[pct-l] Fw: Trail clearing with horses and chainsaws

Edward Anderson mendoridered at yahoo.com
Tue Sep 25 17:56:07 CDT 2012




----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Edward Anderson <mendoridered at yahoo.com>
To: Devon Taig <devon.taig at gmail.com> 
Cc: "pct-l at backcountry.net" <pct-l at backcountry.net> 
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 2:10 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Trail clearing with horses and chainsaws
 

I am a Back Country Horseman and sometimes a volunteer doing trail maintenance on the PCT. The two Sections that I have worked on are California Sections D and E. We are allowed to use chain saws. That saves a lot of time.

Of necessity, I have also cut many trees during my ride from Mexico to Canada on the PCT. I only cut them when there is no other option to get past with a horse. I cut about 50 in that category. Nine of those were on the first few miles going north on the PCT from Cascade Locks. That was in 2009.  That part of the PCT was apparently not being maintained because almost all of the hikers were walking along the highway to the town of Stevenson for a 0 day and then taking the shortcut to return to the PCT.

Last November I volunteered with other Back Country Horsemen, PCTA volunteers and others on what came to be called the Vasquez Rocks Pionjar Project. We wanted to create a safe tread across a sloping and sometimes slippery slab of rock about 80 feet wide. It is located about two-tenths of a mile north of the Hwy 14 tunnel - just south of the park boundary. Hikers and equestrians have fallen there - bones had been broken, It ended up taking seven days for an average of six to eight people to complete it. Our leader was Trail Gorilla Pete Fish. He trucked in many heavy tools owned by the PCTA. Two of them were very heavy Swedish-made Pionjars (Jackhammers). BCH Ray Drasher hauled them and other heavy equipment from the trail head to the work site with his two mules. The rest of us hiked in, carrying more tools and our lunches. That's seven round trips. We would have needed many more volunteers if we did not have the help of the mules.

MendoRider-Hiker




________________________________
 From: Devon Taig <devon.taig at gmail.com>
To: pct-l <pct-l at backcountry.net> 
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2012 7:24 AM
Subject: [pct-l] Trail clearing with horses and chainsaws
 
As I was walking across Oregon this year, I ran across a trail maintenance
group (I think from the PCTA) near Three Fingered Jack.  They didn't have
horses or chainsaws and were facing the daunting task of clearing dozens of
trees using handsaws that had apparently fallen during a wind storm the
previous winter.  When I inquired why they weren't using horses and
chainsaws, I was surprised to hear that they were banned on that part of
the trail.
I'm not clear as to why such a ban would exist in the context of people who
are actively performing trail maintenance.  It would seem to be at least an
order of magnitude easier to clear a trail with a chain saw and a horse
than by hand.  I would like to think that when I donate to organizations
that do trail work that they aren't hamstrung by federal bureaucracy that
impedes getting important work done.  Can
 anyone shed some light on
 this?

Devon
_______________________________________________
Pct-L mailing list
Pct-L at backcountry.net
To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l

List Archives:
http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
All content is copyrighted by the respective authors. 
Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.


More information about the Pct-L mailing list