We returned to Jawbone on 12/14 from a 5 day vacation in Bend. Connor and Kaola were leaving for their 3 week holiday break on 12/15 – so it was our last chance to get out and see some friends before the winter really set in. And set in it did. Right away, Adam was concerned about the flume freezing. Temperatures in the single digits were expected – and for a few days in a row. We drained camp, gathered as much water as we could, and capped the flume line. We settled in, relaxed that we had thought about everything ahead of time, and felt pretty good about it all. The ONAN (our back up propane generator) was working, and we enjoyed 4 hours of power at night, and a few in the morning. This was pretty close to our normal existence, except the outhouse was getting a lot more use.
A few days later the temperatures had warmed and we thought we could turn the water back on. We headed up to the top to take the cap off and send water down and had no reason to think all wasn’t going to go smoothly. At the top, it was discovered that the cap had leaked and had sent water down the pipe anyway, our good intentions and thinking ahead thwarted by a faulty cap. Temperatures were supposed to drop again, and we didn’t want to send water down and risk it freezing in the pipe over the next few days. So the leaky cap was placed back on, and the pipe taken out of the barrel so water couldn’t travel past that point.
On 12/20, we tried water again down the line. We couldn’t hold pressure – but it would come all the way up and then drop. We assumed that it was ice making its way through the pipe. On the Solstice, Jawbone was getting buried, and we were trying to keep up with the shoveling as well as trying to get the water back on. It had been 7 days without running water and a hot shower was sounding nice to all of us. Adam and I got ready to head up the line, breaking trail the whole way through pretty deep snow. When we got to the trucks in the meadow, the snow in front was melted and there was water running across the road. I thought this was simply a good sign that things were warming up. Adam, with his years of caretaker knowledge, knew better and explained this was a bad sign. Indeed as we got closer, we saw water spurting out of the ground, right about where the pipe would run. Our spirits dashed, and all thoughts of a hot shower put aside, Adam and I headed up to cap the line again.
We trudged through the snow, and at the top Adam volunteered to cap it so I didn’t need to take snow shoes off. The pressure in the line was so great, that as he tried to put the cap on, his finger was sucked into the pipe. He was knocked forward and lost the tip of his finger. He was in severe shock, and we were at the top of the line. He remained calm, I put snow on his finger, radioed Joe in camp to make his way toward us with first aid supplies, he used his capilene shirt as a compress, and I sent him down to meet up with Joe. Meanwhile, the pipe is still open without the screen on it, sucking everything through. Adam’s last words to me were to take the pipe out of the water to cap it, and to be careful. That meant taking the dam apart, and hefting the pipe out of the water. While I am pretty strong, and have gotten stronger and more confident in my time here, I wasn’t sure I had the physical strength to move the large rocks on top of the pipe nor the pipe full of water. It must have been adrenaline because in 5 minutes I had the dam apart and the cap on the line. I walked down to see what was up with Joe and Adam. Joe doctored his finger, we sent emails to our WMI friends for advice, and we were thankful for our WFRs. After Adam had come out of shock, a couple of hours later, we were able to get a better look at the finger and realized that he didn’t lose the tip. He was still pretty freaked out, and wanted to leave. At this point, this was a 12 mile snowshoe out, through an untracked 3 feet of snow. We realized all three of us would need to go. By the next day, he was feeling better, and we decided it was safer to stay and monitor the finger than risk the hike out.
Now we were down to 2 in regards to shoveling – and it was still intensely snowing outside. We had a break in the line, that was at least a foot and ½ underground, no running water, no power, etc. Things were getting ugly. We were running everything off the commissary batteries – and only turning them on a few times a day to check in with Tom. Through it all we struggled to keep up our positive attitudes, I cooked a big meal every night by headlamp – and the good food at the end of the day went a long way.
On 12/23 – there was a break in the weather and Tom sent in two of our contractors for the Nellie’s project. They had left their track hoe up here before the snow. They snowmobiled in, got the track hoe working and out of its spot, and dug up the broken pipe, which turned out to be 3 feet underground. They helped Joe and Adam replace the pipe, while I tried to keep up with the shoveling. The next day was Christmas Eve – we were starting to feel better about things. The pipe fix had gone smoothly – they gave us use of their track hoe before they snow mobiled out – and we thought we may have turned the corner. The contractors also brought in a tetanus booster that Tom had arranged – and I administered in to Adam that night by lantern light.
Christmas Eve started with us taking the new pelton wheel apart, and Joe and I headed up the line to un cap it. We sent water down, flushed the line, and I came back down to help Adam put the Pelton Wheel back together. Joe stayed at the top of the flume to send water down when we had the wheel back together. This time when we sent water down, we broke the rupture disk. This is designed to happen so that the pipe doesn't break, but still means a lot of work to fix. After a fire and some lunch, we were back at it. We replaced the rupture disk and Adam and I headed up with head lamps through the driving snow to try to send water down again. And this time IT WORKED! We restored power to camp about 9pm on Christmas Eve. Water would come on Christmas Day – and for Christmas we all got hot showers.
A few pictures of our adventures:
Adam and Joe smiling after the the finger incident.
Sorry the story was so long – but it has been an incredible 10 days. We are now caught up with shoveling - thanks to Joe's huge efforts on the lodge yesterday. We lost the front porch to cabin 7, and our wood shed took a dig and will need to be replaced. But porches and woodsheds can be rebuilt and fingers heal. We were challenged both mentally and physically through the last 10 days – and we all reached points where we thought we couldn’t do it. But alas – things are getting back to normal here. Still no vehicle access, but we’ll see what the next 10 days of warm weather and rain do – if that’s what happens, could turn to snow.
Hope you are doing well – and that our paths cross soon. Winter in Jawbone, always an adventure, and not easily forgotten.
Much love,
Katie and Joe
