Artist's rendition of the Blodgett hitch
The sign to the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness
Craig, Rachel and Portia triumphantly sit upon a rock in the midst of Blodgett's biggest problem
Craig and I use the crosscut saw
Portia, Craig and I on one of the problem logs suspended 6 feet in the air
Snow within two miles of Blodgett Lake6/23
As I write this, I am 7 miles in the backcountry, Blodgett Canyon in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness in the Bitterroot National Forest, to be exact. I am here for the next 8 days with my crew members, Portia and Craig. We are here for work, not play and we will spend the coming days using cross cut saws, sally saws and axes to clear fallen trees from the trail to Blodgett Lake, 6.5 miles away and to High Lake, 2.5 miles away on a spur trail. We may also clean some water bars, if we have time. This is the task that my crew will do all summer long, 8 days on, 6 days off. We don’t brush, we don’t construct things, we don’t do anything complicated or requiring more than a saw, axe or Pulaski. I like how simple this is, nothing fancy. Most of our work is in the Wilderness so no motorized equipment is allowed! We work independently to clear small trees with sally saws and together to clear big trees and matchstick piles with a crosscut saw. The two people operating the crosscut saw pull alternately. It is a really cool tool and has a lot history. The old-time loggers used the saws to cut down huge old growth trees in the Pacific Northwest. They would use springboards to help them get high enough to cut above the swell of the base of the tree. Can you imagine cutting down a tree that 5 people holding hands couldn’t hug from five or ten feet up? I can’t! Old-timers were fairly talented!
6/24
I was concerned that our crew would have an awkward dynamic. Portia is the crew leader and has ten years of experience under her belt, but I still have a tendency to challenge her and we both tend to be alpha females. I have been struggling to be more receptive to her leadership. However, she needs to give me more credit and trust that I am knowledgeable and competent as well. Other than that, we get along quite well. She tells great jokes, when she remembers them, and we have had some fairly good chats. In many ways, she is very inspirational. She is strong, independent, well traveled, goal-oriented and has a perfect balance of care-freeness and a feeling of responsibility and professionalism. For example, she insists that we be sensitive to Craig’s plight as the only male on the crew and use the word “elbow” instead of “crotch,” etc… Craig has been fairly aloof all season. I think that he is morally and ethically very upset with his involvement in such a dysfunctional beast as the United States Government. He sees little use in “making work” and can’t stand any paperwork, office work or any work that he deems pointless. In many ways, Portia and I can’t stand the same things that he can’t stand, but we see that there are trade offs whereas he feels that there shouldn’t have to be trade offs in the first place. His distaste translates into a piss-poor attitude for which I don’t really have any tolerance. However, I conceded to Portia’s leadership, she adopted some of my ideas and Craig was just happy to “out” so the dynamic was actually quite pleasant.
6/25
The mosquitoes are attacking us in armies. They are more prolific than I think that I have ever experienced in my life. I am covered in welts and itchyness. I haven’t seen the night sky yet, because I retire to my tent soon after eating dinner in order to escape their maddening pricks. We encountered a giant “problem” of matchsticked trees. All of them were over 8 inches and suspended at least 5 feet off the ground. One had uprooted and fallen in such a way that it’s rootwad was halfway on the trail. Rootwads are heavy to move and we spent a lot of time digging out the soil entangled within the roots. The problem took most of the afternoon and we will have to return tomorrow to move the rootwad.
6/26
Portia, Craig and I are sharing dinner cooking duties. We were packed in by a string of two mules, so we were able to be fairly liberal with the weight of the food items that we brought. The first night Craig cooked little mini pizzas on pita bread. They were so tasty I was simply delighted by them. Imagine having pizzas in the backcountry!!! Portia cooked a tasty curry coconut stir fry minus the curry for the second night and I made burritos the third night. We all brought different forms of pasta to share for the next there nights. I made some homemade garlic basil bread that should serve us well for the three pasta nights in a row. I made a daring move by bringing in a pint of yogurt. Craig brought a dry bag and we have been stowing our perishables in the creek. The yogurt should last me for 5 days worth of breakfasts! I have been having homemade dried fruit medleys, hummus tortillas and trail mix for lunch.
