Get ready for so many posts about our property. We have already been there a bunch – in the winter. I have a feeling Greg will be there every weekend this spring/summer.

We plan to build what we are calling a little Shanty on the property. It will be less then 200 sq. ft. and basically just a bed or two and a wood stove in it. We will use this for now until we can build a drive way up to where we want to build a more permanent home. The plan is to have a place to live on the property by the time we retire.

Some more details about the property. It is close to Idaho City but the address is still a Boise address, although we are in a different county. It’s 6 miles off the main highway to Idaho City. We have a creek going through the bottom of the property named Thorn Creek. I know, how awesome is that a creek and it’s so close to our last name!! We are surrounded by State Land and a few neighbors. There is a small subdivision right before you get to our land called Valley of the Pines. There is an old Monastery there called Sacred Mountain Monastery. They have beautiful colorful flags surrounding a statue. I still haven’t gotten a picture of it but will when the snow is gone.

Here is a visual of where our land is. All the blue is Public State Land. The green is National Forest so we are in the middle of it. Exactly what Greg wanted.

Here is a zoomed in version of our land. The pink line is our property line. The red spray painted line I’ve drawn is an old mining or lumber road (not sure it’s exact but I think I got it close). It’s overgrown with small trees now but should be easy to uncover and use again. Below the road is an aqueduct. We were not sure what this was used for but some neighbors Greg met knew about it and said it was used about 20 years ago for mining.  We are hoping we can use it for water on the property. Greg took pictures of it. I’ll have to find those. You can see and hear water running through it. The blue line towards the bottom is where the creek runs through.  There are 3 properties at the bottom. They do have homes on them. You can see I’ve marked 3 potential spots Greg says we could build a house on. We want it up near the top, it gets more sun and has better views. I’ve marked where we plan to build the Shanty, more towards the bottom because it has easier access for now. We have no utilities so we’ll have to run off of solar power, propane and get water (hopefully it’s already there) and sewer installed.

Greg met some neighbors and they told him they see bobcats and mountain lions among other animals – bear, deer, elk, wild turkey. Greg’s already seen a moose!

When we were going through all the documents the title company found. My favorite one was the original deed. It showed the property being purchased in 1910 from the United States of America. It is signed by the President at the time William H Taft – well his secretary most likely but still pretty cool. Since then the land has only been sold 2 other times. We are only the 4th owners. The couple that owned it previous to us, owned it since 1966.

The weekend after we purchased the property we had to go out and spend some time there. On Saturday we went to Greg’s work where our new camp trailer is. I wanted to clean and organize it and Greg wanted to inspect everything. We tested the power and heater. All was good so far. We waited to test the A/C and we are still waiting to test the water until it warms up.

Jaelee and her friend Leora came with us to help us clean. Jayse came with to work on a go cart he’s building but he jumped in and helped Greg with a few things on the trailer. Greg checked the wheel bearings and gave them a maintenance. I have a lot of camping bedding and other items that I brought to set up.

The girls did such a good job cleaning. We wiped every surface – including drawers and inside cabinets, cleaned out vents and vacuumed everything. I made a list of everything I wanted to upgrade, replace or add.

The following day on Sunday we went to the property. Jaelee hadn’t been there before and Jayse and I had only been once. Greg had been up a couple of other times checking snow levels for the surveyor. The kids brought sleds and snowboards. There was a lot of snow! Greg had gone up earlier in the day to hike with his friend. He had been there for a bit by himself. He’d started a little fire.

We still haven’t found the best sledding hill but we have plenty of time to find it.

Laid down in the snow in the sun to soak it all in.

Love how the bark looks on the trees. So much texture.

And moss.

Our first family picture on our property!