El Monte

After three days of keeping track of everything that happened at the micro-sawmill, I attempted to do the same for the cutting and skidding operation. Let me tell you, keeping track of the times and tasks of everyone's job is a lot harder in the woods!

The sawyer, the treefarmer operator, the "jefe de campo" or field boss, each basically do their own thing, making it impossible to keep track of everything simultaneously. Add to that my lack of physical fitness, my unpreparedness for the hot, humid climate, and the fact that all the trails were made for people about a foot and a half shorter than me, and you get a long, sweaty day.

The longest single task, surprisingly enough, was simply getting out to the woods. The land here is very rocky, as is the road, so it takes about an hour to get to the active logging site. Along the way, there's plenty of road maintenence to do, especially when whole tree tops fall into the road overnight:

Once we got to the log landing, Placo the sawyer gave me a choice- "Are you going with the treefarmer or with us?" Since it seemed he had a more complex task, I decided to go with Placo. I had no idea we would be gone all day! If I did, I would have probably brought along my food, or at least my water.

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