A Day Working in the Official Wilderness--Trail Maintenance

[slowp]

Well, it was a long, hot, mosquitoie day. I volunteered to help do some maintenance work on the Pacific Crest Trail. We were going to work in the wilderness, so no power tools allowed. I chose my old Frostline Kit daypack stuffed with water and munchies, my tin hardhat, purple t-shirt with button long sleeve hickory shirt, riggin' pants with suspenders, and regular hiking boots. I accessorized with White Mule gloves, Bugz, and later in the day, head net.

We hiked in about 2 or 3 miles and the morning was spent on drainage issues. I engineered and built a waterbar. A waterbar. The trail was a ditch and it took some digging to get the grade down so the trail would drain. I wished for a pulaski but made do with a grub hoe.

Then I got picked to go along with 3 guys and work sawing and chopping. I didn't do much sawing with the misery whip. It is a lot harder in 2011 than it was in 1976. I did work on one end of the saw for the last tree, which was green, so it was easier. We were the first crew in and the last one out. I came home filthy and tired. But it was good to do productive work, even though more could have been done if chainsaws were allowed.

The misery whip was sharp, and we babied it to keep it that way. My job was to take the brand new falling axe and chop the bark off where they were going to saw through. We also cleared brush away so there was room to pull the saw back and forth. One tree took most of the afternoon. It was a school marmed snag. It took five cuts to get it out of the trail.

Here's a couple of pictures.

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[2dogs]

Was The Used Dog on the trail crew? Nice work you all did there.

 

[slowp]

Nope. NO Dogs allowed. So I had to pack my own stuff. There was a happy dog that came by with a couple of horse riders. He took advantage of the snow and stopped to roll and cool off. That trail was busy today and we had to stop work to let folks go by.

The creek where The Used Dog almost ended his life is now melted out. There was quite a jumble of logs underneath the spot where he punched through.

 

[Philbert]

It was a school marmed snag.

????

Not a term I am familiar with - can you describe/define it?

Thanks

Philbert

 

[Gologit]

????

Not a term I am familiar with - can you describe/define it?

Thanks

Philbert

A bifurcated tree is often called a school-marm. I don't know why. Well, actually I do but I can't explain it on AS without getting banned.

A school-marm snag would be a rotted or dying bifurcated tree. Not exactly a faller's favorite.

 

[slowp]

Here is a nicer definition of a school marm...one you can tell little kids. It is called a school marm because it is liable to teach you something.

See, I learned something.

 

[046]

now that looks like real work!
why no chainsaws and no dogs... as a dog walks by

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[Eccentric]

now that looks like real work!
why no chainsaws and no dogs... as a dog walks by

No domestic animals or internal combustion engines in declared federal wilderness areas. It's an enviro thing....

 

[Samlock]

Nice pictures! Thank you.

I think a framed faller's hand saw (in my language it's called "hunger violin") could come handy in those conditions. It's operated by a single person and doesn't need much room around the cutting point. Is it familiar in North America?

 

[MtnHermit]

No domestic animals or internal combustion engines in declared federal wilderness areas. It's an enviro thing....

Yes on the engine/chainsaw, but in Colorado never seen a dog or horse ban in a federal wilderness, occasionally a dog leash rule.

 

[MtnHermit]

The misery whip was sharp, and we babied it to keep it that way. My job was to take the brand new falling axe and chop the bark off where they were going to saw through. We also cleared brush away so there was room to pull the saw back and forth. One tree took most of the afternoon. It was a school marmed snag. It took five cuts to get it out of the trail.

Excellent post and photos.

The extreme effort required leads to an unfortunate result, the trails are simply not maintained. I was in the West Elk Wilderness last year and one trail had four layer blow down, I had to climb 8' above the ground to get past the 100-yard area. On another trail the go-arounds had go-arounds and then the trail disappeared.

I'd much rather hear the whine of a chainsaw and a maintained trail.

 

[slowp]

Dogs are allowed in the wilderness. There is not even a leash requirement. This work was organized and the organization said no dogs were to be along on the crew. So, if I wanted to hike it today, The Used Dog could go along with me. But he couldn't yesterday. I think it is because they have people who have not worked with hand tools much, not to mention together.

Our group was pretty good. When the dirt packing guys went by, they'd always let you know so they didn't get thumped with a hoe.

Samlock, we did not have that saw. My dad used a Swede saw to cut firewood. Similar but made of metal. Our small saws yesterday were a pruning saw and a saw with a handle like a carpenter saw, but the teeth were a smaller version of the crosscut saw. I cut the stobs off the trees with that. It worked good.

