Lon’s Folly, AKA the Wildlife Observation Tower

By Lon Drake

In 1972, I converted an old hay wagon into a firewood wagon, and used it until about 2001, when we upgraded our pickup truck with a dump bed. Last year I encountered a whole pickup load of long, damaged but treated lumber on sale for $70, and decided to use it to build a wildlife observation tower atop the old wood wagon, and haul it to a wildlife crossroads in our community woodlot. Friend Phil Finzel and I built it this summer. Designed especially for children, it is essentially a sturdy playpen in the sky.

My original plan was to tow this 20-foot-tall ungainly object from my yard where we built it, down a gently sloping pathway, to the floodplain below. However, after construction, the only real option proved to be taking it straight down the neighborhood toboggan run, one of the steepest hills around, much resembling the Benton Street hill in Iowa City, but in grass. At this point I began to think of this project as Lon’s Folly.

After worrying for several weeks about all that would be involved with the relocation, including taking into account the regular rain which was keeping the soil on the north-facing slope continually wet, I selected the method of transportation and went for it. Our method included one heavily loaded pickup in front doing the towing, the wagon loaded with firewood for ballast, the rear of the wagon chained down close and tight to another pickup to prevent the wagon’s back wheels from lifting off the ground, and long ropes on the upper tower which would be pulled to counter the small side-to-side motions created by slanting topography. We started down the hill OK, but at the steepest part, both trucks went into a slow motion but steerable skid for 5 yards. The words Lon’s Folly came back to me again. Fortunately, everyone kept their cool and our little parade regained traction and continued without incident for the remainder of the ride down the hill.

Now that my folly is safely in place, future plans are to also gain a bit of habitat value from the structure itself, including a false chimney for chimney swift nesting with tiny peepholes beside the stairs, modeled after Althea Sherman’s tower. I will likely also add a roost up under the platform to attract bats and grow trumpet honeysuckle vines up the slender legs for the hummingbirds. And I’m sure these critters will appreciate the end result, which could have been a catastrophe.

Special thanks to Phil Finzel and sons Reed and Todd for good advice and much help in preventing disaster.

Photo caption: preparing to launch Lon’s Folly from the hilltop to the floodplain below. My crew is chaining the back of the wagon tightly and closely to the trailing pickup to prevent lift. Also note the temporary cross chains helping to anchor the tower to the wagon, the ropes to be used to help counter side sway, and the loadings with firewood.