2/13-15/18 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

I got a late start and didn't arrive until 1:10. Quite a bit more snow had melted away, but the temperature was right around freezing. Just as I got my gear up to the cabin, Robert called. He told me that he and Tim would be up in the morning to start logging.

After hoisting the flag, having my lunch and a nap, I took the come-along and S-hook that I had fixed up to the privy and moved the privy about another foot. It is sitting a little cock-eyed and needs to be adjusted before I can move it any further.

On Wednesday I found one mouse in a trap in the crawlspace. A second trap was still set. I'm glad they can no longer get upstairs. After breakfast, I went back out to work on moving the privy. Robert and Tim showed up at about 9:00. The three of us worked on digging a trench in the snow on the upper roadway above the hairpin turn. It was on the uphill side and just wide enough for the uphill tires on the skidder. The snow was frozen hard, so we figured that the trench would keep the back tires of the skidder from slipping down over the edge.

When we finished, Robert drove the skidder up and the trench worked like a charm. He drove right up past the cabin, turned the corner, went up past the mixer and parked next to the old privy site. Then he went into the woods clearing small trees out of the way of his skid trails while Tim and I worked on moving the privy.

After stopping for a lunch break in the cabin, we went back out and finished moving the privy to its new location. It is still sitting on timbers and is not plumb, but it is out of the way for the skid trail. We'll just leave it there for now. More permanent foundations can wait. Robert and Tim left at about 2:30.

I was physically exhausted and tried to take a nap, but I couldn't drop off to sleep. I got up and went back outside and brought in all the tools, chains, and other equipment we had been using to move the privy. It required two trips using my trusty old Trapper Nelson backpack.

On Thursday morning, Dave called after breakfast and we had another great conversation until Tim and Robert showed up at about 8:30. We spent the morning logging.

We started by igniting a brush burn pile that Robert had started piling up the day before. Then we added brush that he had cut away from the skid trail. When the fire was roaring, and everything was cleaned up, Robert felled two trees toward the sequoia grove.

Then they limbed and bucked the trees into logs and skidded them up to the cliff just above Little Yosemite where they would be pushed over later to be retrieved from down below. The brush was all added to the burn pile and was burned up as the logs were skidded out.

We had an early lunch at about 10:45 and after a little more working in the woods, I packed up my gear and left for home at about 12:45. Robert and Tim kept on logging after I left. I took some pictures and videos that I will use later to make another series of logging videos for YouTube. Things are going to look very different very soon at Camp Serendipity.