A couple of key numbers from our July 1st workday are 17 and 103.
17 - Despite weather forecasts and news stories beforehand of a heat wave with temps into the 90's-100's, 17 Trail Crew folks were out for the July 1st workday. There is sometimes a thin line between dedication and crazy and as it got hotter throughout the day it seemed a little crazy working on a sun exposed hillside with very little shade. And 17 was a great turnout for a July 4th holiday weekend even without the hot weather!
103 - Was the temperature at the Saddle Mountain station at 1:30 as we began wrapping up work for the day. And the south facing Creeping Forest hillside we were on may have been even warmer.
As for the work itself, part of the crew worked on cleaning up the edge of the Creeping Forest trail and clearing additional space around burn piles, but the main focus for the day was to grip-hoist several trees off the trail.
Since most of the crew had not grip-hoisted before, the District trail crew covered how to properly setup the rigging and grip-hoist before everyone got to work. The trees were large 4-5 foot trees that we had hiked around, climbed over or ducked under, on previous workdays and park staff decided it would be easier to drag them off the trail rather than cut them up which would have generated a large amount of debris for burn piles.
Setting up the strap - setting up the hoist - the big pull - releasing the hoist
The first part of the day was hiking in our usual equipment along with a chainsaw with a 60-inch bar, grip-hoist rigging including straps and cables, and the 50-60 pound grip-hoist unit itself, all which made the day warm up quickly. By the end of the day we have set-up and completely removed two trees from the trail route and had partially removed two others before safety concerns about the hot weather caused us to shutdown work for the day.
So thanks to Daryn Bieri, Nan Bowman, Jim Brooks, Rory Brooks, John Collins, Dale Elliott, Tommy Ha, Matt Kelsey, Andrea Lee, Janie Leifhelm, Janette Mello, Mike Peasland Devdutt Sheth, Dale Stadelman, Brian Washburn, Chris Young, and Kevin Hing who was out for first time since the late 1970's when he worked with his father, Kay Hing, one of the Trail Crew founders.
by Mike and Jeff
photos by Mike