6/27
We cleared all the way to the lake today. The snow began in patches about two miles from the lake and we were mostly cutting out avalanche toppled sub-alpine fir. Finally, the snow got so deep, we lost the trail and stopped clearing. The scenery was beautiful-steel-grey granite ridges back-grounded by bright blue sky. The half moon was rising over the cliffs hung with cornices of snow. Unfortunately, I was grumpy yesterday and my mood was only mildly lightened by the triumph of finishing the trail to the lake. I was grumpy for several reasons. We have been out camping together for 5 days, the bugs have been bad and my toe and heels have been hurting. The main reason that I was grumpy though was because Portia tried to instruct me on how to use the crosscut saw better in front of Craig. She took over the sawing to demonstrate and didn’t let me finish the cut. It made me feel like I was worthless and useless. I was particularly frustrated because I felt like the main thing that she was telling me to correct was the main thing that I was already correcting. I went into a tiff and worked on my own for the rest of the day. However, I thought about it and realized that everyone can learn something from everyone else. So I apologized for my poor attitude and asked if we could do some cuts together and work on my techniques.
6/28
Portia and I cut several logs together this morning and the rest of the day went a lot better. We were working on a spur trail to High Lake. The trail gains 2000ft in less than two miles. That is steep! There are tons of logs down too. We were hoping to finish the trail today but only got about three quarters of a mile up. I am covered in bruises, cuts and insect bites. My pinkie toe hurts and my heels hurt like nothing I have ever felt before. I am breaking in new boots that I got so that my pinkie toe would be less constricted. My lips are chapped, my nose is dry and bleeding, my crotch, or should I say elbow, itches. Right now, I am so ready for a shower, a humidifier, baby powder, a salad and a massage.
6/29
We came up with inspiration quotes for the day. I originally was going to go with Vini, Vidi, Vichi (Ceasar’s I came, I saw, I conquered). But then I decided to go with my own original quote that set the tenor for the whole day. Whenever the going gets tough, just take off your pants.” The quote was inspired by the river crossing that we had to make several times a day which required us to take off our pants and boots. We made it to High Lake today! The last mile was a scramble over snowfields and talus slopes. We dropped our tools and just hiked. It was gorgeous and bug-free at the 7500 feet and it felt great. Portia told a great joke. They always seem to involve body movements. This one was about a couple doing yard work. The guy is in the front yard and the gal is in the back yard. The guy jesters to the girl that he needs the rack by acted out raking. She doesn’t understand and he continues the sign language. The sign language could easily be misinterpreted for “I need sex.” Finally the girl gets it and gestures back by pointing to her eye, her left shoulder, grabbing her butt and then her crotch. The guy doesn’t get it so he walks over there and says it to her face. She replies by saying, “I know! I (pointing to her eye), left it (pointing to her left shoulder) behind (grabbing her butt) the bush (grabbing her crotch). Ha ha. Portia also read us a couple poems around the camp fire in the evening. She wrote one of them and the other was by Shel Silverstien called The Perfect High.
6/30
We hiked out of the woods and cleared drainage ditches. We also had to clear some trees that had fallen while we were in the woods. It was sheer joy to hear music on the radio! We cleaned tools and did time sheets. Then I gave Mike a call and went to have a beer at the Brewery. I had a single hop that I found to be quite intoxicating and the two old salts sitting next to me couldn’t stop regaling me with stories from the old days. This is how it goes at the brewery, I meet old men that love to tell me stories and I love to listen. Fitz was in old western movies with his horses and Eric has been around the world twice. Al believes that he was a banana slug in a past life and Bill’s dad used to be a ranger for the Forest Service. Bob was a trucker has had four wives and it goes on and on. I finally ripped myself away from them because Mike was preparing grilled portabella mushrooms and brussel sprouts and a salad for dinner, the perfect ending to an epic first 8 day hitch.
