Gar’s Tree House

(Taken from a letter by Gar Dubois to Richard Montgomery)

Although my first season of Stanislaus River living, beginning December of 1973, was partly in sight of the old Fig Tree at Duck Bar, the bulk of my stay was not.

I lived for the first few weeks in the mouth of that small cave at the base of the limestone cliff, on the downstream side of the Duck Bar fig tree. Being rather damp, dark, and dreary, I was not thrilled with the accommodations.

One day I climbed from tree-top to tree-top in a stretch of interwoven live oaks on the lower end of Chinese Camp (about a half mile downstream from Duck Bar). That was where the river was very placid and made that sharp right hand, then immediate left hand turn at the end of the gravel bar.

I was resting in a tree about ten feet above the ground, looking out on that bend in the river, when I became aware of two large branches parallel to one another and nearly level at my feet. In a moment of inspiration I saw them as the foundation beams for a tree house. I then remembered all the wood and metal roofing in the collapsed mining ruins up near the fig tree and knew I’d have a new ”home” soon.

So I proceeded to carry on my back, travelling that narrow bluff-trail between the two gravel bars of Duck Bar and Chinese Camp, enough materials for my first tree house.

Late that spring I chose to tear down this first tree house and hide the materials downstream. I returned to the river canyon in August, began collecting figs of course, and started looking for a new and permanent location for a tree house.

That’s when I found the tree and site that you were familiar with. That site was slightly upstream of the small rapid that drained the quiet waters of Chinese Camp.

That same fall I made many more trips up to Duck Bar and the moldering miners buildings, and I schlepped materials on my back to the new location. I hiked out of the canyon and hitched to Mildred and Bob’s and bought a few well used wooden framed windows, then and hitched back to Vallecito and carried them in on my back once again. I felt part squirrel and part pack-mule in those days.

The only building materials that I remember ever bringing in on a raft were a sheet of plywood and a few windows for building an addition (my ”bedroom”) at the beginning of my third year in the canyon. I also borrowed an ETC raft each fall to bring in hundreds of pounds of apples and walnuts gleaned from abandoned trees. The figs I picked daily to eat fresh and of course many for drying and storing.

I also lived barefoot year round for about ten years.

As for the ”little toe houses” (a term for bandages on bare feet from bumping rocks) ….I think you, living in the ”high-tech civilized world” of the Confluence had access to duct tape for your toes’ injuries. Although I made a few out of duct tape, I generally carried an old bandanna specifically for tearing strips from when the need arose after a moment of inattention on Table Top or elsewhere. Duct tape was too expensive for me in those days.

Learn more about Gar – and about the treehouse.