New Career

[redprospector]

The trees grow, the ground gets steeper, the brush gets thicker, the side rod gets meaner, the bull buck gets crankier, the owners get cheaper, the truck drivers get dumber, the roads get rougher, the weather gets worse, the forester gets more confused, and the cute new waitress at the coffee shop pays less attention to us with each passing year.

Haha. Well that explaines quite a bit right there.
It seems that many of the mysteries of life are being revealed on this thread.

Andy

 

[Gologit]

You guys have fun and keep an eye on things. I'm outta here. I'll be headed up above Bassett's in the morning and I'll keep a sharp eye out for those gigantic trees. If I see one with the top lopped off and an old eagle's nest in it I'll take some pictures. :msp_rolleyes:

 

[madhatte]

the forester gets more confused

Wait; I'm confused.

 

[RandyMac]

Wait; I'm confused.

Ahhh, yeah!

 

[slowp]

I'm really confused.

Perhaps this is another case of circumference confused with diameter?

 

[StihlPowerr]

Here's a little video of me & the wife (she's a Lumberjill). Are you sure you understand what a "Lumberjack" really is?



Andy

Great video. It looks like you were slowing her down.Lol

 

[StihlPowerr]

I just started reading this great book.

The Backyard Lumberjack

 

[slowp]

I have that book. It is all about cutting, splitting, and storing firewood and is an entertaining read with nice pictures.

Douglas Dent's book, Professional Timber Falling--A Procedural Approach relates more to the real world of PNW production falling. The pictures aren't as good, it isn't written humorously, and gets into the technical aspects of different West Coast timber falling methods.

 

[forestryworks]

I know a guy who knows a guy that is 74 and on his 50th year as a timber faller. That's a career and a hell of a milestone.

A lumberjack is just a figment of Northwoods lore and fireside imaginations, gone when the White Pine woods were cut-over and left behind in a cut-and-run aftermath.

 

[Rounder]

The trees grow, the ground gets steeper, the brush gets thicker, the side rod gets meaner, the bull buck gets crankier, the owners get cheaper, the truck drivers get dumber, the roads get rougher, the weather gets worse, the forester gets more confused, and the cute new waitress at the coffee shop pays less attention to us with each passing year.

Except for the waitress part, you pretty well summed up my past week Bob....

 

[expertech]

You guys have fun and keep an eye on things. I'm outta here. I'll be headed up above Bassett's in the morning and I'll keep a sharp eye out for those gigantic trees. If I see one with the top lopped off and an old eagle's nest in it I'll take some pictures. :msp_rolleyes:

Take your Helicopter. The tallest tree in California was discovered in 2006. Nobody knows whats out there. Nobody. Least not the trolls in here. Some guy who thinks he knows every inch of a thousand square miles... What a joke.

 

[redprospector]

Great video. It looks like you were slowing her down.Lol

I get that a lot.

Andy

 

[treeclimber101]

Take your Helicopter. The tallest tree in California was discovered in 2006. Nobody knows whats out there. Nobody. Least not the trolls in here. Some guy who thinks he knows every inch of a thousand square miles... What a joke.

You will learn quickly that the answers to all the worlds questions are hidden somewhere in these threads ! :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[redprospector]

Take your Helicopter. The tallest tree in California was discovered in 2006. Nobody knows whats out there. Nobody. Least not the trolls in here. Some guy who thinks he knows every inch of a thousand square miles... What a joke.

What, you thought you could come in here slingin' crap and no one would notice the smell?
I don't know about California, but around here 20 years ago the environmentalist were raising holy hell about cutting anything. The minimum dbh on a sale went from 12" to 9" and logging became more like thinning.
Here in New Mexico we don't have the big trees they have in the PNW, but in the mid 80's I cut some Doug Firs that were a little over 6' dbh. I could probably take you to the stumps still today. You say you've topped trees that are 15' dbh and 300' tall, and can't say where they are?
Maybe after you have proven some of your experience we'll start believing some of those tall tail's. But probably not all 300' of em.

Andy

 

[RandyMac]

Take your Helicopter. The tallest tree in California was discovered in 2006. Nobody knows whats out there. Nobody. Least not the trolls in here. Some guy who thinks he knows every inch of a thousand square miles... What a joke.

You have a point, not everything is known and never will be.
However, there are only two places in California that have trees as large as you say they are and that part of the Sierras is not one of them.
I haven't seen every inch of that area, but believe me, if there were trees that big, I would have found them. I did travel extensively in the area, I hunted, fished, logged and just plain wandered through a large swath.
So, kindly give us a more specific area in which to look. I have contacts in Sierraville, Portola and Loyalton, who would be very interested in seeing these trees.
I don't think your stories hold water.

