Woodcutting with a TC report. Naches WA
A little back ground, I usually prefer to do my camping with my best friend, my lovely wife of 26 years as of August 15th. But at the start of summer she got a full time position with our local school district and is unable to take any time off this summer. I let my reserved vacation time go to a less senior person where I work and we hope to get some long weekends in this fall doing the RV thing. While our family doesn’t roll with new equipment, I do try to keep our older rolling stock in good condition and generally feel fairly safe traveling. Our primary source of heat in our home is wood so this summer I decided to combine wood gathering with truck camping. But I did take two days off from work during the week for this little adventure.
Five years ago I bought four new tires on my four horse trailer. My local Les Schwab dealer set me up with Carlisle trailer tires, load range E. I keep our horse trailer, truck camper, travel trailer, and boat all in an equipment shed, out of the weather and ultraviolet degradation. As I pulled my horse trailer out and loaded my truck camper I realized the side walls on the horse trailer were all breaking down. I made a trip back to the tire store and they warrantied all the tires. Now I have four brand new “Power-King” load range E trailer service tires and I hope they hold up a little better than the Carlisle’s. I didn’t want to go with Chinese made tires again, which the Power Kings are, by my tires dealer stands behind his tires as he did with the old set.
So Monday just after noon I set off for Eastern Washington from our farm in Buckley Washington. It’s a beautiful drive and the route I take is not interstate. It’s a two lane highway that goes through Mount Rainier National Park with a summit of over 5400 feet. For my old truck, 96 Silverado, it’s a tough pull to the top. With outside temperatures in the 80’s I could hear the cooling fan howl as I neared the summit. I had to drop all the way down into Naches, near Yakima, to stop at the Forest Service office to purchase a wood cutting permit. $20 will get four cords of wood (1 cord = 128 cubic feet stacked, or 4’x4’x8’). With my permits and map in hand I left to go part way back up into the mountains to find the fire wood.
The entire west coast from deep inside Canada to Montana and south into Oregon have been devastated by beetles, leaving entire species of trees dead in the forest. These trees are being allowed to be cut for firewood. There are all kinds of rules and restrictions included in the permit. You must have a spaded shovel not less than 8inches wide. Carry a fire extinguisher. Spark arrestors on the saw mufflers. No cutting within 200’ of any water. No cutting live trees or dead trees that have woodpecker holes or nest of any kind. No cutting within 200’ of the highway. All wood must be split to less than 8 inches before leaving wood cutting area. (I broke that rule, I tried but my axe and my maul just bounced off some of the wood. I’d have to be superman to do that plus I have a hydraulic splitter at home) You must record species of wood and location of harvest, much like a fishing license holder does.
I took a turn off from Hwy410 onto Little Naches Pass road and then drove another 5 miles before leaving the pavement onto a logging road. I kept climbing along the narrow one lane road hoping I wouldn’t meet anyone, because there wasn’t a lot of room for two vehicles to pass. As luck would have it I saw no one at all. I also observed that all the dead timber within 200 feet of the road had been harvested. And certainly everything on the high side had been cut since it’s easy to roll wood downhill but not so easy to pack it up to the road.
After a few miles and a couple thousand feet elevation gain I found a place to pull off the side of the road in case someone should wander by. I spotted a couple trees near the road, kind of looked like if I dropped them they might actually hit the road (a good thing). With the truck a safe distance away I put on my grubbers and got out my saw. First tree didn’t go the way I wanted it. Instead of falling up-hill into the wedge I cut, it leaned back onto saw bar pinching it and falling down hill, adding 60 feet to every piece I would have to pack uphill to the road. Being alone I was extra cautious with my saw, no cell service and never did see a single person the whole time I was up the road cutting wood.
My next tree fell in the intended direction and packing it out was much easier. I realize now it was kind of a mistake to bring the camper and horse trailer, it would have been much easier if I could have gone off road with four wheel drive to load the rounds after they were cut. But even that is kind of scary if you are by yourself and you don’t have a winch to get out of sticky situation. By 8:30pm it was almost dark out, and not safe to work outside. I went in the camper and thought about dinner, but I was too tired to cook. I craved something salty after having sweated what felt like gallons. (I’m not skinny, and at 52 I realize I can’t buck wood like when I was 30.) I ate some chips and fruit for dinner, really enjoyed my postage stamp size shower in the camper and crawled in bed fresh but tired at 9:30 to read a good book. My old camper doesn’t have a radio or TV, but that’s OK with me.
