It didn't rain this morning so after lunch we headed out to get that pine (gasp) that we saw on our trip Thursday. When we got there we found this. Some one had been here ahead of us and took the part that wasn't in water. Nice thing about a winch on the splitter. campinspecter dragged the pine top out of the water. This only gave us one row in the truck. It was too hazardous to go after the butt end of the tree so we had a look around for something else. The Nimpkish valley had the longest privately owned logging railroad in North America but after a tragic accident a couple of years ago, the train system hasn't worked. This summer they started taking the tracks up. This is a shot of the old railway bed. As we were leaving the other place, campinspecter looks down the railway bed and says "I think there is a tree down across the railway line". Sure enough, we drive up there and find this. A blown down hemlock just sitting there waiting for us. It was in a group and was the easiest to get at. This is the top on the other side of the railway bed. Didn't take long and the truck was full. There is just room on top of the last row for saws and tools. Empty spot in the woods. The rest of the top we will have to come back for. There is more in the woods that shows in the picture. Plus there is another one lurking a little ways away just waiting for us. The best part was we didn't have to back up all the way out of there. There was a wide spot farther along with lots of room to get turned around to leave. All in all a good day out getting firewood.
That abandoned railroad sure makes a great roadbed! The splitter is awesome; I love the big wheels so it pulls better. And the winch!
Woodwidow, that picture could have been taken in Michigan's UP! The trees are just a little different but yet much the same. There are abandoned railroads all over the place. Many are now grown over but you can still find most of them. My favorite old RR runs from Manistique to Shingleton and has now been changed over to the Haywire snowmobile trail. Near our old deer camp there used to be an old shingle mill but sadly the is basically nothing left of it now. btw, I am perhaps one of the few left who remembers when the rr used to still be in operation.
That's cool. Interesting also. We don't really have government or public land, open to wood cutting, except maybe with a permit at times on national forest, and maybe some paper company land. I am assuming anyone can just go in and cut any dead tree up? Are there any rules as to what condition you can leave the mess in? It looks like whoever got there ahead of you, just cut what they wanted and didn't worry about what was left or where it was left? Just curious as to the laws there, or customs, regarding harvesting of dead trees on, what I assume, is government forest. I like you splitter, and I can see how useful that winch is for your operation.
Nice to CS right on sight. Too bad about losing the section you wanted, happens to me from time to time. Snooze you lose! Good that you were able to find more. Nice country too. Id expect to see a bigfoot come strolling out of the woods!
Looks like a great time. I enjoy being out in the woods cutting. One of the best parts of heating with wood.
Man that looks like a lot of fun. And that's a nice access cab Tacoma you got there too! Is it also a stick??
This is tree farm land so we have to get a permit from the logging company that holds the tree farm license. We can't fall just any tree. They have to be already down. Even the dead snags can't be cut down. Usually we harvest what is left behind in a logging clear cut but we had a big wind a week ago and there are trees down everywhere. We try to clean off any roads we have been cutting on but not everyone does that. The pine was on the side of a big turnaround intersection area.
We went back to the same spot again today. Gorgeous day for firewood gathering. campinspecter had studied the pictures I took last time so we tackled getting the rest of the pine (gasp!). It went really well and gave us two rows of wood in the truck. All that is left is the stump. There was a little Douglas fir hanging over the downed pine so we went after that as well. You can see it just above the splitter. Here it is out on the road waiting to to be cut up. We went back to the railroad bed and finished getting the hemlock we started on last Sunday. Then we went after another Douglas fir. With a full truck, the rest of it will have to wait until next time. Loaded truck pics for you. The hills around here are getting a dusting of snow. Fortunately we don't have it down to road level right now.
Looks like a beautiful area you two live in!!! Not lately, but for several years we’d go up to the White Mountains in NH and it felt so cool driving through the mountains. Made me feel like I was in a 3D movie or something, with mountains and valleys on both sides of you.
That's a good day's work! It's fun to keep going back to a site with lots of wood. You can plan and strategize what you want to take. Could you tell if anyone else had been there, since the first time when some of the pine was gone?
No. It has been raining and because it is a workday week, we didn't see many vehicles hauling firewood. Our area is really geared to Mon-Fri working with Sat. and Sun off.
So on Tuesday we headed out again to finish getting the firewood we left behind. There was quite a bit in the two logs left from the last session. So nice to have the winch on the wood splitter. We need something more to finish the load. Down at the turn around spot, we found a (gasp) pine. Didn't look like much at first. Once campinspecter started to clean of the limbs, we got a better idea of what was there. Because it was dry out, campinspecter brought the cordless Sthil for limbing and marking lengths. It worked great. Even I could use it to do some marking. Here are some pics of the pine needles and cones. I am not sure what kind of pine it is. Seeing as we had lots of batteries, campinspecter continued to use the Stihl to cut the lengths up. We had to leave these behind but we will be back. There was lots more tree left in the bush.
Wednesday was dry, clear and frosty so we headed out again to get the rest of the pine. I tried to get some pics of the sunrise on the hills but taking pics from a moving vehicle isn't easy. We used to have a lot of nice views of the hills along this stretch of road but the trees grew up. Here is one that you can actually see something. The site inspectors were out giving their approval but didn't stay long. A warm truck is better than frozen ground. So why is Shadow in the truck already and I am stuck out here. This was what was left behind. The wind snapped the top. It turns out to be quite a bit of wood. A full load of pine. It was quite heady with aroma inside the canopy while I was stacking the wood. Of course we have pitch everywhere.
For all of you who enjoy the sound of the wood going POP! when the splitter does its thing, here is a video for you.
