Oregon Hikers

Taking the day off, my partner and I did some off-trail snowshoeing today on the east side of the mountain, to Newton Creek below Elk Mountain. We might have gone the standard way that puts you at the trail up to Elk Meadows but the bridge over Clark Creek was a bit precarious looking with the snow on it piled higher than the rails. Once we left the nordic center trailhead, we ran into no people the entire day and there were no human tracks the whole off-trail route. We went down the Clark Creek trail a ways and then headed off trail. After some detours to find a suitable snow bridge across a stream, we wandered towards our general objective, to see Newton Creek from a lower down perspective, however constantly having to make small to medium detours to avoid the densest thickets of trees. I had packed a snow shovel which turned out to be very handy to "improve" the snow bridge.

On one of those detours, we ran into this mysterious object hung in a tree. Given we had seen no man-made objects the entire off-trail way, we were gobsmacked. And since the snow is a non-trivial depth, it would seem like this item is suspended perhaps 12 feet above the ground. Some of the branches above it had been sawed off, seemingly to provide more of a viewshed to, or from the object. I love how the snow seems to have been shaped almost into a figurine that stands upon the object seat. That perhaps helped create the sense of a shrine.
Has anyone seen this before? Any ideas what it is?

That looks like a seat with a footrest

Whats that pink package taped under "the seat"?

Looks like a deer hunters chair there is normally a ladder with them.

Definitely a tree stand. They're expensive so I'd assume someone will be using it again and it's not just abandoned.

Forgot to mention the scale -- it didn't seem like a chair that would fit an adult, more child-sized. I didn't notice that padding-like thing was underneath the mesh rather than on top of it. But a hunting related object would make sense, and explain the need for a viewshed.

Now you're going to have to go back to see what's in the package below the seat

I bet the ladder for it is stashed nearby.

I don't think that's a package under the seat. I think it's the webbing that helps support the seat. Definitely a hunters tree stand. We've come across quite a few in our off trail explorations. I could never understand why someone would leave them behind.

My first guess was some sort of geocache.

Thank you all for satisfying my curiosity--I'm not that tempted to go back.

ahhh... padding... that looks right

maybe if you get a deer and have to carry it back it's too much weight to carry chair also?

maybe they're planning on re-using it?

"I'm not that tempted to go back."