When I first saw the scope of the project Clint had been
working on, I figured there was NO WAY it was going to get
done. The length of roadway was around seven hundred
feet, with thick stickers and many scrawny alders. Clearly
this wasn't a two weekend project.
Remove brush, most trees, and debris, and create a walking
path made of woodchips along it. Below are six
pictures of the area before the work began.
You'll notice numerous daylilies in the before
pictures. Unfortunately they had to be cut back to
remove the brush, but were already coming back as of the
projects' completion. I believe they will spread more
rapidly along the road with the added sunlight and less
competition from the stickers.
Below are some pictures during the work. I had
an old chainsaw that needed repairing, but heck it was
twenty years old, and why waste a night repairing it when
there was one on sale for $127 that I could use
immediately? And heck, I wanted a bushwacker anyhow
didn't I?
Both turned out to be great...except I busted the bushwacker
about 4/5 of the way through the work. Home Depot took
it back no problem, and I rented one for about $30 to
complete the job. Both the original bushwacker and the
chainsaw turned out to be very fuel efficient and almost
smokeless. I won't be bothering to repair my old
chainsaw.
After numerous phone calls, Clint found chip donors, and the
trucks started rolling in. We used six or seven
truckloads of chips in all, from a couple of sources.
Nearby Paul Johns dropped off chips, but had to back out of
an offer to chip the braches. Undaunted, Clint finally
found a guy from Asplundh who'd been a Scout. Scott
got permission to take a truck and chipper and come to the
site, on two different days! In addition Asplundh
dropped off chips, as did Tree Works.
The project was not without it's dangers. In addition
to numerous pricks and scratches from the abundant thorns,
there was various poison vines to contend with. You'd
think Scouts would know what poison ivy looks like, but
Clint and Christina got a pretty good dose.
Poison
Ivy
Poison
Oak
Poison Sumac
Naturally, it was hot and humid every single day we worked
on the project. It wasn't unusual to go through two
shirts and several handkerchiefs a session. Two pair
of shorts and socks a day the last week. We went
through about five cases of bottled water not to
mention iced tea, lemonade, etc. Above you can see
yours truly chipping a pile with the chipper Janice loaned
us.
One night, Troop 102 came and helped out instead of having a
meeting. Clint received help from Troop 113 also in
addition to his own Troop 123. One Saturday, Pizza
Star donated a couple of pizzas for lunch. Thanks
guys! And thanks to everyone who helped out!
One of many brush piles to be chipped
Path is beginning to take shape
A couple of days before the project is completed, thin layer
is down, needs to be thickened
The Last Day
On the last day, we had help again from Scott of Asplundh
completed path through one of two "groves"
I felt like Steve Thomas! This machine ate friggin
logs!
Looking along the path from the five points end of the path.
Looking along from the Wistar Rd end of path, where it
abruptly ends to accommodate work being done. Perhaps
another Scout will complete it when the work is done.
For now, the thought is that a potential Eagle could line
the path with railroad ties.
Jim Codispoti helped out on the last two days of work.
He saw us doing the work while mowing grass, and got the
tractor out. Saved us a ton of work and countless
wheelbarrows of moved chips!
Not surprisingly, we bagged a ton of garbage. Nearly two
dozen contractor grade bags were filled, and other large
items stacked with them to be removed by the tech school.
Here and below are a couple of shots of the project just
before we left for home at 1:30pm on Thursday August
7.
I'd like to say thanks to everyone who helped, especially
Clint's girlfriend Christina. She helped out quite a
bit on the project, and suffered a nasty case of poison ivy
from it. Thanks to those who offered to help and
weren't needed. Thanks to Lamar Snyder from the tech
school for his help in coordinating the project, as well as
Jim Cawley for his help. If I forgot anyone, it was
unintentional!
