Trail Maintenance Man

“Both are fun.

Fishing is better with prima-cord.

The D-9 now has enclosed air-conditioned cabs with CD players, beverage coolers, etc. Makes thru-hiking easier.”

“The last two summers I have spent many weekends finding and mapping old trails. I look at maps from the 1930-1960s and compare then to current maps. I look for old trails that used to exist but no longer. I then try to find the old trails and see if it would be possible to resurrect them. I make detailed field notes and then turn them over to my local Forest Service office. Many will never be rebuilt, of course. The need for some trails no longer exist, or are too far gone to rebuild. But a few are now under consideration.”

“I built a 1.4 mile trail in a development where I used to live. It terminates at an existing trail on one end, and an unmaintained cemetery on the other. It's been unmaintained since I built it in 1995. I went there yesterday (40 minutes from where I now live) and brought my tools.

I did LOTS of grubbing, chopping, and sawing. I covered about 1/3 of the trail. I should be good as new by winters' end.

BTW -
I took it upon myself to build this trail w/o permission from the HOA, so it's never been "advertised". I plan to print maps and post them at the clubhouse soon, tho.

It's a pretty cool trail!”

“how's the new pulaski working out?

It sounds like it was used quite a bit on that type of job.”

“I sharpened the axe edge to razor sharpness - roots are no problemo.
It's quick and easy to remove small limbs, too. Larger limbs get the saw...

I used the axe to cut a "step" into a large log. I did it in a matter of seconds.

Much of the trail runs diagonally up and down hillsides. I grubbed "trenches" along those areas, and stomped the loose dirt to form a flat pathway. There's a term for that, I'm sure...”

“Do you use a template to sharpen the grubbing end or just eyeball it to 45 degrees?”

“Many people find it hard to believe that research shows that there are 2 million defensive pulaski uses each year. After all, if these events were really happening, wouldn't we hear about them on the news? But when was the last time you saw a story on the national evening news (or even the local news) about a citizen using his pulaski to stop a tree root?

This misreporting actually endangers people's lives! By selectively reporting the news and turning a defensive pulaski use story into one where trail maintenance men merely "overpowered a tree root" the media gives misleading impressions of what works when people are confronted by tree roots.”

“I haven't done anything to grubbing end - it's still factory. It seems to work ok, so I'll keep using it as is. It'll need sharpened soon enuff tho...”