The crew was back at Fall Creek again, further east at Bedrock Campground where we were going to tackle the trail eastbound, which climbed a few hundred feet vertically over 3/4 of a mile and then stayed on a ridge for awhile. The first step was to deal with logging it out, followed by brushing, which in this instance wasn’t necessary, then with tread work, which in places would be necessary.
There were 46 logs in the first 1.6 miles, and the first one, 38 inches in diameter, was right at the start. We were divided into three crews: the big log and 0.8 miles to the top of the ridge was the crew I was with; the other two crews divided up the remaining 34 logs. It seemed reasonable, but when the crew is spread out in a linear fashion, it depends upon even distribution of the work, which with logs is never clear, since any given log may require a lot more work even with a power saw, although far more likely when 2 person crosscuts were used, which we were not using.
In any case, my group of 3 was two senior C-rated sawyers and me as an experienced swamper or helper. Our first log was a blown down tree attached to the root wad and extending about 150 feet up the hill, then over the top. We had no idea if the log would slide down if cut from below, because of different surfaces it was on with different friction. The first cut from below was effective, however, and the 12 feet of trunk still attached to the root wad stood back up, as we say, when the weight of the rest of the tree was removed. How much weight? I figured close to 300 pounds per linear foot at the bottom, gradually decreasing to the top. Maybe ten tons.
Once we had that removed, the removal of the rest of the blocking log was slow but steady and we finished the rest of our logs by lunch. Our radios were not working where we were, and we hoped the others made similar progress, but alas they had not. We had to stand around for about 2 hours, not doing much trail work, because the tread was in good shape on our section of trail. We finally left about 3, after 2 hours waiting, and 1 hour after the time we had been told we would be leaving.
It was interesting how I dealt with this. I am quite time sensitive, and I have led split up crews several times, often with everybody’s finishing pretty close to the same time. But there is a component of luck, too. It is difficult to look at logs on a scouting trip and to decide how long they are going to take, especially in light of destroyed tread, which while not requiring repair at the time, may need enough work so that passage to and from the rest of the trail to work it is both safe and feasible.
Initially, when I got home, I was fairly down on the whole day, because our log was mostly handled by a senior sawyer who didn’t want to allow anybody to dig out part of the log or even have another C-certified experienced sawyer to do the rest of the cuts. This meant that two of the three of us were effectively cut off from doing work we could do. I wish some of the guys in the Crew could just let go and not try to be he-men.
I acted differently this day, however, not just blowing off steam, commenting that the whole day was screwed up, feeling like I didn’t help out at all. I have been known to say something like that, but this day I didn’t. I was not happy to be sure, but I started to take a hard look at what happened. I do wish we had been told if we were done, to continue on and do tread work on the next part where the other groups had logged out. That would have given us a chance to do something important and to allow those working to focus on the logs and not the tread. Additionally, we also would have known how close they were to finishing. Maybe next time we are in a situation like this we can do that. I was looking at solutions, not being angry.
I might send the faster hikers further and the others not so far, so that those who were at the end of our cutting “spear” would return more quickly. Like the time I was in the Umpqua NF and we didn’t have a second saw with us, or I was told not to bring my pack or a tread tool when I should have, I learned something. I may yet lead future trips, I need to be sure saws start before we leave, how to divvy up people for the job to do, which I think I am pretty good at doing, and when the work starts, check in more frequently with each group to see how far along everybody is. I think therefore I would have each group have a mandatory check in at 11 am. I have done this twice before and it has worked well.
I don’t have power saw training. I won’t run such a saw myself. But I do know how much work they can do, and I can look at logs, people, multiple options and make good decisions. I hope I get the chance.
Cutting from the log.
Boreal B[l]og 
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