I listened to the sounds of nature outside my windows; it’s so quiet with no one around for miles. I sure do love the smell of the forest. I could hear pine cones falling through the branches. It cooled down real fast and I slept sound till the first signs of light in the morning. When I awoke I was hungry, and satisfied my hunger with a can of a corned beef hash and eggs over easy. Two mugs of fresh coffee and I was ready to resume wood cutting. I looked around my camp site, I’d backed off the road with the horse trailer a bit sideways and pointed downhill and I found a real nice tree just 80 feet from the rig. I dropped the tree towards the trailer and had made about six cuts when I got stung multiple times by yellow jacket bees. Those tiny little bees pack a nasty sting. I’d dropped the tree right on top of their ground nest. I carefully packed out the six rounds I cut and left the rest of the tree where it laid.
I then hiked down the road searching for prospects. Found a couple nice ones on the low side, which means packing up hill, but not more than 60 feet from the road. I tell myself it’s not a race, just pack one round at time and go easy. Again I tried but failed with the wedge cut, the first tree fell down hill which doubles the distance I have to pack it out. The second tree leaned into two others but didn’t fall and pinched the saw bar. (I do have two saws just in case something like this happens) But it was at least leaning towards the road. Got out my come along and a long chain and wrapped the chain around the tree and with the come along pulling it rotated off the stump freeing the saw and a little more winching and it crashed to the ground laying right up to the shoulder of the road. After all that packing my trailer was getting loaded nice.
The temperature had warmed to the eighties before noon and I’m not ashamed to say I just am not in good enough shape to do hard manual labor hours at a time in this kind of heat. But I scouted for one more tree and found two really close and almost level with the road. I dropped both and pulled them out hooking several chains and my tow strap together. The permit says you can’t skid logs out with tractors or ATV but it doesn’t really say you can’t pull them up to the road from the road bed. I hope this was OK; it sure made loading the last two trees easy after bucking them up on the logging road. I could have cut more wood, but I didn’t want to put too much weight in the horse trailer, I know I had more weight in wood than if I had loaded four live horses. So I got cleaned up, changed back into shorts and a clean t-shirt after another shower, tagged my load as required by the permit and set off for home, once again climbing Chinook Pass from the east side for home.
I was 19 miles from the summit; the last 6 miles are the hardest pull. My truck and camper weigh 10,000lbs loaded, and now the horse trailer weighed just over 8000lbs (axle weight). I have the equalizer bars maxed out on the weight distributing hitch and I was careful to not add too much tongue weight since I’m pulling with my frame extension and it is a huge amount of leverage that far behind a single wheel axle. I know the weights because I drove over the commercial scale near my house on the way home. I was running in 3rd and 4th gear until I hit the last six miles of the summit. The steep part slowed me down to 35mph in second gear at 2500rpm. I went 3 miles that way, but then the engine temperature was just under the red mark of 260 degrees, so I slowed down to 25mph and manually shifted to first gear with the engine turning 3000rpm. Now the cooling fan is doing what it’s supposed to do, just howling up there pulling that air through and temperature dropped to 230 degrees. Tourist at the summit outside for views could hear me coming; not the engine but that fan really makes some noise at that speed.
Once over the summit I was compression braking all the way down the pass. The engine cooled back to 180degrees almost immediately. I cranked up the gain on the trailer brakes so I could really feel them working when I touched the brakes, but mostly I used the engine to keep me slow. When I saw I had cars behind, I used the pullouts to let them by. Keep in mind; I’m doing this with only 190 factory horsepower, non-inter-cooled GM diesel, no grade braking or exhaust brakes on this good old truck. The rest of the drive home was uneventful, driving mostly the speed limit since it’s all downhill to home. I plan to go back and cut more wood, though I’ll just make a day trip out of it. The camper restricted my ability to go off road, and the horse trailer isn’t needed considering just cutting a bit over a cord of wood is really enough work for me in one day.
