Pioneer Cabin #3 in Seneca Forest State Park, WV

This past weekend we drove into a rather remote section of West Virginia to "rough it" in a pioneer cabin in Seneca Forest State Park.  What's a pioneer cabin, you ask?  Well, it's a tiny little cabin that has no running water or electricity, no heat and no air conditioning.  Kind of like camping, but with more room for little boys to play on a rainy day than a tent would offer.  Below is a picture of our cabin.  Note the outhouse in the left corner (they call them vault toilets now - I guess the term outhouse is out!).

Pierce checked out one of the two bedrooms.  Simple and sparse - just right!

Everything you needed was hanging on the wall.  

I'm glad I didn't actually have to use the washboard or the wringer thing (located on the floor, beneath the dustpan).  I'm actually not even sure I could've figured the wringer out if I wanted to!

There was a woodburning cookstove in the "kitchen".  We were unable to figure out how to get it to draw very well (smoke filled the room, smoke detectors went off, and Paul finally doused the fire with several sippy cups of water at my insistence).  After talking with the ranger, it sounds like that is standard for this type of stove, and you just have to push through it until you get a big enough flame that it starts to draw.

Cookwear -

Where the water comes from - icy cold, but it did have an iron flavor to it.

They had lights that run on propane in the cabin, so you just have to light them.  They are not bright like electric lighting, but they do shed enough light that you can walk through the cabin in the evening without running into things.

And here's where the boys would've taken baths...

or just played like they were! 

Turns out big wash basins are kinda fun-

Waiting for Daddy to build up the fire (as it turned out, it was a very chilly weekend!) -

The first morning we headed out fairly early (after the smoky wood cookstove FAIL) to head up a little trail to a fire tower.  After noting that several steps were missing, I elected not to climb it, and didn't want the boys to climb it either.

Of course Paul had to climb it anyway.  And he took this picture from the top.

After this we headed back to the cabin to get geared up for our big adventure - the whole reason we took this side trip to WV.  Stay tuned!