About a week ago the trail crew hopped in the Forest Service Truck and set out to check the Deercreek trailhead in the Mazatal Wilderness. Once you leave the four lane highway that leads from Phoenix to Payson you are suddenly in a different world. The Forest Service provides us with a 3/4 ton truck, which is too big for some of the roads that hang on cliffs in the Mazatal Wilderness. Cissie was a bit apprehensive, but old Kadizzle is an experienced hillbilly road driver and cut his teeth on the mud roads of West Virginia. Last year the Forest Service turned us around at the last minute when we started to venture back into the outback. As we drove out there this year Kadizzle could see they made a good decision last year. Once that road gets wet or snow it would be hopeless. The Forest Service said last year they did not want to have to rescue us. This year the road was dry and the surface was fine. Once we made the 17 mile journey we finally came to the end of the road at the trail head. Our supervisor had sent us on this mission because he received a report of trees down on the trail. Sure enough there were plenty of trees on the trail. Kadizzle used the huge handsaw and dealt with the first tree. The second tree was a different story. Cliff and Kadizzle struggled for over an hour to dislodge the tree from the trail. Since the Forest Service does not permit any motorized equipment in the wilderness we could not simply use a chain saw and cut the tree. Instead we improvised. With rocks and a lever and inch by inch we moved the tree. It was a big tree. Well if the roads have not iced up or the snow has not fallen when we get back to Arizona we may attack the trail once more. This time we will take a few extras tools like a winch and a hydraulic jack.
No comments:
Post a Comment