 

[northmanlogging]

I don't know whats more entertaining, the B.S. or the smack down that fallows...

As far as the book, Back Yard Lumber Jack is concerned, its got some good info on firewood handling, and some "safe" ways to fall trees, but it sure as Hel taint for production logging, in fact it says several time in their to HIRE A LOGGER when and if you plan on logging... otherwise mostly good stuff, for firewood, I'm hoping to get a copy of Mr. Dents book for yule...


Lastly, if you really want to be a logger, just watch the obituary section in your local paper, sooner or later someone is going to die from a logging accident, and who knows maybe you could get their job...

 

[Gologit]

Take your Helicopter. The tallest tree in California was discovered in 2006. Nobody knows whats out there. Nobody. Least not the trolls in here. Some guy who thinks he knows every inch of a thousand square miles... What a joke.

As a matter of fact, I spent the morning in a helicopter. We were just kind of looking at timber and roads and boundaries and such. We were in the area where you claimed to have seen 15' Pine and Doug that were 300 feet tall and topped them where they were 5' across. That was across, right? As in diameter?

We looked everywhere we went and we covered a lot of ground, both in the bird and on foot. We never saw any trees like you mentioned. Not a one. Not even close. I'll bet those darn loggers got them

Funny thing is, we didn't see any big stumps, either. Maybe the loggers hauled those to town, too. Darn loggers.

We'll keep looking, though. I know a few people up there...loggers mostly with a few foresters and FS people who still actually go to the woods. Although not a single one of them has ever in their lives seen a tree like you describe in that area, they're intrigued with the idea.

 

[redprospector]

It ain't 15' dbh, but there is photographic evidence that I was around a nice tree once.

Andy

 

[rwoods]

I waded through this thread and while it is derailed, I must say, to my logger and forestry friends, please recall the days of your youth when you believed most of what you were told, when small things seemed big, when imagined things were bigger and real, a time when Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox roamed the West. Go with me as I climbed the forbidden 30’ light pole while my parents were in town. Feel the splinters as I clung to it for dear life when it swayed in the wind. Watch as the pole suddenly grew in height to no less than an inch from being a quarter of a mile. Now continue with me as I got older and skeptical. Witness my skepticism taking root as I braved nests of cotton mouths, 7 foot rattlers and wild cats while venturing forth from the safety of the school bus to see and touch the world biggest White Bay tree only to be disappointed that it wasn’t as big as I wanted it to be. Make note of the growth of my skepticism years later at the end of the mountain trail as I saw and touched what I was told to be the world’s largest yellow poplar and then read the government sign that stated it may be only the second largest yellow poplar in that its larger “twin” was felled by loggers in times now past. And alas it too was shorter than I had imagined. Now return with me to the present as I say to the teller of tall tales, that I too have a tall tale of unimaginable proportions – I fueled my wife’s car tonight at the local Exxon and paid $2.999 per gallon. Yes, I paid less than three bucks for a government certified US gallon of unleaded may contain ethanol gasoline. The unbranded gas across the street was $2.989 per gallon. Believe it or not, it is true. And if you are skeptical, I have a receipt. Where may I ask is your receipt? How about the name of that big company for which you worked? Or tell us the name of the county with the eagle nests? Surely you can share something that can be verified. Or must AS continue to fuel my skepticism? A sad prospect as I once firmly believed that Pecos Bill could whip Paul Bunyan and hog tie Babe, but after too much time on AS, I now have my doubts. :msp_sad: Ron

PS to Gologit In case you missed it, someone else carries a hammer. :msp_wink: Ron

 

[RandyMac]

I did see some good examples on my travels, there is a big Red Fir at Hawley Lake, probably 60"+ and tall. There is a DF below Deadman Lake that is of note because it is near the edge of it's range, 60"+, but short with a load of taper. Ponderosas get big, in the little valleys around Sierra Valley are some dandys, cut a few of those. Some were 6-7 feet in dia, but not all that tall. For both big and tall, the winners are the Sugar Pines, just thinking about them makes me want to make a road trip. There are some on the slopes of Haskell Peak that are prime specimens.
Anyways, other than an odd Cedar or two, trees much over 60" are sparse. I send a message to a guy in Blairsden, if there is any exceptional timber, Rick will know, he was a timber buyer for the mill at Calpine.