Cherokee Park - Deadfall Clearing
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From
my 4x4 group visit this past Saturday to Cherokee Park and a couple area trails, I saw a
fair bit of deadfall. Some were encroaching upon the road, on the road,
or across the road. Weather, today, looks to be in the mid 50's with a
storm coming in Wednesday night. Poor temperatures for next weekend
(plus possible snow). I decided to take the day off to make a solo trip to the area we visited Saturday with the intent to make the forest a better place. As solo trips into the mountains has some risk (typically there's no cell phone coverage), the 4x4 group has a "Check-in" function. Folks who travel solo can make a post to let members know their route and estimated time to be back into cell coverage. I made use of this today - posting my anticipated route and ETA. Curiously, much of the trip today would have cell coverage for me - a nice thing. I made some posts to the 4x4 group updating my "Check-In". It was a nice day out. On the county road, 80c, several trees were taken back from the roadway. The trail we encountered downed trees took the most amount of work. Someone was there before me (weeks prior) as trees at either end of the deadfall area had been cut / cleared. They worked from each end - but still had more in the middle to tend - that is what I took care of. I have four chains for the chainsaw - and all were put to use. I also brought along a Dremel with chain saw sharpener attachment - it was put to use twice on the last chain. |
|
A lot of gravel road / forest trail today. |
| Before turning west on County Road 80c / Cherokee Park |
| On 80c, heading west |
| Last
Saturday the trip up this canyon was full of washboard. A bonus for
today - the road crew is out smoothing things - much appreciated! |
| #1 13 minutes (no before picture) Included setting up the power inverter, pulling out the extension cord, chainsaw, and bar lube. |
| #2 25 minutes Three items close to each other |
| #3 5 minutes Getting into the routine |
| #4 4 minutes |
| #5 5 minutes |
| #6 3 minutes This was not protruding onto the roadway but was close enough to catch my eye. The chainsaw was ready - I'll un-burden the live trees from the deadfall. |
| #7 3 minutes |
| Lunchtime!!! Nice views to be enjoyed today. |
| #8 28 minutes The tracks in the snow are mine from Saturday - this is where I became stuck and was pulled out. I came close to cutting a sidewall of the right rear tire (it was pushing against the deadfall). Time to remove the tree from the trail. |
| The
two logs - I pulled each away from the trail. I intended to put both
near the lookout / camp area but only one of the two made it - one
slipped out of the chain - enough off the side of the trail to leave it
as-is. |
| The treestump, well rotting, remains on the right - far enough off of the trail. |
| Back to 80c, heading west to the remaining trail - with the most amount of work to tend. Will I have enough daylight? |
| Nearing the big cluster of deadfall - driving by the trees that were cleared by someone else. |
| #9 27 minutes Two deadfall trees - supported by alive and dead trees. My jeep fits under the protruding tree but taller vehicles won't. I'll cut it out along with the deadfalls from the live trees... |
| #10 55 minutes The big mess. The sun's around - but the day is drawing. |
| I walked ahead and know that only two, simple trees remain - I should be able to get them tended today. I debated making one or two cuts and then pulling the trees aside - but that can be a bit of work in the setup so I just made a few cuts and tossed the chunks to the side. #11 16 minutes |
| #12 7 minutes |
| With
this tree removed I'm hoping to complete this trail. I'm about 3/4 of
the way to the end - getting me to the county road. |
| Drat
- close to 80c but I'm not going to chance getting stuck in this snow.
Backtracking will be the easy choice vs. trying this, getting stuck,
and then working to get un-stuck. Backtracking took only 13 minutes. |
| Out
from 80c. I'm heading north into Wyoming as I don't wish to backgrack
on 80c. The three water crossings were melting when I crossed them in
the morning. They are another obstacle where I could get stuck. I have
tire chains - but they can stay in the back of the jeep. It's been
years since I traveled these roads - time to see them again. |
| `last bit of sun |