As I write this, I am 7 miles in the backcountry, Blodgett Canyon in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness in the Bitterroot National Forest, to be exact. I am here for the next 8 days with my crew members, Portia and Craig. We are here for work, not play and we will spend the coming days using cross cut saws, sally saws and axes to clear fallen trees from the trail to Blodgett Lake, 6.5 miles away and to High Lake, 2.5 miles away on a spur trail. We may also clean some water bars, if we have time. This is the task that my crew will do all summer long, 8 days on, 6 days off. We don’t brush, we don’t construct things, we don’t do anything complicated or requiring more than a saw, axe or Pulaski. I like how simple this is, nothing fancy. Most of our work is in the Wilderness so no motorized equipment is allowed! We work independently to clear small trees with sally saws and together to clear big trees and matchstick piles with a crosscut saw. The two people operating the crosscut saw pull alternately. It is a really cool tool and has a lot history. The old-time loggers used the saws to cut down huge old growth trees in the Pacific Northwest. They would use springboards to help them get high enough to cut above the swell of the base of the tree. Can you imagine cutting down a tree that 5 people holding hands couldn’t hug from five or ten feet up? I can’t! Old-timers were fairly talented!
6/24
I was concerned that our crew would have an awkward dynamic. Portia is the crew leader and has ten years of experience under her belt, but I still have a tendency to challenge her and we both tend to be alpha females. I have been struggling to be more receptive to her leadership. However, she needs to give me more credit and trust that I am knowledgeable and competent as well. Other than that, we get along quite well. She tells great jokes, when she remembers them, and we have had some fairly good chats. In many ways, she is very inspirational. She is strong, independent, well traveled, goal-oriented and has a perfect balance of care-freeness and a feeling of responsibility and professionalism. For example, she insists that we be sensitive to Craig’s plight as the only male on the crew and use the word “elbow” instead of “crotch,” etc… Craig has been fairly aloof all season. I think that he is morally and ethically very upset with his involvement in such a dysfunctional beast as the United States Government. He sees little use in “making work” and can’t stand any paperwork, office work or any work that he deems pointless. In many ways, Portia and I can’t stand the same things that he can’t stand, but we see that there are trade offs whereas he feels that there shouldn’t have to be trade offs in the first place. His distaste translates into a piss-poor attitude for which I don’t really have any tolerance. However, I conceded to Portia’s leadership, she adopted some of my ideas and Craig was just happy to “out” so the dynamic was actually quite pleasant.
6/25
The mosquitoes are attacking us in armies. They are more prolific than I think that I have ever experienced in my life. I am covered in welts and itchyness. I haven’t seen the night sky yet, because I retire to my tent soon after eating dinner in order to escape their maddening pricks. We encountered a giant “problem” of matchsticked trees. All of them were over 8 inches and suspended at least 5 feet off the ground. One had uprooted and fallen in such a way that it’s rootwad was halfway on the trail. Rootwads are heavy to move and we spent a lot of time digging out the soil entangled within the roots. The problem took most of the afternoon and we will have to return tomorrow to move the rootwad.
6/26
Portia, Craig and I are sharing dinner cooking duties. We were packed in by a string of two mules, so we were able to be fairly liberal with the weight of the food items that we brought. The first night Craig cooked little mini pizzas on pita bread. They were so tasty I was simply delighted by them. Imagine having pizzas in the backcountry!!! Portia cooked a tasty curry coconut stir fry minus the curry for the second night and I made burritos the third night. We all brought different forms of pasta to share for the next there nights. I made some homemade garlic basil bread that should serve us well for the three pasta nights in a row. I made a daring move by bringing in a pint of yogurt. Craig brought a dry bag and we have been stowing our perishables in the creek. The yogurt should last me for 5 days worth of breakfasts! I have been having homemade dried fruit medleys, hummus tortillas and trail mix for lunch.
