Sunday, May 16, 2010

Light at the End of the Tunnel

... or in this case, survey monument at the end of the forest :-D

I've given up trying to use conventional measurements, like feet and yards, to determine how far we have left to cut trail until we hit our center marker.  I'm now using an exceptionally accurate and scientific standard of measure -- spray cans of contractor marking paint.

Yup, that's right. Every day I paint a thick solid line down the right-hand side of the trail from one trail tape flag to another, attempting to ensure a somewhat straighter line than I've managed to create up to this point. Working 4-6 hours, we normally cut and clear out about 2 paint can's worth of forest a day.  On a really ambitious day, we might make 3 paint cans.

For those more interested in budgeting your time and resources, I'd say that a tank of gas in the chainsaw lasts about 60-90 minutes running fairly continuously on small and medium trees and scrub. We refill the chain oil every other filling of the gas tank. We can normally cut a one-can paint line per tank of gas, maybe a little more if we're lucky and hit a sparse part with only a few bigger trees. Then it takes about 30-60 minutes to haul out all the brush and chuck it off the trail (including limbing and stacking anything that is a "firewood friendly" >3-inch diameter).

After today's clearing, I decided to go ahead and paint tomorrow's line to get a little bit of a head start.  After two cans, I looked up and clearly saw our "may pole" just a little off in the distance. The "may pole" is the tallest tree in the area where the 25' easements off our center marker intersect. We did some creative tossing of the trail tape (kinda like toilet-papering a tree) so that we could see it from a greater distance and be absolutely sure that it was the *right tree* to aim for.

That's right faithful readers!!  We are now only a mere 3.5 cans from our center marker.  It's possible that we might make it by the end of the day tomorrow (Mon) if we really push; but at the latest it'll be Tuesday afternoon!  Stop a moment and celebrate with a happy hamster dance:


Then it's just clearing the 1000 sq ft  building site wherever along the trail that we decide to put the little cabin. That bit of clearing is really nothing in comparison to cutting a 1500 ft x 12 ft trail. 

Looks like we might actually get the driveway straightened, widened enough for the truck, and get that gravel foundation base down and spread before the lumber gets delivered next week. 

1 comment:

Urbancowgrrl said...

I am happy for your success but more so I am happy for the happy hamster dance!