Tom Rankin
Well-known member
"... All the live long day!" 
Twelve hearty souls with strong backs and a great sense of humor showed up on Saturday to do site work for a new lean-to. I should also mention that all of them came with rain gear.
We not only prepared the site by removing the trees and brush, but also we prepared a path for bringing in the stone and eventually the logs and other materials to the site as well as the trail to the view point. Paula and Ed made sure that the overhanging branches that would trap the quarry men were removed from the path. Pete was the chain saw man, others pitched in to build a huge pile of fire wood for the first few months worth of folks staying at the new lean-to. Gordon searched out the view point that he knew was there. The stones were quarried from several areas, first from the old lean-to site, then brought down hill by wheelbarrows and strong men to the new path, very carefully moved along the new path and then eventually to the foundation itself. If local quarries are looking for any help, may I suggest Ralph, Jay, Bill, Tom and Alexander! Doug and Jeff worked on mitigating the old lean-to site. The fireplace was dismantled as was the outhouse, the hole was filled with debris from the base of the old fireplace as our demolition man Bill sledged it apart into small pieces. Trees were planted to discourage people from camping in the area. This area was our "staging area" and as Doug and Jeff saw the very dark cloud rolling in, they erected a tarp to put our packs in under and were we ever thankful for that as the skies began to pour upon us in lovely short bursts. The rain did mitigate the bugs which were also coming in downpours! At this point our group was joined by Assistant Forest Ranger Andy, who donned his rain gear and jumped in to help as well.
As the afternoon progressed the clearing of the ground was done by each of us as we leveled the sight and chopped roots, occasionally found a rock and chopped roots, measured for length and width, and chopped roots, and the deliveries of stone to the stone dock continued. The laying of the stone seemed to deplete the piles of stone in record time and a new round of quarrying began, but at last a finished product! We brushed in the path to try to discourage too much investigation.
Covered in mud and bug bites, complete with lots of sore, aching muscles and a wonderful sense of accomplishment, we loaded all of the gear back into our gear truck and made our way back to the parking lot. We somehow found enough energy left to talk non-stop on our walk back to the trailhead. There a few cold ones and a snack in the rain which we were not even noticing now and our day was done! Very well done!
Thank you so very much to Pete, Doug, Jeff, Ralph, Jay, Bill, Gordon, Alexander, Ed, Paula, Tom, and Andy for making this such a successful outing. Your work and your attitudes were AWESOME!
Just a few pics:
Starting the foundation
All together now!
After work celebration
Twelve hearty souls with strong backs and a great sense of humor showed up on Saturday to do site work for a new lean-to. I should also mention that all of them came with rain gear.
We not only prepared the site by removing the trees and brush, but also we prepared a path for bringing in the stone and eventually the logs and other materials to the site as well as the trail to the view point. Paula and Ed made sure that the overhanging branches that would trap the quarry men were removed from the path. Pete was the chain saw man, others pitched in to build a huge pile of fire wood for the first few months worth of folks staying at the new lean-to. Gordon searched out the view point that he knew was there. The stones were quarried from several areas, first from the old lean-to site, then brought down hill by wheelbarrows and strong men to the new path, very carefully moved along the new path and then eventually to the foundation itself. If local quarries are looking for any help, may I suggest Ralph, Jay, Bill, Tom and Alexander! Doug and Jeff worked on mitigating the old lean-to site. The fireplace was dismantled as was the outhouse, the hole was filled with debris from the base of the old fireplace as our demolition man Bill sledged it apart into small pieces. Trees were planted to discourage people from camping in the area. This area was our "staging area" and as Doug and Jeff saw the very dark cloud rolling in, they erected a tarp to put our packs in under and were we ever thankful for that as the skies began to pour upon us in lovely short bursts. The rain did mitigate the bugs which were also coming in downpours! At this point our group was joined by Assistant Forest Ranger Andy, who donned his rain gear and jumped in to help as well.
As the afternoon progressed the clearing of the ground was done by each of us as we leveled the sight and chopped roots, occasionally found a rock and chopped roots, measured for length and width, and chopped roots, and the deliveries of stone to the stone dock continued. The laying of the stone seemed to deplete the piles of stone in record time and a new round of quarrying began, but at last a finished product! We brushed in the path to try to discourage too much investigation.
Covered in mud and bug bites, complete with lots of sore, aching muscles and a wonderful sense of accomplishment, we loaded all of the gear back into our gear truck and made our way back to the parking lot. We somehow found enough energy left to talk non-stop on our walk back to the trailhead. There a few cold ones and a snack in the rain which we were not even noticing now and our day was done! Very well done!
Thank you so very much to Pete, Doug, Jeff, Ralph, Jay, Bill, Gordon, Alexander, Ed, Paula, Tom, and Andy for making this such a successful outing. Your work and your attitudes were AWESOME!
Just a few pics:
Starting the foundation
All together now!
After work celebration
