Monday, December 20, 2010

Demo and Framing - Giant Killer Pt.2

This morning I met Ryan at the parking area of the Woodlot and we headed up to Giant Killer to continue work on the ladder section that we started gathering materials for the other day.

Last night when I packed my building back pack I went to pick it up and could not believe how heavy the thing was. I hung it on my scale and it was 44lbs (chainsaw, 15lbs of nails, hammer, axe, and other tools). I bitched a little when I met up with Ryan this morning and he kindly offered to carry the 15lbs of nails. So with our loaded packs we made our way to the building area and immediately got to work.

I bucked up a log for rung and then left Ryan to learn/practice how to split rung and I headed over to the ladders to dismantle them and then started framing for the new ladders. Things never seem to go as quickly as you want and there was one particular stump that I spent an hour or two on getting things right.

After a few hours a couple of younger riders showed up that I had invited to help out. Garrett and Nick packed the rung, hauled away the old ladders and did the necessary cleanup for the area. Without their help there is no way we would have got as much accomplished as we did. People often think that the 'grunt work' is a waste of time but if fact it is VITAL to getting trailwork complete. While talking with them, Garrett mentioned that he needed volunteer hours for school and I wisely told him that the trail work he was helping with today is considered volunteer hours. The look on his face was the classic 'get the F-outa here!'. Needless to say he'll be back.

Overall I'd say the section is 75% framed and we have 1/3 of the rung we will need. I'll likely be back tomorrow in the morning with Ryan to continue getting rung and framing in the ladders. It will be nice to ride this section again on some solid woodwork.

The ride out down Giant Killer, Bloggy and Shotgun was fun on the little bike (Trance). Riding with a pack can be a handful at times though. I had a moment or two where I though I was going to get up close and personal with a big old spruce tree.

Here is a short video walk-through and some before photos of the section we are working on.


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