate your support. My favorite part about participating in 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.
2022 volunteer team
Before jumping in, I wanted to introduce and give a shout out of gratitude for our team that has been actively managing cabin operations and communications this year. If you ever get email responses from the cabin, it’s coming from one of us, so you might as well see who we are.
I’m Jenn, I’m still leading all things communications, IG and website content, rec.gov content and ONC Board and budget updates for the past two years while Andre focuses on on-site & off-site project planning and contractor coordination. Photo credit: Silvia Kern
Josh 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. And he’s been our protector of the Guard Station roof!
Chauncey joined us in 2022 to help out behind the scenes by managing the communications with renters, answering questions, while organizing and streamlining our administrative efforts (aka cleaning up our messes!).
So, while this is a rec.gov reservations system for the Forest Service cabins, it takes a team of volunteers to keep the cabins and communication flowing between renters, the Forest Service, the Oregon Nordic Club, and volunteers. We’re doing our best to keep a positive cabin experience for everyone! If you are interested in helping us out, we are looking for an additional team member in 2023, send us an email reservations@tillyjanecabins.org. If you want to learn more about the Tilly Jane Cabins and the Oregon Nordic Club, please check us out at: www.tillyjanecabins.org
Partnering with our community:
After nine years of fundraising and restoration to “Save Tilly Jane”, we continue to be in a position 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 2022 we donated a midweek cabin stay to the Thrive Hood River fundraising auction, we gave a matching cash donation to support a new roof for Cloud Cap, helped the Avalanche Dogs at Mt Hood Meadows, and we provided a cash donation to Temira’s Mt Hood Forecast, and Northwest Avalanche Center . We are proud to have all these partnerships and to support their ongoing mountain safety efforts.
Join the Club – renew or start your ONC membership for 2023
Hopefully you recognize that our efforts to keep the Tilly Jane Cabins operating are possible thanks to the tremendous support of the Portland Chapter of the Oregon Nordic Club, a community dedicated to Nordic cross country skiing.
If you’re a member, thank you! And if not, it’s not too late to join and participate in some group skiing opportunities in 2023. At ONC, you’ll find a welcoming community of Nordic and outdoor enthusiasts. Ski trips vary from one day, and weekend getaways, to extended trips out of state. You’re bound to make new friends and fun memories of a lifetime. Membership is $30 per year, check out the benefits and sign up here.
2022 Accomplishments
It’s been another successful year of big accomplishments that I am proud to share with you. Whether small or large events, every helping hand is truly helping us keep these cabins in good shape for public rental and we are grateful for our volunteers, sponsors and support from the ONC.
Government Camp – Cooper Spur Land Exchange. The Record of Decision for the Land Exchange on the Mt. Hood National Forest was signed by the Forest Service Supervisor May 3 this year, 12 years after the directive from Congress. Read more about the final decision here. Notable inclusions:
- 1,700 acres of new Wilderness in the Tilly Jane-Cloud Cap Historic District. These lands are now identified as Congressionally Reserved under the Northwest Forest Plan.
- Added special protections for 2,700 acres in Crystal Springs Watershed – the drinking water supply for 25% of Hood River homes
Amphitheater Rehabilitation: In July we renovated the Amphitheater for our Summer Work Party. After a two week delay due to snow on Cloud Cap Road, we started up July 18th for 8 days. This work has been a dream of ours for many years and we were able to complete it due to our partnership with the USFS Mt Hood, Hood River Crag Rats, Prometheus Craft Works, a Next Door Summer Youth Crew, and 22 volunteers logging in over 380 volunteer hours over 8 days.
Tilly Jane Campground: In both July and October, we cleaned up this area which was devastated by downed trees during the 2021-22 Winter storms. ~ 6 sites are camper friendly thanks to the work of the Next Door Summer Youth Crew, the USFS Mt Hood, and volunteers. Note that this cg is adjacent to the Guard Station however is not a part of our ONC Tilly Jane Permit with the Forest Service.
Historic Tilly Jane Ski Trail: We continued our work on the trail to ensure safe and fun access for both winter and non-winter activities. Together, we leveled the trail with gravel near the TJ creek bridge crossing and brushed out the ski trail for the last mile below the A-Frame.
A-Frame Toilet: We had the original installer, Toilet Tech Solutions come up to completely re-plumb the newish A Frame Toilet. We’ve been assured the toilet will operate better, but just in case we have added additional “toilet duties” to our monthly caretaker activities in order to ensure this is not a reason to shut down the cabin to rentals.
Annual Wood Haul: And last but not least, we held the annual Wood Haul work party on a sunny Saturday, October 1st. We hosted roughly 65 people and logged in nearly 150 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 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 inside the Guard Station with volunteers playing music.
Needless to say, the cabins and surrounding area are winterized and looking amazing! Thank You to all the Volunteers!! You can find more photos of the work parties here.
Looking Ahead
We have received our order of replacement shakes for the Guard Station roof. We’ll be leading a volunteer work party one weekend in July 2023 to replace the main cabin roof. We will share more details on this next Spring!
Cabin rentals continue to be strong. Beginning January 1, we are transitioning back to standard rental operations (pre-COVID), meaning you can book the A-Frame for 2+ people for $20/person/night and share the cabin with up to 20 people. This is the same rate as pre-COVID. No changes were made when booking the Guard Station. Both cabins can be rented on rec.gov . In addition we have ONC Member and TJ Volunteer weekends at the A Frame one weekend each month to complete maintenance work and provide a give back to 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 COOL. 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