Let the winter winds blow in and the typical 8 feet of snow begin to fall.
The walls are up, a very secure roof is in place, and season two of what a pair of old Wyoming guys call a “promise-fulfilled” quest to build their second cabin at 9,500 feet in the Snowy Range west of Laramie is complete.
Larry Ash and Dave Simpson, two septuagenarians, are quick to admit that the final push to get the roof on before the snow starts flying in the high country was made possible by some timely assistance from a couple of younger hands.
“Everything went great. “With the help of Dave’s son and my son, we got the sheathing up there and the metal on,” said Ash of Casper, one half of the veteran summer work crew that pounds Pabst Blue Ribbons after nailing nails on their swan song project.
“We would have liked to get a little more finished up on the metal, but you know, we are 74 and we can only do that for so long at that age and the weather starts to impact,” says Ash.
When Cowboy State Daily last checked in with Ash and Cheyenne resident Simpson in July, the walls were up on the 24-by-32-foot structure, and they were getting ready to build and install trusses.
Simpson said Ash had considered how the pair could complete the trusses without the use of a device to lift them into place. They built a platform on top of the exterior walls that surrounded the cabin, as well as an additional wall in the center.
“We built the trusses 8 feet off the floor, and then what we did was tilted them in place and it worked,” according to Simpson. “It was Larry’s idea, and it worked perfectly because we didn’t have any heavy equipment.
“They were great big, heavy trusses to handle the snow load, so we had to build them on site.”
Building a cabin in the Snowy Range is more than just a retirement project for lifelong friends; it’s a chance to catch lightning in a bottle again. They built their first cabin together decades ago, and Dave owns it. This one’s for Ashley.
They can’t move as easily or recover as quickly as younger men, but this time they value the experience of building and creating something together even more.
Stray Nail
Erecting the trusses was especially painful for Ash. He was on a scaffold and using a nail gun as they toenailed wood in place securing the trusses.
His nail gun was at a different angle than he thought.
“I split the board, and the nail went all the way through the board and through my index finger on my left hand,” Ash told me. “It’s kind of a shock when you look down and there’s a nail all the way through your finger.”
Simpson claimed he heard his buddy say, “Oh!” Then he watched as he pulled the nail from his finger.
Ash finished his work for the day by traveling to Casper to see a doctor, where an X-ray revealed that it had missed his bone.
The following weekend, the two were back at it.
Simpson claimed he was also injured during the truss building process. A trapezius muscle in his back became strained, forcing him to limit his heavy lifting.
The couple pondered how they would get the heavy sheathing onto the roof, but that was resolved when both of their sons arrived and handled hauling, placing, and nailing the sheathing.
They also helped put the metal on the roof.
Ash stated that he was on the roof, tacking down material on top of the plywood sheathing to form a barrier between the wood and the metal. He also helped install the metal from a scaffold along the roof.
Ash said his cabin project is within a “holler” of Simpson’s log cabin, which the two built together in the 1980s. Unlike Simpson’s structure, which is entirely made of logs, Ash used dimensional lumber.
Last summer, the pair began their quest to allow Simpson to keep his 40-year promise to help Ash build his cabin.
Foundation piers and blocks were installed first, followed by floor beams. Simpson stated that Ash precut the materials in his Casper garage over the winter and hauled them up every weekend they worked.
Impressive roof
The pair can now look back on a significant accomplishment, having completed the floor and foundation that they began this summer.
Simpson said people who have seen Ash’s strong roof have been impressed.
“He was an engineering student for a while, but ended up a business major,” Simpson told me. “However, he ensured that everything was essentially overbuilt to handle the snow load. Everyone who sees it says, ‘Oh my gosh, this thing, it’ll withstand the load easily.'”
This summer’s effort consumed nearly every weekend from Father’s Day onward. Simpson is returning to the mountain this weekend to close his cabin for the year.
Despite being limited for the remainder of the summer due to his injury, Simpson said he enjoys carpentry.
After leaving his publishing job and moving to Cheyenne in 2006, he purchased, renovated, and “flipped” four houses.
While carpentry is not his preferred hobby, Ash says he has always been a “hands-on” guy who builds and repairs things as needed.
This winter, Ash plans to prepare for interior work next summer.
The tentative plans include a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen area, a living room, a bathroom, and a wood stove to heat the space. He will consult with engineers about what is possible in terms of toilets and septic systems.
A generator, a battery that powers a few lights, or a solar panel could all provide electricity. The nearest electric lines are over 15 miles away.
He plans to keep things simple.
“It’s a cabin,” Ash explained.
Simpson stated that the lots where their cabins are now located are part of a subdivision that receives water during the summer from plastic pipes connected to large tanks filled with stream water farther up the mountain.
A Porch Plan
One thing that Ash says is a priority for next year is a porch and he plans to cut the lumber for it over the winter.
The goal is to have his cabin finished enough to live in before the snow falls in fall 2026.
Simpson said he can see deer, moose, and foxes from his cabin porch. In the fall, he can hear elk but has yet to see one.
For all the years he has owned the cabin, he has never considered selling it.
He returns every year during the summer and early fall. Simpson has visited his cabin once in the winter, borrowing a snowmobile to make the journey many years ago.
There is no enthusiasm to try it again.
He prefers the weather when it is warmer, allowing him to sit on his porch and enjoy the solitude and a fire in his fire pit.
“For years, it’s been a great place to take a good book and kind of enjoy some solitude,” he told me. “For the last two years, we’ve been too busy working on Larry’s cabin.”
And Ash is grateful for his assistance, as Simpson was for Ash’s four decades ago.
“I had planned to do it all by myself. But there’s just no way,” Ash replied. “There were times when I simply needed someone else. And it gets kind of weird when you’re up there, you know, balancing on things all by yourself. Having someone with a cellphone to call 911 is critical.”
