June 11-12, 2005 - Vicente Flat Trail Logging Project

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Robert Parks' Thoughts

Saturday, I carpooled down with Mark M., meeting Hike H. at the trailhead at the appointed hour. We shouldered our heavy packs, hoping the weak marine layer would protect us into the Hare Canyon forest (which it didn't, although it wasn't horribly hot). The deteriorated tread was pretty unpleasant with a pack...it had been bad enough on the downhill survey...there was various fantasizing about work being done on the trail...but not by us. We dropped our packs at Espinosa Camp and daypacked back the short distance to the first log (#51).

It turned out to be a good starter log, not so simple as to get us entirely puffed up, but not so hard that it is unsafe or we got discouraged. We were reminded of the hazards of cutting a hollow log from saw training, when our first cut managed to bind up on the top and bottom. Eventually, we finished the log with the pruning saw, having worked our way down through the two cross cuts.

The next log (#50) was, as expected, the most challenging of the weekend, if not the whole project. The prep work (mostly with axes) was arduous (cutting redwood with an axe isn't much fun...very springy and stringy), taking the rest of the day, but leaving the log entirely ready for sawing the next morning.

Espinosa Camp was pleasant, if buggy (as was the entire weekend), although traffic noise is distinctly audible in the evening. After the traditional extended VWA Happy Hour (libations, cheese and crackers, chocolate covered cherries, etc.), dinner was almost an afterthought!

Sunday morning, after an early start, we were the first crew to go In Service on the District. A brief walk, and we were sawing away on the big redwood. Perhaps 20 minutes of two-person bucking got us far enough through the log to not want a person on the downhill side. Less than a half-hour sufficed to single-buck, first with the big saw (with a spotter to keep the end out of the dirt), then with the small crosscut (nimble and light enough to cut through the last wood fibers and stop in the bark around the bottom of the log. After some lever work with native redwood branches, the stump tumbled off the trail and we did a quick patch job on the trail.

The rest of the work was fairly straightforward, although we left a single bole of #43 for the next trip, as we were running out of time and it could have required multiple cuts and some hazard. We did work the trail to a pleasant condition. Back to Espinosa Camp to pack up and hike out...which was not very pleasant, despite the wonderful views. Between the depressing condition of the trail, and the heat and the heavy pack, I was happy for that hike to be over.

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