But I’m glad I got to spend a day in the woods, even though I was by myself. I love the scenery and enjoy being outside in the woods. My old equipment makes me proud; it still does everything I ask of it, and we’ll be heating our house with wood I cut myself, and I’m glad I’m still able to do that, even if it takes a little longer than it used to. Hans
Five years ago I bought four new tires on my four horse trailer. My local Les Schwab dealer set me up with Carlisle trailer tires, load range E. I keep our horse trailer, truck camper, travel trailer, and boat all in an equipment shed, out of the weather and ultraviolet degradation. As I pulled my horse trailer out and loaded my truck camper I realized the side walls on the horse trailer were all breaking down. I made a trip back to the tire store and they warrantied all the tires. Now I have four brand new “Power-King” load range E trailer service tires and I hope they hold up a little better than the Carlisle’s. I didn’t want to go with Chinese made tires again, which the Power Kings are, by my tires dealer stands behind his tires as he did with the old set.
So Monday just after noon I set off for Eastern Washington from our farm in Buckley Washington. It’s a beautiful drive and the route I take is not interstate. It’s a two lane highway that goes through Mount Rainier National Park with a summit of over 5400 feet. For my old truck, 96 Silverado, it’s a tough pull to the top. With outside temperatures in the 80’s I could hear the cooling fan howl as I neared the summit. I had to drop all the way down into Naches, near Yakima, to stop at the Forest Service office to purchase a wood cutting permit. $20 will get four cords of wood (1 cord = 128 cubic feet stacked, or 4’x4’x8’). With my permits and map in hand I left to go part way back up into the mountains to find the fire wood.
The entire west coast from deep inside Canada to Montana and south into Oregon have been devastated by beetles, leaving entire species of trees dead in the forest. These trees are being allowed to be cut for firewood. There are all kinds of rules and restrictions included in the permit. You must have a spaded shovel not less than 8inches wide. Carry a fire extinguisher. Spark arrestors on the saw mufflers. No cutting within 200’ of any water. No cutting live trees or dead trees that have woodpecker holes or nest of any kind. No cutting within 200’ of the highway. All wood must be split to less than 8 inches before leaving wood cutting area. (I broke that rule, I tried but my axe and my maul just bounced off some of the wood. I’d have to be superman to do that plus I have a hydraulic splitter at home) You must record species of wood and location of harvest, much like a fishing license holder does.
I took a turn off from Hwy410 onto Little Naches Pass road and then drove another 5 miles before leaving the pavement onto a logging road. I kept climbing along the narrow one lane road hoping I wouldn’t meet anyone, because there wasn’t a lot of room for two vehicles to pass. As luck would have it I saw no one at all. I also observed that all the dead timber within 200 feet of the road had been harvested. And certainly everything on the high side had been cut since it’s easy to roll wood downhill but not so easy to pack it up to the road.
After a few miles and a couple thousand feet elevation gain I found a place to pull off the side of the road in case someone should wander by. I spotted a couple trees near the road, kind of looked like if I dropped them they might actually hit the road (a good thing). With the truck a safe distance away I put on my grubbers and got out my saw. First tree didn’t go the way I wanted it. Instead of falling up-hill into the wedge I cut, it leaned back onto saw bar pinching it and falling down hill, adding 60 feet to every piece I would have to pack uphill to the road. Being alone I was extra cautious with my saw, no cell service and never did see a single person the whole time I was up the road cutting wood.
My next tree fell in the intended direction and packing it out was much easier. I realize now it was kind of a mistake to bring the camper and horse trailer, it would have been much easier if I could have gone off road with four wheel drive to load the rounds after they were cut. But even that is kind of scary if you are by yourself and you don’t have a winch to get out of sticky situation. By 8:30pm it was almost dark out, and not safe to work outside. I went in the camper and thought about dinner, but I was too tired to cook. I craved something salty after having sweated what felt like gallons. (I’m not skinny, and at 52 I realize I can’t buck wood like when I was 30.) I ate some chips and fruit for dinner, really enjoyed my postage stamp size shower in the camper and crawled in bed fresh but tired at 9:30 to read a good book. My old camper doesn’t have a radio or TV, but that’s OK with me.
