Trails Update: Aug 14, 2020
Empty bags
I get an odd sense of accomplishment when I get to the bottom of things. Finishing a 50 lb bag of rice for example. I eat a lot of rice.
I knew Thursday was off to a good start when I emptied the bags of oatmeal, dried strawberries, dried ginger, finished the monster chunk of dark chocolate and used my last banana while making breakfast. Strange coincidence or impeccable planning?
I was looking forward to more satisfying “finishes” at the Chipmunk Rebellion…
Sadly, not finishing the full trail... we’re still about 400 metres away from the ribbon cutting.
I’m referring to the third bridge we’ve been building: It seems to have been dragging on for longer than usual. Like a 50 lb bag of rice…
This bridge kinda started a few weeks ago: we used every cedar that stood in the trail line since the last bridge.
The stack of framing materials has been ready for a while as we constructed the trail up to the crossing site. The crew begrudgingly moved and gleefully peeled the stringers when it got too hot to dig.
“This looks like way more wood than we need to cross that.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll move what’s left to the next bridge…”
While Benoit pulled stumps and did finishing work on bits of trail, I spent the week bouncing back and forth between laying out the bridge, looking for decking material and laying out the trail ahead of the crew's ravenous digging.
The design of the bridge kept changing (mostly getting longer...). After a pleasant surprise of solid mineral soil on the north end “shortened” the bridge by 15 feet, the expected south end kept getting more and more distant: every attempt at anchoring the terminal revealed bottomless organic material… adding another span to the structure.
Things really started dragging on while trying to make the decking for this (now) 50’ bridge. We needed about 125 pieces.
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In BC’s logging history, there were times when Cedar was considered worthless. Douglas fir and Hemlock were taken to market while the Cedar was left lying down.
It seems this was not the case when the logging occurred on the upper westside of Sproat: the area is peppered with impressive Cedar stumps, but few of the logs were left behind.
Those logs, left to dry for 50+ years would have been the best source of decking.
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I had to search further and further. Finding mostly decaying, ant infested small logs that only yielded 3 or 4 dubious boards. There were a few promising ones.
“Hey Dan, I've finished all of these rounds” Said Liam. Again.
He spent all of Wednesday wrestling with knot riddled and spongy logs to get at what good wood was to be found.
On Thursday, Benoit and I were determined to complete this bridge… I forgot to mention: this was our last day before going on vacation!
Still 30 boards shy after expiring the stock of reasonably close wood, Benoit had to make and haul decking from 300 metres away while I tried to rip boards with the chainsaw through logs riddled with unsplittable knots.
A small “win”: This emptied the fuel and bar oil containers!
All said and done, there’s only an 8 foot long framing log, a great sign board and 1 decent piece of decking left. This was also somewhat satisfying.
It’s vacation time! Renee, Liam, Benoit and I will be back after labour day.
The Jr. builders are going back to school though. Gavin, Matthias, Riley, and Jaden: Thanks for a great summer of working smarter, not harder
The Chipmunk Rebellion (part 1): To be continued... please keep off until it is complete. As I mentioned earlier, there’s about 400m left to build, including one more long bridge...
See you on the trails!
Dan Raymond
WORCA Lead Trail Builder
