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The Gunnison Lot is one of many hills. It’s been hard to work out which hill it is from a distance. We might be able to get a glimpse of the lake from the top of the hill, but without cutting down a huge amount of trees how can we find out? We took the low tech, helium-assisted approach… The driveway is partly cleared. There are huge stacks of trees on the landing. Trees for being chopped into firewood, trees (few) good enough for planks, trees (rare) of veneer quality, and lots of not so good trees. We could have them dragged into the woods and left. We could chip them and… the resulting chip mountain would be bigger than a 4 bedroom house. So, Ben called in the chippers, a crew of brothers who chipped the wood on site and sold it to a wood burning power station nearby. Meet the feller buncher So, we were big “Ax Men” fans and watched every episode in London. The Stump Branch Crew, run by Melvin Lardy was our favourite logging gang. The way Melvin ‘fished’ for trees was truly scary. We loved this sort of logging crew from a distance, but felt all NIMBY about a Stump Branch equivalent being on The Gunnison Lot. Luckily we found Good Fellers -the eloquent and witty Ben Feeney and his side-kick, Merlin. Merlin is a black German Shepherd dog who understands German, and is appropriately cautious of feller bunchers. This is Ben at work, on Day One of our small logging project. “a lover of vast, unexplored places”
He was a Cadet at the Military Academy, West Point from July 1, 1833, to July 1, 1837, when he graduated and was promoted in the Army to Second Lieut. He served in the Florida War, as an Ordnance Officer, 1837‑38. In the Cherokee Nation, 1838, he transferred Indians to the West, before going on to work as a Topographical Engineer and in some leading survey teams. He took part in Explorations in Utah and the Survey of Great Salt Lake, Utah, He was massacred, Oct. 26, 1853, near Sevier Lake, Utah: Aged 41, with seven of his exploring party, by a band of Mormons and Parvan Indians, “his body being pierced by seventeen arrows, and otherwise horribly mutilated.” It is unclear, but seems most likely that the main culprits were actually the band of Mormons, with the Indians being set up as convenient scapegoats. First find a fella that’s a tree feller, one that likes trees as much as dollars.
Not as easy as it sounds. There are plenty out here that see a tree only as cash, not so many that focus on the tree as a feature of the woodland and that weigh up the relative merits of logging versus leaving it be. A visit to a few sites where loggers work gives some insights into their approach, some sites look devastated, nothing has been left, the look is napalmed and erosion can set in. Mind you, a lot of landowners want to clear cut their sites to get the best views, and bald summits are rife around here. We’re more into slots through the woods to see views and some blending of the treeline rather than the hard-edged “all-that-is-bald-is-my-own” look. Most Lots look pretty awful to the beginner, like me, who sees them during or just after the loggers have been through, though. So, once you’ve found a Good Feller (literally in our case, see photo) who is willing to log but with a sustainable view, then the *fun* begins… Permits, taxes, inspections, logging landings and lot and lots of big machines. And it all happens very, very fast. David knew even before walking it, that this was one helluva piece of land, he was anxious to get up there as soon as he found it, late one night, online. When we walked The Gunnison Lot we both knew it was The One for us. In late October 2009 we made an offer to buy The Gunnison Lot. . . . → Read More: Jet lagged and delighted Numerous holes were dug to check the depth of soil until we hit ledge Phials of soil were taken We spent some time looking into holes So you think you’ve found the perfect spot for a building… But there’s no mains water (you’ve got to drill a well). There’s no power (you’ve got to bring in electricity). And who . . . → Read More: Test pits The Gunnison Lot is in an area with both mountains and lakes. It’s beautiful, and COLD in the winter, and winter can be L O N G. So, after David climbed a tree and reckoned there were great views, of about 300 degrees, we were tempted to build high up on the Lot. But that presented two problems, . . . → Read More: Shelter from the wind: finding the building site Looking at an online topological data site had attracted us to The Gunnison Lot in the first place. It’s pretty high elevation at 1700ft (the lake below is at 1000ft) which means it gets hit with strong winds that whistle down from Canada, across Lake Sunapee and pound into the wooded side of . . . → Read More: Hill Number 519: 1700ft But it’s uncommonly fast… Each flower has highly elastic petals that flip backward, releasing springy filaments that are cocked underneath the petals. The filaments snap upward flinging pollen out of containers hinged to the filaments. This motion takes place in less than half a millisecond and the pollen experiences 800 times the . . . → Read More: Common bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) |
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