Round Hill Road Roundup

Following risking my life getting supplies for Christmas Cookies at Shop Rite on Sunday I headed out for some trail work.  Went out to cut up what I thought were some easy blowdowns on the Paugussett Trail south of Round Hill Road.  Sharpened my saw, filed it with gas and bar oil, drove up to the site, and what did I find.

A great big old 24" birch tree smothered with vines, briars, poison ivy, you name it, fully across the trail not 20 feet behind the trailhead.  I just had to laugh, possibly sob, and said this is going to be an interesting day.  A nearby neighbor heard me and came over to say that this had come down in the storm last night.  I asked if it made any noise, and that was a big Oh Yah.

So, carting my gear I hoofed it back toward Birchbank Mtn. to find the other blowdowns that were on our To Do List.  I came across some new blowdowns too, got to a good stopping point, turned around and started working my way back to Round Hill Road.

 

 

Practiced my Notch-Bucking techniques from the CFPA class on some old dead ash trees along the trail.  The blow downs were all ash and birch trees.

 

Then roll the logs out of the way.

Rinse and Repeat.  Here's a birch tree that came down recently and the top dropped across the trail behind it.

Cleared that all out and the original trail tread is restored.

The top notch is on the right (rolled away from me - on purpose), and the birch shows the "nibbling" cuts to take out the hinge

Cleared out a bunch of blowdowns and getting back to the big one at Round Hill Road.  Who rolled up at that time but Mark Vollaro (fabulous timing).  We took off the vines, briars, and whatnot, so we could see what to cut.

Mark was game and started dropping the log.  We tried to make sure it didn't bounce funny off the rocks.

But Mark brought it down with no crushed toes.

Here's mark at the end of the job.  We left a narrow notch to keep out the ATVs.  We stood back to admire our handiwork.

A right on cue a southbound hiker came through to enjoy the newly cleared trail.  Timing is everything today.  This stretch of the Paugussett Trail is now clear for the public to enjoy.