I am sore and thirsty this morning. Maybe I'll whine a bit. :msp_wink:

 

[2dogs]

Patty I'm womdering about your work project in the wilderness. I know you have to follow the Fed's rules but does each forest or wilderness have its own regional rules too? Did you have to rehab your work area so as to look like no work had been done? Did you have to camo any stumps with soil or charcol or did you have to roll cut logs around and make them look like they were one tree that had fallen? Do you ever work with a blasting crew?

 

[slowp]

Patty I'm womdering about your work project in the wilderness. I know you have to follow the Fed's rules but does each forest or wilderness have its own regional rules too? Did you have to rehab your work area so as to look like no work had been done? Did you have to camo any stumps with soil or charcol or did you have to roll cut logs around and make them look like they were one tree that had fallen? Do you ever work with a blasting crew?

I think not. I was slow to dig my waterbar because I was thinking about all that. But one of the leaders said go ahead, so dirt flew and huckleberry brush was killed--kind of against my huckleberry religion! Our sawing looked just like the work of the two professional wilderness workers. Maybe we have a more relaxed FS organization when it comes to meeting the wilderness standards.

That trail is like a highway. You can walk side by side on some portions. It is made to horse packing standards which is that logs are cleared 6 feet from the center of the trail.

No stumps were rubbed with dirt. We just threw the cut portions off the trail. The only blasting I've been close to was a WA DNR crew blasting a fireline. We hid behind a big rock and plugged out ears.

This wilderness, the William O Douglas Wilderness, was one of the last ones created. It is a swampy, tree filled area. It has lakes and ponds. Before it was wildernessed, not many folks went in there because it was so buggy, and it wasn't mostly alpine. Since it got the wilderness label, more folks are going in. I'd have named it The Mosquito Wilderness Area, since it has a large portion in an area called Mosquito Basin.

Where we were working, the brush will quickly grow and the scars will be hidden.

If we were in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, we'd have to do the extra things. That wilderness area is closer to Seattle, was overrun in the 1970s, so now there is a lottery for a very few permits if you overnight in it.
It is not very good terrain for pack horses, and has a lot of area above timberline.

 

[Sport Faller]

Nice pictures! Thank you.

I think a framed faller's hand saw (in my language it's called "hunger violin") could come handy in those conditions. It's operated by a single person and doesn't need much room around the cutting point. Is it familiar in North America?

Yep, we call it a Swede Fiddle

 

[Philbert]

I think a framed faller's hand saw (in my language it's called "hunger violin") could come handy in those conditions

Samlock, we did not have that saw. My dad used a Swede saw to cut firewood.

Yep, we call it a Swede Fiddle

We just call it a 'bow saw'.

Philbert

 

[Samlock]

We just call it a 'bow saw'.

Philbert

Well, of course the Finnish name of the saw should be translated as a Hunger Fiddle, violin would be a bit fancy for the tool...

That's kind a saw I felled my first trees, in the age of 7 or 8. Or maybe 9, don't remember clearly. It was my grandfather's old Hunger Fiddle, he didn't want me to handle a chainsaw. He instructed me to file the blade as well, I remember that as he said: "When you get a cut as long as a woman's crack and hat full of crap on one stroke, then the blade is as it should be."

I guess Swedish saw comes from a Swedish factory Sandvik, which used to make the best blades. I imagine they invented the metal bow saw too. I've tried several metal bow saws during the years, but none of them did cut as the wooden Hunger Fiddle. It doesn't tension the blade properly. And you can't put it in 4 pieces and carry it around in your bag. I heard a fellow saying, who took his military training in a guerilla batallion, they are still using the Hunger Fiddles for cutting firewood while maneuvering in the bush.

 

[Philbert]

guess Swedish saw comes from a Swedish factory Sandvik, which used to make the best blades. I heard a fellow saying, who took his military training in a guerilla batallion, they are still using the Hunger Fiddles for cutting firewood while maneuvering in the bush.

Another name for them here in the US is 'buck saw'.

You are right, the high quality blade, and the ability to tension it properly are key to getting a good cut.

In older times, if a woodsman could get just the blade, he could make the wooden frame. They are still occasionally sold in the wood version, but more commonly in aluminum, break-down versions for backpackers, campers, hunters, etc. This is a photo of one the modern versions from the Internet.

This would be a good, light saw to pack for trail maintenance. Good for firewood, etc. Still, they are limited in the size of log they will cut, compared to the crosscut saw in slowp's photo.

Philbert

 

[046]

pretty stupid rule... no chainsaws, making trail maintenance harder and more dangerous than it has to be.

betcha they'd have chainsaws running if a fire crew was coming thru...

 

[MtnHermit]

pretty stupid rule... no chainsaws, making trail maintenance harder and more dangerous than it has to be.

betcha they'd have chainsaws running if a fire crew was coming thru...

Typically the USFS will not fight a fire in a wilderness. However, if they do decide to fight the fire, chainsaws for sure, maybe even a dozer. But I agree, better a chainsaw maintained trail than no maintenance.