Cochecton, New York - one of my new favorite places! Last weekend Brian and I were invited by our friend Travis and his girlfriend Lea (Travis and Lea, I know!), to join them on a weekend trip up to his family's cabin.
Over the summer, I had gone to Travis' beach house on Oak Island and had an amazing time. Trav and Lea are a lot like Brian and I - they like to camp, swim, hike, fish, etc. and aren't afraid of a little dirt. Travis is an Eagle Scout and actually works for the Boy Scouts of America in their NY office. He spends a lot of time taking city kids out to Boy Scout retreats, and enjoys weekends out of the city.
Anyways, on Friday night we packed into Lea's car and headed up north. The drive was about 2 and a half hours. Trav's cabin is located on 101 acres of untamed land. It was beautiful!
When we arrived, it was literally 0 degrees out. His cabin doesn't have heat, electricity, or running water, so he started up his wood burning stove and we hauled in water. After about two hours, we had the cabin heated up to about 25 degrees, which felt great after 0. He can heat the cabin about 10 degrees an hour with the wood burning stove. He also uses propane tanks to light the cabin.
The next morning we woke up to a significantly warmer cabin, hot coffee, and a beautiful day. We ate breakfast and started out on our hike! There's lots to see at 101 acres!
Back of the cabin.
Front of the cabin!
View from the dining room table inside.
Lots of animals busts and pelts - all shot on the property by Travis and/or his family.
Front door.
Inside the cabin, view from the front door! One room with lots of cozy furniture.
Living room area with twin bunk beds.
Check this out! Deer hooves from a deer that someone in Travis' family brought down. Fashioned into a lamp stand.
And more taxidermy projects! This is cool, and also a bit gross.
Looking out the windows of the cabin.
Inside the cabin, front door on the right. Kitchen through the doorway straight ahead.
Our lifesaver! Keeps the coffee hot too.
The Smith's :)
More taxidermy. That's a wild boar! No one is sure of it's originations - Travis says it must have been shot before his grandpa's time. Perhaps by his great grandpa.
Pictures of Tavis' grandpa. One year he shot 7 deer!
Beginning our hike!
Travis and Lea.
That's me, underneath all of the layers! I'm "laying out" in March. Also, I'm on top of about 3-4 feet of frozen snow!
Lea and I! She forgot her hiking boots and created boots of trash bags tied around her knees. Worked pretty well!
This was our water hole. Travis and Brian cut through the ice with axes.
Brian and travis.
Tracking animals. So many prints out there - rabbits, deer, porcupine, mink, etc.
Brian and I.
After hiking through 3 foot snow for a while, our legs got pretty tired. We hiked off of Travis' property and onto the local road for the walk back to the cabin. Such a beautiful day.
The "driveway" to the cabin.
Deer hanging contraption.
Targets! Travis had several guns at the cabin and we spent some time shooting his .22 rifle. Guess who shot two soda cans down with two shots!
You can really see how much snow they've gotten from this picture.
Icicles that formed overnight.
Panorama of the cabin and the property. Absolutely beautiful.
We all had an amazing time - many thanks to Trav and Lea for the invite! Hopefully we can make it back here one more time this winter. It's so nice to be out in the fresh air with miles of woods around. One of the best weekends all year!
