[pct-l] Volunteers Needed for "Hiker Hut" project / Dinsmores / Skykomish, WA.

[Tom Griffin]

I just wanted to quickly add that the topic of being a trail angel will 
be one of the trail classes at the PCTA Trail Fest in Seattle on March 
24th. Andrea and Jerry will be there, as will trail angel extraordinaire 
Donna Sauffley. More info at <http://www.pcta.org/>.

Tom Griffin
Seattle
PCT Pages: http://griffinte.home.comcast.net/pct.html

Subject:
[pct-l] Volunteers Needed for "Hiker Hut" project / Dinsmores / 
Skykomish, WA.
From:
"Jason Waicunas" <pct2005 at hotmail.com>
Date:
Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:44:35 -0500

To:
pct-l at backcountry.net
CC:
buggy_boo69 at hughes.net


Fellow hikers,

During the past few weeks, I've been talking with the Andrea and Jerry 
Dinsmore about a project to construct a "hiker hut" on their property in 
Skykomish, WA.  As some of you may know, they had numerous misfortunes 
occur in 2006, which left their home and property in various states of 
disrepair.  As a result, they need a helping hand in getting things not 
only back to normal, but to make things better than they were before.  
The main objective is to construct a "hiker hut" during the upcoming 
spring and summer so that the PCT hikers have a place to stay that will 
be their own space, complete with a sleeping area, TV, and internet 
service.  As many of you know, the Dinsmores are trail angels that have 
gone out of their way to accommodate hikers in the past.  With help from 
us all and others we may know, we can help them carry on the tradition 
of the Dinsmore's place as a town stop for PCT hikers in the future.  If 
you can, please help spread the word about this.

______________________________________________________________________________ 


Here is a recent email from Andrea that explains the situation in detail:

We were in the middle of satisfying the County permit office and having 
a new drain field dug in the front yard when the riverside of our home 
caught fire, (old electrical outlet failed), on March 23rd, 2006. That 
took out the riverside both floors of the house including the deck and 
the roof. The rest rest of the house was heavily smoke damaged and not 
livable. After that we lived in the motor home on site so we could have 
some input into the reconstruction. Late Aug/early Sept. the '06 hikers 
started arriving. We stuck them where we could. No kitchen at that time 
so everyone went to the local cafe. Back in the house in Sept but still 
living out of boxes. First week in Nov the record floods hit our area 
along with wind storms. The river came up to the top of our river wall 
and seeped into our new kitchen from under the foundation. A couple 
weeks later we had record wind storms. Took down hundreds of trees. Lost 
power for 9 days. Ran on a generator and candles. Within a week or so 
after that the 3 feet of snow filled our yard. The snow has just melted, 
the permit for the garage/hiker dorm is in hand and the company will be 
delivering the building supplies on April 15th. We will start tearing 
down the little garage about March 20th. We will need help moving the 
stuff in the little garage out to storage sheds. Then the garage needs 
to be disassembled and Jerry's son will haul it away. The yard needs to 
be readied for the new building. There will be landscaping that needs to 
be done. After the new building arrives the "big" part will be erected 
with machines. After the wall supports, roof, barn door and second floor 
joists are finished then we are responsible for the enclosing, 
insulation, wiring, windows, small doors, interior finishing, second 
floor finishing, building stairs to backyard and deck. And whatever else 
it takes. We could use folks here off and on for a couple of months. We 
hare hoping to to get some of this years' hikers before they hit the 
trail and some past hikers that might have the time to come and spend a 
week or two. We have the trailer, the motor home and the front room for 
them to crash in. I will be trying to keep up with the cooking to keep 
everyone full of food. I don't know what else to add. We will also be 
going to Trail Fest up here on March 23-34. Squatch will be here March 
22. Mt Tripper is coming to stay mid March until right before kick off.  
I appreciate your support in all this. Ol' Jerry wanted to do it by 
himself. He still thinks he's 20 years old.

Take care,
Andrea
_______________________________________________________________________________ 


To reach Jerry or Andrea Dinsmore, here is their contact information:

Phone: 360.677.1237
email:  zaqueltooocool at gmail.com   
-OR-
email: andrea at skykomish-show-n-shine.com

Andrea Dinsmore
PO Box 374
Skykomish, WA. 98288