Old School :: Madulce Cabin

The Los Padres Expatriate Hiker recently (to borrow from O’Shea) went to the shelf and dusted off the Kodachromes. The result is an amazing set of images of the old Madulce Cabin in its absolute prime.

This is the view of Madulce Station a traveler would see arriving from Don Victor or Dutch Oven. Given that said traveler would likely be beaten to hell coming from either of those places, this idyllic glade of comfort would be a welcome sight.

If you’ve been to the Madulce site in the past few years post-Zaca, it’s still a fine spot, but a vestige of its former self … singed and besieged by burnt and failing trees all around. In that window between the burning of Madulce Cabin (1999) and the Zaca Fire (2007), perhaps at least a population of healthy trees provided some solace to those who’d been fortunate enough to know the cabin. Unfortunately, I cannot count myself among that company.

Madulce morning

Madulce Cabin: glass windows, green storm shutters, shingled roof, wood burning stove, kitchen, sleeping area. It had it all. The kitchen area was through the door on the left, the sleeping quarters through the door on the right. Welcome home, adventurer.

The Expat’s set bears it out: you never know what you’ve lost until somebody is kind enough to pull proof from the archives.


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