Day 12: "Privy Counsel"

[Lawrene0]

Such nice and useful topics from the rest of you, and here I am talking about the bathroom.

But it's new! Brand new this month! I'm dying to tell you about it.

To begin, for six years I have asked my guests to carry their food, water, and sleeping bags a kilometre down a footpath through the woods. Once at the treehouse, they got no wifi, no electricity, no plumbing. Kitchen access? No. If they wanted to cook, they had to make a fire. Same if they wanted warmth. If they wanted a bathroom? Ha! They had to make that themselves, too. 

And they call me a superhost.

The secret to getting five stars for severe deprivation is to tap into the hiker crowd. You good hosts, understandably and wisely, discourage them, with their dirty boots and backpacks and toques. I love them. I'm one of them. 

But then our listing got noticed by non-hikers, who started to book in droves.

They are nice, too, and I can see why you want them, smelling of shampoo as they do. 

But leave-no-trace camping turns out not to be their thing, and suddenly our eco-friendly cat-hole system that had been given the green light by the rivershed conservation authority was unsustainable without extra hours of work by me. Like you, I don't have extra hours. I couldn't keep up.

With this influx of instant-booking new-to-the-outdoors guests, I would either have to delist or think up a system they might embrace. The solution was to build an outhouse 400 metres up the path away from the river. Less than 400 metres, and it would have been within the floodplain. Do not picture an outhouse in a floodplain. Oh, you have already? Sorry.

It's lovely though, this one, all piney and clean and following our township sanitation rules. Works like a charm. Harry, the designer, is brilliant.

Immediately a deer mouse applied to be co-host with the duty of shredding the toilet paper, but Harry is keeping her out now with a metal door sweep. I had to add a screen to the moon-and-star cutout to thwart the sparrows. The raccoons are hibernating, so they won't be trying to book it for a party until spring. 

I am upping my nightly price, given this great luxury, but no plans to apply for Plus or Beyond yet. 😉

[Lizzie]

Hello @Lawrene0,

Great post and congratulations on your new addition! 🙂 

It does look very inviting and I'm sure your guests are going to appreciate it. 

Your treehouse is so special, I would love to come and visit (the idea of kayaking over to it is amazing)! 🙂 

[J-Renato0]

@Lawrene0

Since I am not a serious or keen hiker... I need a bit of comfort! 🙂 So I thought your idea very good !

Being me a practically retired engineer, I would like to suggest something to connect the tree-house to the toilet cabin in seconds! What about a "zipline". You just need to connect a steel cable to a high part of the tree and the other end of the cable to a pole near the other cabin. It would be fun to go there flying to use the tolilet.  To return the guest can do it on foot, because they are not in a hurry anymore to use the toilet 🙂

No need to say I am just kidding 🙂 Anyway... to go to the toilet or not... a zipline could be an extra attraction! 🙂 Well... You can see I am not a serious hiker indeed! 🙂

[Lawrene0]

Let me think about that one, @J-Renato0! 🙂

[Susan151]

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@J-Renato0 wrote:

@Lawrene0

etired engineer, I would like to suggest something to connect the tree-house to the toilet cabin in seconds! What about a "zipline". You just need to connect a steel cable to a high part of the tree and the other end of the cable to a pole near the other cabin.

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I immediately thought of Laura Ingalls Wilder and [I think] the Big House in the Woods, though it may have been her book set in Minnesota. The storms were so bad in the winter, that the family ran a long rope from the house to the barn so that they could find their way safely from one to the other.

When I lived on a dairy farm in Vermont, way back when, we had a long guide, with clips that we could secure to our bibs for the same reason. You never headed to the barn, in the dark, without attaching yourself to the guide. There were stories of those who chose not to take this safety precaution.

Do you need something like this so your creatures-who-like-comfort don't get lost out there?

[Lawrene0]

I have put up reflector blazes to mark the path, @Susan151, to make it easier to find on dark nights. But no need for Vermont-style guides or - is it New Hampshire? - where the barns are connected to the houses by covered passages? Connected farms. We don't have those. We seldom get those sorts of storms in this part of Ontario. We get cold temps and lake effect snow. 

So far so good. No guests lost in the woods. 

[Ria16]

That’s the prettiest long drop I’ve seen in a long time . I even have a book on them in the guest library. 😉   

[Lawrene0]

What is the book called, @Ria16? Sounds like a good addition to our guest library!

[Ria16]

@Lawrene0 I’m happy to send it to you if you want to flick me your address. Although not sure how to do that as addresses are not allowed.

It’s called further down the back 😉

[Lawrene0]

Thanks, @Ria16. Found it. Fred Hillier. Looks like we will have to add a book rack!

[Cathie19]

A solar light or torch for using the book rack? Lol..

[Sarah977]

@Ria0  I've found you can actually exchange personal info through the personal messaging here on the forum, and it doesn't seem to get blocked.

[Quincy]

This is an amazing upgrade @Lawrene0!

I second Lizzie on visiting your lovely treehouse! 

[Rachael26]

@Lawrene0

Wonderful post! As a fellow woodland cabin owner I love your new addition - and so rustic and authentic in design. It's a beautiful addition to your listing - and a fabulous home for your 'captive' audience to enjoy the Airbnb Magazine. 😉

Happy Christmas,

Rachael x

[Lawrene0]

We don't get the Airbnb magazine in Canada, @Rachael26. An American host posted the "superhost week" email she got. Mine differs in that no magazine is mentioned. 😞 

My guests will have to read the old New Yorkers that have made it across the border.