The Rec Shed

In April of 1983, Mary and I “stopped by” our newly acquired 40 acres in Southwest Colorado. It was mud season from all the deep winter snows melting. On the Hidden Valley ranch road, we were stopped at the creek where a chain was across the road. We stepped out of our old Honda car into about 6” of mud. Now, we both understood what mud season really meant. We walked about ½ mile on the muddy road to get to our new base camp land. It was to be a quick look and then on to Arizona for some backpacking after our ski season in Vail. A break from winter to summer. The meadow at the property was fairly “dry” meaning not so muddy. We chose to stay, not go to Arizona, and start our first building.

Neither Mary nor I have any building experience. Plus, we did not have tools. But, we were both excited to have a building on our base camp. So, we bought a hand saw, a tape measure and a 6 foot level. I did have a hammer given to me by a retired carpenter. We bought some 4X4 posts (untreated because we did not know any difference), some 2X4’s, some 4X8 wafer boards and some nails. We commenced to build a 16’ X 16’ pole barn. We did not know what a pole barn was, but we thought we could build one. And we did. Dirt floor, corrugated metal roof and a lockable door, meaning one sheet of wafer board had hinges and a hasp for a padlock. But, we had our first building. Bring on the kids and the backpacking.

Sonlight has a base camp.

The “rec shed” was built right outside the back door of where the lodge is now. It served as storage for backpack gear in the early years, an office and then storage for recreation equipment. The timbers eventually began to rot, so Charlie and his friend dismantled it and using all the wood that was still good they re-built a smaller version up the road away from main camp. Now called “the Dawg House” it’s used for equipment storage. Part of the front wall still stands in the original location, as it’s got the electric panel for the main camp on it.