9-5-2011 Southern RJ

Date of work: 9-5-2011
Time spent: 8 hours includes commute
number of workers: 1 - Jim de Friess
Work accomplished:- in a nutshell clipping along the trail, some waterbars cleaned others made, removed or worked around major obstacles.

Well after much hem hawing I decided to go out and do some trail work, sorry Billy- didn't tell him.  I watched the rain and decided it would be light until sometime in the afternoon.  So I proceeded out to the south end of RJ and picked up where Ken and Michael left off last week.  It was misty with limited visibility all the way up Kistler and lightly raining when I parked, so I decided to clip my way down the hill to the cliffs, and actually got down the ridge to where it turns off the ridge.  I clipped slowly and thoroughly, and stopped a couple times to pull out the pulaski to chop trees that were in the way.  The first of the trees was the pine that has been hanging a while, and most people are going under, I helped it to go ahead and fall, and trimmed the end up so people could easily get around. 

A while later a tree was more than knee high across the trail so the pulaski had to come out again for it. Also on the way down I used trunks at angles across the trail to start waterbars.  I would finish them on the way out.  A log someone steps over is a great way to protect a waterbar.

Nearing the bottom there was two trees blocking the trail, a Pine and a hardwood.  I chopped the pine to separate it from its stump, which made it lower.  The hardwood can be stepped over.  At this point there was no "clearing the trail" but a route around the blockage was easy enough and in the trail corridor. 

The rain was off and on, and the camera was tucked inside a plastic bag in my pack.  After a couple hours it was probably the only dry thing I had.  I even removed my glasses very early on since they fogged up and I could see better without them. I did get some pictures near the bottom when the rain stopped and the fog cleared briefly.  The fog rolled in and out at that point and the rain was anywhere from none to heavy.  I didn't care, an open ended day of trail fun is a rarity for me, all I had to do was get out by dark.

In one part of the trail it looked like a dead pine was hanging over the trail being propped up by a dead rhodo.  It appeared that when it fell it would fall along the trail.  So I cut the rhodo, and the pine didn't fall, it was still hanging on - but now it was even more likely it would fall, so I cut the pine down.  It proceeded to arch across the trail.  At that point I cut the top of it off, and then I really had a blockage arched very low across the trail.  Well the third cut on the pine got it on the ground finally- whew.

Further down there was a hole in the ground on the uphill side of the trail.  I looked in and didn't see anything while it was raining.  On the way out I looked again, and saw the gold and black yellowjackets looking back.  I actually think they were relieved to see me rather than the bear that dug the hole.

Well I cut through the locust down the ridge to finish, but it wasn't that bad.   I think the trail is discernible, beyond where I stopped, but it needs some clipping too. On the way back out I cleaned out waterbars, and moved some dirt to help finish making the ones I started on the way down.  It was a great day in the woods, and the weather was perfect for trail fun.

Photos at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/110028009052849072738/September52011RJ#