Awesome pics...birch is on my short list. ..the bark is flammable even when wet...covered in nearly every survival video on YouTube.
Yea, I stack the wood for the next stove load close when I start loading, I load fast & usually have a blazing fire fast. No kindling needed for re-starts, throw in a piece of bark, light it, fire in short order.
You got a great inventory. ..sorry your cutting season is coming to an end. Enjoy those mountain views...I would.
Would like to get one or 2 more loads. If the weather holds, I may get a chance to get back in. Got the atv & trailer "de-mudded" today. Weather starting Wednesday looks promising for a few days.
file:///Users/davidstrawser/Desktop/Brn%20Br%20Track%2030-06.JPG 19.4 miles from the house to where I park the truck. About 1/2 mile farther in the forest service one lane road After in about 3/4 mile, where I park the truck/trailer (also the last place to turn around ) the gravel road goes pretty steep downhill, becomes even narrower & muddy. 1/4 mile down the road then on an atv trial to the cutting area. I have about 1/2 a mile to haul the wood back to the truck.
That is paper birch. We don't have very much paper birch. The bark on the Alaska Birch (sort of a cross between black and river) burns fine still but not like paper birch bark.
Sounds like quite a trek. I don't know Dave, but your system reminds me of the Apollo Moon missions in the way your mission is also completed in stages. Your complete system is like the fully loaded Saturn 5, with your truck as the Command module, and your ATV is like the LEM, or in this case the FEM (Forest Excursion Module). And of course you are bringing back firewood instead or Moon rocks. Actually, I think I can see two shadows in some of your pictures. I'm starting to think the whole thing has be staged. That one small step for Dave, one giant leap for firewood hoarders kind!
Yea, I stage the pics, I live in WV, & I really burn oak & hickory Being retired gives me time to "take my time" to get the wood. The cost of NG has gone up (my house furnace, HW & cooking), I'm saving a few more $$ heating with wood, Being retired, that makes the few extra $$ noticeably important. Like you , I enjoy the time spent in the woods , operating the saw, splitting & stacking. If I could get someone to limb the trees (the only part I don't like much) that would be awesome . I don't want it to be so fast that it's over in a day or 2. Quitting to fast Might cause withdraws" LOL That it has become more difficult to get the wood out of the cutting, just makes me more determined, & fewer woodcutters making the trip in. With mechanical aids & time, is still feel I can keep the firewood coming for quite a while . This year has been fun, I'm the only one in there cutting, so far. (well one guys was there Thursday with his PU, cutting some nice birch "about 1/2 a mile short of the cutting area" I pick the good trees, permit says save 5" diameter & up, but I get some good 3" rounds too. "No such thing as easy firewood, just some is easier than other "
