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It started with a brief motorcycle adventure in July of 2008. Steph and I went to Crater Lake, where one his ancestors, Captain Clarence E. Dutton, was instrumental in surveying the lake and adjoining lands, as well as proposing to President Taft that it be declared a National Park.
After Crater Lake, we went to the Oregon Caves and as we passed through Cave Junction, we saw this little cabin sitting beside the road. We didn't check it out that day, but we did the day after, and the more we looked, the more we liked it.
We called Cary, the guy who crafted it, and I do mean crafted. He built the mill that he used to mill the logs. A welder by trade, he shortened and strengthened a mobile home chassis for the cabin and then he set to work. That was in 2004. The original plan was to put in a commercial kitchen and haul the cabin around to events where someone would sell hot dogs from it. 
Trouble was, no one wanted to sell hot dogs and Cary has all sorts of other creative projects he's working on. So, he and his partner Judy decided to sell it.
While the log cabin was a real traffic stopper, who needed a little log cabin? Who had an incredible place on the Trinity River where the cabin could become another gem in an adventure inn's fantastic cabins that range from large and grand to this, small and cute as a bug? Steph and I walked around and around the cabin; I took pictures of it, then we continued on our trip.
Next morning, we discussed the little log cabin while we had our coffee. Was it a match for us? Probably. Did we have to have it? Not yet. But was it worth pursuing? Definitely. So Steph went off to work at the Steel Bridge cabins and I called Cary. After a forty-five minute conversation with him, I phoned Steph.
"You know that cabin we don't have to have?" I asked. Yep.
"Well, we just bought it." 
I described how Cary beefed up the chassis; how he shaped the logs; the care he went into attaching each corner all the way through each log from the top through the trailer's frame. The details were way more than I could assimilate over the phone, but it was clear Cary had created a piece of art, not just a building. It was also clear that Cary was a real character, and we love characters.
So a week after seeing the little log cabin alongside the highway, we were back in Cave Junction to pick it up. The picture above on the right shows Trout near its permanent home and the picture at the left shows where we put it after removing some low branches off that big oak. We decided to orient Trout so that its front porch faces south, to catch some light through the oak. That means the two large side windows will look out on the river and the mountain. It's now parallel to the river and looks out on the Bucktail put-in across the river. I wouldn't be surprised if every fisher that launches a boat over there or drives in to wet a line doesn't go slightly nuts with yearning. It is going to be a great cabin for the inn.
1/10/2009: Update: After moving Trout to its location upriver from us, Steph began work on the interior. An antique sideboard has been installed. Steph's tiling a shower for it. It has a nice double futon and I just bought a great little LED lamp from L. L. Bean that looks like an old-fashioned camp light. It will hang from the ceiling and has a remote so guests can hop in bed before turning off the light. Work slowed on Trout as the temperature dropped, but it will be ready in the spring.
9/2009 Update: Spring? Try late fall. We got busier and busier this year and Steph couldn't get back to Trout until September. He put in a pre-fab shower enclosure that turned out to be cheesy, so he took it back to Lowe's and has framed the rest of the enclosure and plumbed the shower and sink. It looks much better. I'm looking for a rustic shower curtain. The portapotty will sit in the shower for privacy, but come out for showering. Next comes tile for the added walls.
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