Cabins near the bus

[bobenns]

Does anyone have any reference to the location of Will Forsberg's cabin on the Stamped Trail.
I have posted pics on Google Earth at the location of the ranger cabin on the Sushana and the cable tram on the Tek near the bus.
I'd like to locate Forsberg's cabin as well.

[GoNorth]

I'd like to locate Forsberg's cabin as well.

As far as I understood, this cabin is still not marked in any map at all. So probably only someone who's been there will be able to tell you (why not Forsberg himself? ).

According to Krakauer's book, it must be about 2 miles north of the ranger cabin, thus about 4 miles south of the bus, and I suppose it's also been built near the river (Sushana). So it shouldn't be too difficult to find - in case it's still there - , provided you are there. Or perhaps the region will get higher resolutions pictures on Google maps one day.

But by the way: why are you so much interested in that cabin?

[bobenns]

I'd like to locate Forsberg's cabin as well.

As far as I understood, this cabin is still not marked in any map at all. So probably only someone who's been there will be able to tell you (why not Forsberg himself? ).

According to Krakauer's book, it must be about 2 miles north of the ranger cabin, thus about 4 miles south of the bus, and I suppose it's also been built near the river (Sushana). So it shouldn't be too difficult to find - in case it's still there - , provided you are there. Or perhaps the region will get higher resolutions pictures on Google maps one day.

But by the way: why are you so much interested in that cabin?

Simply because I'd like to be able to reference their locations in proximity to the bus as McCandless has been accused of ransacking them.

I figure the ranger cabin is only 5 miles from the bus so that puts the both cabins in easy walking distance of the bus.

I posted a pic of a Denali Ranger Cabin at the correct location of the one referred to.

[GoNorth]

Simply because I'd like to be able to reference their locations in proximity to the bus as McCandless has been accused of ransacking them.

I figure the ranger cabin is only 5 miles from the bus so that puts the both cabins in easy walking distance of the bus.

Yeah, well, that's what Krakauer already wrote (he wrote 6 miles for the ranger cabin), but also that nothing (like photos or notes) indicated that Chris had been in that area. Which still isn't a proof that he really never was there, of course.
However, what I find a bit strange about it is the fact that all 3 cabins had been damaged, the ranger cabin near the park border AND the 2 cabins (including Forsberg's) about 2 miles north. IF Chris had found the 2 cabins while walking south along the river, and IF he had broken in, why would he have gone even further south? I don't know, but I imagine that he didn't expect another cabin only 2 miles away. And as he didn't have a map, he could not know.

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[erikhalfacre]

Not to stir the pot or anything, but I think I'm on the same page with Steve. Forsberg seems to be a decent enough guy. He's commented on the video of me crossing the Tek, and I've seen him comment various other places about Stampede Trail related issues. I tried to get in touch with him when I was making my movie about hiking the trail, but I never heard back. I gather from that, that he prefers not to really be in the lime light.

Whether it was Chris, a bear, another musher or trapper, or whoever, having had his cabin ransacked once, I would think he would prefer to have as few people as possible know it's location. I know I would if it were my cabin.

I must confess... I am curious though, but not enough to want to do anything that would further impede on his privacy at his cabin. After all, isn't that kind of what we're all about; having peace and solitude in the wild?

Just my thoughts.

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[GoNorth]

After all, isn't that kind of what we're all about; having peace and solitude in the wild?

Exactly!

However I don't think that many people would go there anyway, in case the exact location of Forsberg's cabin was revealed. Or, in other words, for people having the intention to go there, the description in Krakauer's book would probably have been sufficient to go searching for it by themselves.
So no worries. We're all just a bunch of curious people on this forum, with no bad intentions.

[bobenns]

Good enough. Forsberg's cabin is a couple miles closer to the bus than the ranger cabin. Good idea not to post the locations of private cabins I suppose, but not many would venture all the way out there based on a picture on google maps.
As far as the ransacking of the cabins goes that often happens to cottages and cabins in winter when people have real quick and easy access to remote areas by snow mobile. That is my experience in Northern Canada. What may be virtually inaccessible most of the year becomes easy to reach over the snow. Modern snow machines with long track etc can go anywhere fast, deep snow or hard packed. Snowmobiling is a major winter pastime in the north. I know of a number of cases where the damage done to remote cabins was so severe that the owners gave up trying to keep them. Somewhere it says the mattresses thrown out of the cabins had weeds growing up through them. That suggests they were out on the ground a very long time, possibly from late winter the year before.
I think someone spending a few months out at the bus may well have had occasion to walk as far as those cabins and probably would have covered everything in 5 mile radius over time. Also it only makes sense that there would be a path along the Sushana linking to the Stampede Trail and those cabins. No I'm not suggesting that Chris was the vandal. Just exploring the whole range of possibilities. I know what I'm like on a forest path. I want to know where it goes. He may have discovered the cabins, but maybe not.

Thanks for the comments Steve.