I listened to the sounds of nature outside my windows; it’s so quiet with no one around for miles. I sure do love the smell of the forest. I could hear pine cones falling through the branches. It cooled down real fast and I slept sound till the first signs of light in the morning. When I awoke I was hungry, and satisfied my hunger with a can of a corned beef hash and eggs over easy. Two mugs of fresh coffee and I was ready to resume wood cutting. I looked around my camp site, I’d backed off the road with the horse trailer a bit sideways and pointed downhill and I found a real nice tree just 80 feet from the rig. I dropped the tree towards the trailer and had made about six cuts when I got stung multiple times by yellow jacket bees. Those tiny little bees pack a nasty sting. I’d dropped the tree right on top of their ground nest. I carefully packed out the six rounds I cut and left the rest of the tree where it laid.
I then hiked down the road searching for prospects. Found a couple nice ones on the low side, which means packing up hill, but not more than 60 feet from the road. I tell myself it’s not a race, just pack one round at time and go easy. Again I tried but failed with the wedge cut, the first tree fell down hill which doubles the distance I have to pack it out. The second tree leaned into two others but didn’t fall and pinched the saw bar. (I do have two saws just in case something like this happens) But it was at least leaning towards the road. Got out my come along and a long chain and wrapped the chain around the tree and with the come along pulling it rotated off the stump freeing the saw and a little more winching and it crashed to the ground laying right up to the shoulder of the road. After all that packing my trailer was getting loaded nice.
The temperature had warmed to the eighties before noon and I’m not ashamed to say I just am not in good enough shape to do hard manual labor hours at a time in this kind of heat. But I scouted for one more tree and found two really close and almost level with the road. I dropped both and pulled them out hooking several chains and my tow strap together. The permit says you can’t skid logs out with tractors or ATV but it doesn’t really say you can’t pull them up to the road from the road bed. I hope this was OK; it sure made loading the last two trees easy after bucking them up on the logging road. I could have cut more wood, but I didn’t want to put too much weight in the horse trailer, I know I had more weight in wood than if I had loaded four live horses. So I got cleaned up, changed back into shorts and a clean t-shirt after another shower, tagged my load as required by the permit and set off for home, once again climbing Chinook Pass from the east side for home.
I was 19 miles from the summit; the last 6 miles are the hardest pull. My truck and camper weigh 10,000lbs loaded, and now the horse trailer weighed just over 8000lbs (axle weight). I have the equalizer bars maxed out on the weight distributing hitch and I was careful to not add too much tongue weight since I’m pulling with my frame extension and it is a huge amount of leverage that far behind a single wheel axle. I know the weights because I drove over the commercial scale near my house on the way home. I was running in 3rd and 4th gear until I hit the last six miles of the summit. The steep part slowed me down to 35mph in second gear at 2500rpm. I went 3 miles that way, but then the engine temperature was just under the red mark of 260 degrees, so I slowed down to 25mph and manually shifted to first gear with the engine turning 3000rpm. Now the cooling fan is doing what it’s supposed to do, just howling up there pulling that air through and temperature dropped to 230 degrees. Tourist at the summit outside for views could hear me coming; not the engine but that fan really makes some noise at that speed.
Once over the summit I was compression braking all the way down the pass. The engine cooled back to 180degrees almost immediately. I cranked up the gain on the trailer brakes so I could really feel them working when I touched the brakes, but mostly I used the engine to keep me slow. When I saw I had cars behind, I used the pullouts to let them by. Keep in mind; I’m doing this with only 190 factory horsepower, non-inter-cooled GM diesel, no grade braking or exhaust brakes on this good old truck. The rest of the drive home was uneventful, driving mostly the speed limit since it’s all downhill to home. I plan to go back and cut more wood, though I’ll just make a day trip out of it. The camper restricted my ability to go off road, and the horse trailer isn’t needed considering just cutting a bit over a cord of wood is really enough work for me in one day.
But I’m glad I got to spend a day in the woods, even though I was by myself. I love the scenery and enjoy being outside in the woods. My old equipment makes me proud; it still does everything I ask of it, and we’ll be heating our house with wood I cut myself, and I’m glad I’m still able to do that, even if it takes a little longer than it used to. Hans
