Deadfall Cleanup - Roosevelt N.F.
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From my visit last weekend I had the idea to visit again with the
purpose of clearing deadfall that was on the trail. Friday was a day I
could visit the forest - with perfect weather (which is expected to change
Sunday) - I made the trip out. I entered the forest at the far northwest corner of the Roosevelt National Forest - just below the Wyoming stateline (Medicine Bow National Forest just to the north). I worked south and then east on the trails - exiting at the Hohnholz Lakes. I took the asphalt route to the north end of the forest. The asphalt route jumps up to Laramie WY then back down into Colorado - right at the state line - the far top edge of the Roosevelt N.F. Weather was enjoyable and there were scant few people in the forest (somewhat odd as it was a Friday - but nights are getting rather cool). I believe all were hunters (bow and black powder musket season for deer and elk). In the forest, I saw seven vehicles all day, with a few of them parked and not on the road. I knew that Forest Service Road 200, that I took last week, had a fair bit of deadfall but there are many other roads in the area and I have not traveled them and wish to. There is one noted location on the map that I would like to check (Village Belle). It's only slightly out of the way - a consideration as I know I'll be leaving the forest at dark. I'll spend as much time as I have clearing deadfall. There is much more to tend than I can do in a day (perhaps a week...). One item that was nicely put to use - the Starlink Mini kit. With it running I can tend the many of the work tasks as I do from town. As it is satellite based - it wants a clear view of the sky. Much of the day will be spent in a pine-tree-canyon. For the text messages and phone calls - they performed as desired. |
|
The
forest service's motor-vehicle-use-map (MVUM) that I follow in the
jeep. Yellow line - in at the top out at the bottom. For my day today I
cleared 25% of the yellow line (maybe less). Whenever I wish to spend a
day in the forest - there's ample deadfall waiting. Perhaps more after
every strong wind storm. |
| Stats Full day |
| Stats Home to trail |
| Stats Trail |
| Stats Trail to home |
| North of Livermore CO |
| Just passed by Virginia Dale CO |
| In WY, looking at the Union Pacific line |
| Enjoyable aspen color WY-230 southwest of Woods Landing - approx 8700 feet elevation |
| Cattle drive - always enjoyable to see. An "Out West, Yesteryear" mindset. |
| Those young rebellious ones - not going with the flow |
| Near
the WyoColo spot on the highway I turned south into the forest. There
has been a fair bit of logging (the roads we're on I take are logging
roads). |
| Refuse piles |
| An open view to the mountains to the west |
| There
was a left turn in the trail and I missed the left and ended in an open
area. I noticed some logs hidden by the trees - not a stack of logs -
once they were a cabin. What were people "doing" in the mountains "way
back then"? |
| Back to it... No chainsaw on the hood - I have not yet needed to clear any deadfall |
| Now it's out. I'll stay on the hood for the day, getting stowed when it's no longer needed. |
| An
odd campsite. It's on a smaller trail. A cast iron stove and picnic
bench. Something on the ground behind the trees to the left of the
bench. Unknown if I'd come back to this spot to camp - maybe. |
| Very
close to the above
campsite was a small stream crossing. At the far side of the crossing
was a tight area for the jeep. There was tall brush at each side of the
crossing and to my right, where I was turning. I needed to take a sharp
right corner
and fit between two trees. The jeep came to an abrupt stop. I tried backing up / going forward / turning left / turning right - nothing worked. Time to get out and see what was going on. I was stuck between a rock... |
| ...and a hard place The tree stump was tall enough to hit the bottom of the axle / suspension. The tree root on the far side of the jeep kept me from rolling on top of the stump. A tree at my left arm kept me from coming closer to the camera. So you're thinking - but you have a chain saw - just cut it out. Yes, I looked at the stump and considered cutting it shorter. It was littered with small pebbles / rocks. I didn't want to dull the chain. I ended up doing a 30 point wiggle to get the back end off of the rock so I could reverse across the stream. There were three crossings. I chose another. |
| A bit of an open area - always nice as there is a fair bit of pine-tree-canyon today. |
| Possible campsite marked |
| Enjoyable clouds |
| A
tree to clear. A couple of this type today - a full tree along the edge
of the road. It has limbs so it does not easily roll. I pulled up and
cut the limbs at the downhill side and rolled it
downhill. One black pickup passed me here. |
| No before shot. A large tree fell near the edge of the trail. The limbs extended onto the trail (road). One hunter on a quad rolled by. |
| A
fair bit of this type of deadfall. Some are long enough to be resting on the road surface
- some are "spears" at windshield height (some angled towards you). A deadfall like this is short and easy to tend. The deadfall next up the road - I might pull them back a couple feet - but that set is not overly encroaching on the road / trail. |
| My
first mounting location for the Starlink mini (tape at the edges to
hold it). I am a bit concerned having such a transmitter one foot away
from my head. I think it'll relocate to the forward area of the hood. |
| A
tree at the edge of the road (green line where it was). Since I need to
roll it across the road, I'll cut all limbs off - as well as section it
into four or five pieces. The top, thin sections are light enough to
pickup / toss to the side of the road. Much of this deadfall is well DRY and quite light / easy to pick up & throw. |
| Up
trail / road 516, a bit out of my way, was an item labeled Village
Belle (with a private property box). I was curious so I made the jump
up. |
| An
unexpected sight. A mine shaft hoist house and two boilers. There are
not many mines in the area. I wonder what they were after. After walking around the structure, you can see two angled beams (logs) coming out of the structure to the left of the boilers. At the base of them would have been a steam powered winch. The cable followed up between the two big logs into the structure before turning down into the mine shaft. |
| While there was coal in the area (Coalmont Colo) I'd guess these were wood fired. |
| Tailings pile |
| Some wood ?structure? between tailings piles |
| That one opening will give a peek inside. |
| Aside from a few "keep out" signs, additional work inside to keep people out. No good picture, but the center of the structure was the mine shaft. It was a depression. It might not be reliably sealed, thus some danger. |
| Shadows are getting long. My destination is FSR 200 to head east to the trailhead near the lakes. |
| There's light, there's deadfall on the road. A decision - cut it or pull it. The time to cut the limbs, toss them to the roadside then section the trunk - about the same time as to pull out the tools to pull it to the roadside. |
| I can't quickly get the
jeep straight across the road for a straight pull off of the winch drum
- the line will stack up at one end of the drum. This will be a short
pull (7') so the stacking won't cause a problem. If stacking of the line at one end of the drum happens, the cable pushes out against the two chrome bars at the top of the winch. The bars are attached to the aluminum housing. The aluminum housing breaks if stacking isn't monitored. I had a helper watch, on a long pull years prior, and the line stacked too much and broke the winch (replacement aluminum end plate installed). |
| Complete! |
| Now compare the winch line, at the far end of the drum, between this picture and the picture two up. |
| This
is a lesser used trail (157 B) off of the main "200" trail. For this section,
this trail was the same distance as the 200 (two sides of a box for 200
or the other two sides for this) and I have not traveled this trail -
so why not - but today it will take me longer than if I chose to stay
on 200. Full closure (though someone drove around - one set of
tracks). |
| The first downed tree has been removed. The larger tree (roots visible to the right) partially limbed. |
| It's a smaller, tight trail. |
| Mostly complete - that deadfall up on the left will be cut back. |
| Out of the forest, heading south in the Laramie River Valley. Open Range area. They posed for the flash. |
