LMT66
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2008
- Messages
- 11,199
I took a walk in the local woods today. It rained two days straight and everything was drenched. The destination was about 3/4 of a mile from the road.
On my way in. New pack you can read about in the WSS gear section.
This is an area that is currently being "thinned out" of invasive trees and shrubs and also young saplings, by volunteers who do this on weekends. Their hard work thru winter pays off with huge bonfires in late winter/early spring. They bring their families out for a warm fire, roast some dogs and make smores. They burn all of what is removed. In mid-winter after the ground freezes, the county comes into the area and cuts downed mature trees into sections with chainsaws then they use their ATV's to drag them to the burn pit. The make a massive upside down fire. Large logs with each layer turned. Then the top each pile with huge amounts of the saplings the volunteers cut, then they light it up. Burns slow and controlled from the top down all weekend. The pits they make are about 14" across. The large stuff is stacked about 4' tall and the piles are usually 10'X10' with another foot or two of thin stuff on top. I make a point of noting where the pits are being made so I don't miss a good fire!
Most of this section has been cleared but they are still working on the area the furthest in.
Two people were out there today cutting. They recognized me from last winter.
The area just in front of me is done but look into the distance and see all the saplings that will all be removed.
Some colorful fungi and my ML.
The creek i followed in. I "pole vaulted" over this about 10 times using my hiking stick. Never leave home without one!
I asked if they mind me cutting one for them and they pointed me to a tree that would be cut today so I practiced a little fire making. They will saw off the stump at ground level and put something on it to kill it.
Brought a big blade today and put it to work.
Hard wood but it was downed in short order. Appears the top had snapped off in the past and it was growing funky so it was marked to cut. A mature tree was just a foot away so it will benefit.
The ground was saturated with water so I Grabbed some dry bark to start my fire on.
Going back to the stump, I beat my knife down into it to split it into sections.
Made some fuzzies from the still attached pieces.
Laid my bark down then gathered up some various parts I cut.
Why the need for dry bark today.
In my fire kit, I found a couple small strips of birch bark. I peeled the thinnest outer layer off them and they took to ferro rod spark the second strike. Had I not had the birch bark, I'd have used the one-stick fire approach and further split the pieces I harvested into pencil-lead, pencil and marker sizes.
As I left, I noticed a very thick, tall old tree that was behind me about 50 feet. I would guess it to be at least 100 feet tall and about 10 feet around. You can see my gloves and stick next to it.
On the other side of the tree I noticed this split that went up about 20 feet. It was hollow inside as far up the split as I could see. Always check for widow-makers! (I didn't today)
Followed the creek out to the lake then back to my car.
On my way in. New pack you can read about in the WSS gear section.
This is an area that is currently being "thinned out" of invasive trees and shrubs and also young saplings, by volunteers who do this on weekends. Their hard work thru winter pays off with huge bonfires in late winter/early spring. They bring their families out for a warm fire, roast some dogs and make smores. They burn all of what is removed. In mid-winter after the ground freezes, the county comes into the area and cuts downed mature trees into sections with chainsaws then they use their ATV's to drag them to the burn pit. The make a massive upside down fire. Large logs with each layer turned. Then the top each pile with huge amounts of the saplings the volunteers cut, then they light it up. Burns slow and controlled from the top down all weekend. The pits they make are about 14" across. The large stuff is stacked about 4' tall and the piles are usually 10'X10' with another foot or two of thin stuff on top. I make a point of noting where the pits are being made so I don't miss a good fire!
Most of this section has been cleared but they are still working on the area the furthest in.
Two people were out there today cutting. They recognized me from last winter.
The area just in front of me is done but look into the distance and see all the saplings that will all be removed.
Some colorful fungi and my ML.
The creek i followed in. I "pole vaulted" over this about 10 times using my hiking stick. Never leave home without one!
I asked if they mind me cutting one for them and they pointed me to a tree that would be cut today so I practiced a little fire making. They will saw off the stump at ground level and put something on it to kill it.
Brought a big blade today and put it to work.
Hard wood but it was downed in short order. Appears the top had snapped off in the past and it was growing funky so it was marked to cut. A mature tree was just a foot away so it will benefit.
The ground was saturated with water so I Grabbed some dry bark to start my fire on.
Going back to the stump, I beat my knife down into it to split it into sections.
Made some fuzzies from the still attached pieces.
Laid my bark down then gathered up some various parts I cut.
Why the need for dry bark today.
In my fire kit, I found a couple small strips of birch bark. I peeled the thinnest outer layer off them and they took to ferro rod spark the second strike. Had I not had the birch bark, I'd have used the one-stick fire approach and further split the pieces I harvested into pencil-lead, pencil and marker sizes.
As I left, I noticed a very thick, tall old tree that was behind me about 50 feet. I would guess it to be at least 100 feet tall and about 10 feet around. You can see my gloves and stick next to it.
On the other side of the tree I noticed this split that went up about 20 feet. It was hollow inside as far up the split as I could see. Always check for widow-makers! (I didn't today)
Followed the creek out to the lake then back to my car.
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did you get the zxr yet?