6/27
We cleared all the way to the lake today. The snow began in patches about two miles from the lake and we were mostly cutting out avalanche toppled sub-alpine fir. Finally, the snow got so deep, we lost the trail and stopped clearing. The scenery was beautiful-steel-grey granite ridges back-grounded by bright blue sky. The half moon was rising over the cliffs hung with cornices of snow. Unfortunately, I was grumpy yesterday and my mood was only mildly lightened by the triumph of finishing the trail to the lake. I was grumpy for several reasons. We have been out camping together for 5 days, the bugs have been bad and my toe and heels have been hurting. The main reason that I was grumpy though was because Portia tried to instruct me on how to use the crosscut saw better in front of Craig. She took over the sawing to demonstrate and didn’t let me finish the cut. It made me feel like I was worthless and useless. I was particularly frustrated because I felt like the main thing that she was telling me to correct was the main thing that I was already correcting. I went into a tiff and worked on my own for the rest of the day. However, I thought about it and realized that everyone can learn something from everyone else. So I apologized for my poor attitude and asked if we could do some cuts together and work on my techniques.
6/28
Portia and I cut several logs together this morning and the rest of the day went a lot better. We were working on a spur trail to High Lake. The trail gains 2000ft in less than two miles. That is steep! There are tons of logs down too. We were hoping to finish the trail today but only got about three quarters of a mile up. I am covered in bruises, cuts and insect bites. My pinkie toe hurts and my heels hurt like nothing I have ever felt before. I am breaking in new boots that I got so that my pinkie toe would be less constricted. My lips are chapped, my nose is dry and bleeding, my crotch, or should I say elbow, itches. Right now, I am so ready for a shower, a humidifier, baby powder, a salad and a massage.
6/29
We came up with inspiration quotes for the day. I originally was going to go with Vini, Vidi, Vichi (Ceasar’s I came, I saw, I conquered). But then I decided to go with my own original quote that set the tenor for the whole day. Whenever the going gets tough, just take off your pants.” The quote was inspired by the river crossing that we had to make several times a day which required us to take off our pants and boots. We made it to High Lake today! The last mile was a scramble over snowfields and talus slopes. We dropped our tools and just hiked. It was gorgeous and bug-free at the 7500 feet and it felt great. Portia told a great joke. They always seem to involve body movements. This one was about a couple doing yard work. The guy is in the front yard and the gal is in the back yard. The guy jesters to the girl that he needs the rack by acted out raking. She doesn’t understand and he continues the sign language. The sign language could easily be misinterpreted for “I need sex.” Finally the girl gets it and gestures back by pointing to her eye, her left shoulder, grabbing her butt and then her crotch. The guy doesn’t get it so he walks over there and says it to her face. She replies by saying, “I know! I (pointing to her eye), left it (pointing to her left shoulder) behind (grabbing her butt) the bush (grabbing her crotch). Ha ha. Portia also read us a couple poems around the camp fire in the evening. She wrote one of them and the other was by Shel Silverstien called The Perfect High.
6/30
We hiked out of the woods and cleared drainage ditches. We also had to clear some trees that had fallen while we were in the woods. It was sheer joy to hear music on the radio! We cleaned tools and did time sheets. Then I gave Mike a call and went to have a beer at the Brewery. I had a single hop that I found to be quite intoxicating and the two old salts sitting next to me couldn’t stop regaling me with stories from the old days. This is how it goes at the brewery, I meet old men that love to tell me stories and I love to listen. Fitz was in old western movies with his horses and Eric has been around the world twice. Al believes that he was a banana slug in a past life and Bill’s dad used to be a ranger for the Forest Service. Bob was a trucker has had four wives and it goes on and on. I finally ripped myself away from them because Mike was preparing grilled portabella mushrooms and brussel sprouts and a salad for dinner, the perfect ending to an epic first 8 day hitch.
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