[lopper]

I doubt that the USFS is ever going to get around to sending brushing crews to clear out all the miles of old trail I'm interested in hiking. So for this lifetime, it is the Corona BP3220. Sawyer's endorsement gets an enthusiastic second from me. Small and light enough to take on any trip. And very capable. Makes quick work of anything up to an inch in diameter. And yes, Polarbear, 12 ounces is about right.

[-lol-]

[catwoman]

I'm working on the Saturday Bare Mtn Crew! :P

[IBEX]

I'm working on the Saturday Bare Mtn Crew.

[Tom]

Which one of you will be in charge of pine cone removal?

[-lol-]

[lopper]

Kudos for your good works on the Bracken Sea. Nothing quite like getting dew-drenched by chin-high ferns. All of us who hike Bare Mtn this season have cause to thank you. But the bracken wins. It'll be back next year. Job security, as they say. For more pernicious brush and debris removal....... work opportunities are available for freelancing renegades on the old CCT switcbacks between Goldmyer and Red Pass. Scenic and remote. I had a chance to thrash up the lower section on 7/13 to commune with history. There is evidence of very recent chainsaw work on the lower deadfalls. Maybe a dozen total, the largest two of which were 24+ inches in diameter. Most excellent. I wonder: with the woodchips as fresh as they are, and the water levels as high as they've been, how did anybody with or without a long-bar chainsaw get across the MFK and Burntboot Creek? I had a long, fairly taxing approach by bicycle up the nasty road from Taylor to Dingford. Then I pedaled most of the trail to Rock Creek (not wilderness, so I was in compliance with Nervous Nellie), and hoofed it to Burntboot. I had my snips and saw in my daypack....not a big deal. Whoever is running that chainsaw is eating some kind of Wheaties for breakfast. Double kudos to you, whoever you are.

[Quark]

Note WTA has included some weekend trail work parties 'specially geared towards getting volunteers further in - they're advertised as more difficult due to the longer trek to the worksite and camp. There is one 4.5 miles in to the camp at Curry Gap, working on Bald Eagle trail, there's one in the Wind Rv District where mules will pack in gear, and another one "farther up" Surprise Lake. Seems like there's an effort for more hard-core types to do non-sissy trailwork and get into the backcountry. Are any of you signed up? There's also a work party strictly for women at Baker. Hmmm....I'll bet I know where alot of men will be hiking that weekend.

[Wimpy]

I don’t know Quark. This lightweight guy will likely steer clear of a group of backcountry ax wielding women who prefer to exclude men.

[catwoman]

I never did understand those women only things!

[polarbear]

Maybe if I wear some of the hosiery they are talking about in the gear section, I could try and blend with the party.

[Quark]

Naw, Polarbear - I've seen you in hoisery, and you wouldn't blend in with a bunch of wimmen. You'd stick out like a sore thumb (no pun intended). I don't get the "women only" stuff, either, but it does appeal to some. I am a woman, but do steer clear of that kind of activity/attitude. I'm confident enough in myself that I don't need "women only" activities - I am not intimidated by anything, except maybe children and clowns. Children dressed up as clowns are a nightmare, though it's not as bad as it once was. I've had childraclownaphobia for years. There's a story about my diagnosis and subsequent therapy in Reader's Digest (December, 1976).

[Allison]

Quark, I know who you are. I saw you today. You were doing math.

[Stefan]

Women only? Ooooooh. I think I will lurk in the forest like a peeping Tom. Nothing like watching an oogle of women tossing pulaskis!

[Quark]

Stefan, you pervert! Why I never....why the very thought of.. Hey, call me. 555-1987.