Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

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DerWanderer
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Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by DerWanderer » November 15th, 2009, 3:11 pm

This last Saturday, the 14th, I had the pleasure of being part of a 5-strong Mazama trail tending crew led by Jeff Welter. We took on a section of the Tanner Butte Trail between the trailhead and within a half mile of the Dublin Lake junction, carrying in, among other tools, 2 vintage crosscut saws lent to us by the Forest Service.

The trip was originally scheduled for Halloween, but it was rescheduled due to foul weather. If the weather had been bad on Saturday, the trip wouldn’t have happened until next season. As it turned out, Saturday was an incredible one-day weather window: mostly cloudy, no snow or rain, and neither bitterly cold nor windy.

There was plenty of evidence of the weather we’d had before the weather window: several inches of fresh, powdery snow on the ground at 3000’, and at least a dusting all the way down to around 1500’. We were lucky to have squeaked this trip in, because the snow might have been deeper and the conditions more unfavorable if we’d tried to do it even a week later.

The conditions didn’t deter us, and a good time was had by all as we sawed and clipped our way up the trail. We cleared roughly 20 logs from the trail, and tamed the vine-maple that was starting to engulf sections of it.

Left with a warm feeling inside, and handshakes with friends old and new.

- Caleb


====
I took the photos below with my iPhone, which doesn’t take great quality pictures, but the ones below will give you a feel for our day:

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At work on a log. The can of WD-40 was there in case the blade started to “stick” to the wood


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One of the vintage crosscut saws we used


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Jeff next to a freshly cut log


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The Laws of Physics sometimes dictated that we start a cut from the bottom


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The forest looked like a scene inside a freshly shaken snow globe


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Dealing with a particularly stubborn log


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View of Bonneville Dam and Table Mountain from abandoned Forest Service Road 777

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anna in boots
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Re: Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by anna in boots » November 15th, 2009, 3:38 pm

Thanks, guys! Your hard work is always appreciated.

anna in boots
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Splintercat
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Re: Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by Splintercat » November 15th, 2009, 4:52 pm

Wow - great photos, Caleb! Love the "sawing in the snow" scenes! Thanks for the great work, too.

By "trailhead", I take it you mean the original trailhead/signboard, located on the closed road above Tanner Creek..? By any chance, was your group in the Neil Kelly van I saw parked at the lower gate on the road..? I wondered what sort of "remodeling" projects was going on up there... :)

-Tom

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DerWanderer
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Re: Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by DerWanderer » November 15th, 2009, 5:30 pm

Hi Anna!


Tom - Yes, that was us! The remodeling is going well, but there's still work to do for next summer, and we'll be back! :)
And yes, I did mean the original trailhead/signboard.

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Re: Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by [email protected] » November 15th, 2009, 7:35 pm

Great you all are up there opening back up one of the historic trails in the Gorge. I hear you are heading up over Tanner and down the otherside to Eagle Creek eventually. That will be a great addition to a wonderful loop trail in the Gorge and maintenance work which is sorely needed - especially on the back side. Keep it up.

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Don Nelsen
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Re: Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by Don Nelsen » November 15th, 2009, 8:17 pm

Thanks guys,

One of my favorite loops and long needing some attention. Your work is much appreciated and I am looking foreward to seeing what you have accomplished.

Don
"Everything works in the planning stage" - Kelly

"If you don't do it this year, you will be one year older when you do" - Warren Miller

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DerWanderer
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Re: Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by DerWanderer » November 16th, 2009, 9:36 am

Thanks to everyone for the comments.

Tom - Great to hear from you and yes, I believe Jeff is planning to go all the way around the backside of Tanner and reestablish the hard-to-follow sections. He has some overnight trips in mind, which should be a lot of fun and allow the crews to go much farther back up the trail than a day crew could.

I've wanted to do the Eagle-Tanner loop as a backpack ever since I knew about it. Maybe I'll get it done this next season.

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fettster
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Re: Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by fettster » November 16th, 2009, 10:52 am

That's some dedication. Nice work!

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Re: Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by J_W_Speed » November 16th, 2009, 10:58 am

I was pondering an overnighter spent at the Butte just before stumbling onto your post Caleb. I cannot thank you enough for the hard work! Great picks too!
It amazes me how fast conditions change up there in Gorge Land.
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Arioto
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Re: Tanner Butte - Trail Maintenance, 11-14-2009

Post by Arioto » November 16th, 2009, 12:26 pm

This is truly exciting! I hiked the eagle-tanner trail the summer befor last. Let me tell you, it is a recipe for getting lost especially for the inexperienced. I made several "directional guesses" which made me a little uneasy. If it wasn't for some old markers I surely would have gotten lost. :) Def. needs some work. If my schedule allows, I may like to help out.

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