Practicing geology requires walking around a lot. Once in the 1970s, I had occasion to examine  a large mass of pre-historic landslide debris in Solstice Canyon, and that meant going down the eastern canyon slope all the way to the bottom to the stream channel where the basal contact of the debris is exposed. The channel there is quite wide and picturesque. Brush isn't thick, and hiking there is easy if you don't mind a lot of boulders. After getting the data I needed regarding the slide, I decided to explore a bit. To my great surprise, around a bend in the stream channel I came upon a one-room roofless cabin. As I recall, it was built almost entirely of shale slabs. It looked well made although a little too close to the channel in the event of a big storm and high flow levels. It was about 20 feet long at the front and about 16 feet wide. A fireplace with a raised hearth was built along the rear wall. It had no framing of any kind and may never have been lived in, but a lot of work certainly went into its construction.

I'm still looking for photos I took of the cabin. It is located in the northwestern quarter of the southeastern quarter of Section 27, Township 1 South, Range 18 West, and about 7,000 feet due north of PCH in Solstice Canyon Park. As best I can tell, it is about 2,000 feet up the channel from what locally is referred to in the Park literature as "Solstice Falls." The USGS Point Dume quadrangle shows a road leading through Solstice Canyon County Park past the falls to near the site, but when I was there, no such road existed. In fact, a road would have been very difficult to construct past the falls because the canyon channel from there upstream to the cabin site is clogged with large boulders.

Those interested in a walk up the channel from the falls should check with a Park Ranger. Along the western side of the channel north of the falls are exposed resistant thick-bedded sandstones affording lots of good places to take photos, rest, and eat lunch. Just be careful not to sit with your head near a shelf that might be occupied by a rattler. It would be better to not go alone. Also, be sure to take a cell phone along, although I don't know about the signal reception. When I was there, the portable cell phone had not yet been invented.

But what about the cabin? Who built it, why, and when? It may have been intended to serve as a line shack when cattle were run on the acreage west of the canyon. A rough switchback trail leads up the western canyon slope from near the cabin site to what. Maybe Rindge ranch hands built it, or maybe it was an early attempt at homesteading. Coming upon it in the 70s in such a remote place was quite a surprise, and just a little spooky.

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