Hey, Trailmaker!

Inspiring stuff and really great to read about.

Its good to see how one for of preservation leads to others.

My thanks and congrats to all you guys.
 
Pictures from today's trail work at O'Grady Park in SE King County. This is a 20-foot cedar log. We're splitting it to make rails for the sides of a turnpike through a wet section of trail. It will be quartered in the end.

Splitting_the_log.jpg



We ripped the top half with a chainsaw and then finished it off with wedges. We forgot to bring our steel splitting wedges so we had to do this with plastic felling wedges. I just doubled them up - drove them in pairs. Tap 'em in, wait a minute and listen while they do their work. You can hear the log slowly cracking apart.

Splitting2.jpg



In this photo the log is almost split. My co-worker is cutting some cross fibers with a small chainsaw.

Cutting_the_cross-fibers.jpg



A nice clean split.

Clean_split.jpg



This is a 12-foot section we're splitting to make sleepers for those 20-foot rails to lie on. Once it's mostly split you can just pull it apart with a pair of peaveys. You can see some quartered 20-footers in the background.

Rippin_it_apart.jpg



While peeling these I was knocking off the knots with my pulaski. I put a nasty little chip in the heel of my pulaski in the process. Those cedar knots are harder than I imagined. I wish I'd had my big Plumb rafter along for this work. It eats knot for breakfast.

Chipped_Pulaski.jpg



If your interested in doing work like this then look for your local trail association. And if you want to get involved in a longer week long project then check out the 'Volunteer Vacations' offered by the Washington Trails Association.
http://www.wta.org/volunteer/volunteering/vacations

Or for shorter multi-day events check out the Backcountry Response Team events.
http://www.wta.org/volunteer/volunteering/bcrt
 
The Puget Sound lowlands remain mostly snow-free through the winter. So trail work moves down out of the mountains during this time. It's the marine climate so close to the ocean.

The little chip in the pulaski filed out pretty well. It's ready to go back to work and it has a little fatter tougher shape to it now.
 
M3mphis said:
I love cedar. For a couple of years during college I had a business doing fence, deck, pergola, etc installs. For those that wanted cedar fences with wood posts, I always tried to steer them into cedar posts instead of pressure treat. Rarely would people go for it. Not only do they look better, but I think they last pretty much just as long and are less prone to warping which pressure treat is really bad about. Not to mention the nastiness that's in that treated wood. If you think that pressure treated wood is totally benign (which many do) then why is it recommended that you collect and discard ALL sawdust from working pressure treated wood???
Click to expand...

I agree with you. Them Cedar posts or Juniper will last more than twice as long as the pressure treated from our local producer. I drive by fences I planted when I was a kid and they are still fine. Its been awhile:eek:. To be fair they aren't seeing the moisture you get in a yard but still. And I don't even want to talk about what slivers do to you from them nasty pressure treat posts.
 
Well Square Peg I guess if you had to chip a bit that would be the best place to do it. So you build trail for a liveing and for fun? Who was it that said if you do something you love you won't have to work a day in your life?
Great stuff! Keep them coming.
 
Some follow up pics of the turnpike we're building. This is thru a section of trail that is just always swampy. There's real no alternative but to raise the trail up and let the water pass underneath.

Turnpike_1.jpg



We first lay in a layer of 4" fractured basalt. Then we cover that with 4"-6" of crushed rock with some fines in it. Then we'll crown it with some local mineral soil that has a little clay in it. We've found this material holds the crown best under horse traffic. We opened up a borrow pit close to the turnpike for our cap material.

These toters come in real handy for moving material up or down the trail.

Toter.jpg
 
Nice job,The Horses and hikers will be Happy,Happy:)
And thank you to all the trail volunteers.Keep the work pictures coming.:thumbup:Month to go before we can start around here:yawn:
 
Just a reminder for everyone, tomorrow is National Trails Day. Get out there and go hiking! Or if you can find a project then go out and help build or maintain a local trail.

Puget Sound area members are welcome to come out to Taylor Mtn. tomorrow for some trail work.

http://www.cedarriver.org/events

Also, the Washington Trails Association has multiple events going on this weekend. Too late to sign up for Saturday but you can still sign up for Sunday events.

http://www.wta.org/volunteer/trail-work-parties


Happy trails, axe wielders!
 
Thanks for sharing Square peg! Looks like you guys are getting a lot of fun trail work this season!! I'm working in the Washington Conservation corps on a trail crew out of olympia this year, and have been LOVING it! We've been working on the Hoh river trail for the past month, and just moved up a drainage to the Bogachiel last week. So far lots of log out... Hopefully we can stick with that trend and not have to dig too many drains or brush huckleberry and salmonberry for many more days this summer. Cheers, and stay safe out there!
Ian
 
Chris, It can be a lot of fun depending on the project and your attitude :) But since you'd most likely be volunteering, you could probably pick the type of project you wanted to work on, instead of getting stuck digging drains for 3 days in a row in the rain like me :)
 
olybears57 said:
Thanks for sharing Square peg! Looks like you guys are getting a lot of fun trail work this season!! I'm working in the Washington Conservation corps on a trail crew out of olympia this year, and have been LOVING it! We've been working on the Hoh river trail for the past month, and just moved up a drainage to the Bogachiel last week. So far lots of log out... Hopefully we can stick with that trend and not have to dig too many drains or brush huckleberry and salmonberry for many more days this summer. Cheers, and stay safe out there!
Ian
Click to expand...

I've worked with you WCC guys before. Much respect.
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Let's face it, log outs are fun but digging drains is the mainstay of trail maintenance. And it's not so bad.......
 
Thanks! Usually drains aren't so bad, but on that hoh trail, there are drains to be mucked out like every 50 feet! But, that is the important stuff in trail work.. :)
 
Skip visiting the boards for a few day s and miss all the good stuff. Great pictures Peg! I like the log splitting technique using two peaveys.
 
Peg, you are one very dedicated fellow! I hope there are ways that trail, bridge and boardwalk users can show their appreciation for what you folks do on a volunteer basis.
Where I am located Municipal, Provincial and Federal government (National Capital Commission) does all of this type of trail development, building and maintenance at taxpayer expense using the Socialist logic that destination tourists and users will attend more often and therefore inject money in the local economy.
 
Great thread, thanks for the pics.

Speaking of Cedar, I was out in Tunic Trace a couple weekends ago and came across some Cedar that had purple heart wood. Is this something any of you have seen before? I've never come across it and never worked with anything like it in the past.

I ended up cutting 3 sections of the fallen branch. Making a couple of staffs with it....
Here it is:
 
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