New Tourist Info Centers

[slowp]

We've had a yarder set up on the main road to a certain volcanic attraction.
Next week there'll be two on the road. The yarders block one lane, and traffic has to stop when trucks are being loaded. I thought there'd be lots of complaining and finger waving but amazingly enough, the tourists have been smiling and waving as they go by or have their mouths dropped open in fear or amazement. A lot take pictures, a few have watched for an hour or so. According to the chaser, a guy from New York stopped, took pictures and wrote down names for a magazine of some kind. In turn, the chaser and flagger answer questions like "how far to the mountain?" Where does this road go?" etc. They jump a bit when the whistle blows. All we need is a restroom stop and espresso stand. Here's a picture.

 

[sILlogger]

thats awesome!! did u have to take any sort of special steps to be able to load the truck on the road? must be cutting right up next to the highway?

 

[slowp]

Here's what steps were taken. Lots of warning signs are in place, orange cones, and communication between the flagger and loader operator.
When a car comes along during loading, the flagger stops the car until he gets the attention of the loader. The loader operator puts his empty grapples down on the truck and this signals the flagger that it is ok to let the car through. What with a tight budget, the flagger is usually the chaser, but then it also gets handed off to the yarder engineer, loader operator, or truck driver..whoever is handy. It is important to clean the bark off the road at the end of the day also. The loader operator grabs a small log and then scrapes the bark chunks off the road. That works good. The units do go right up to the road but not much was marked to cut along the road to keep it looking nice. This is a commercial thinning and is mostly 50 -60 years old Doug-fir with some Hemlock. The good thing is that the road, even though it is paved, is in such poor shape that cars and trucks are going relatively slow. It is a
worry for me and I'll be happy when everybody moves back to the backroads
again. Here's a picture showing that even the yarder engineer fills in during a pinch.

 

[joesawer]

Nice pics and story. Could you post more pics of the yarder and shovel working?
We have to get "road closures" down here, in order to use the road.