Happy Trails, Lost and Found Tools, and Well-Exercised Puppies

By Brother Luke

Timberrr! Well, we seldom say that in the woods on our trails because the trees usually fall during wind storms and we are not out on the trails at that time. But had we been out on the trails this winter and spring during our many wind storms, we would have been calling out “timberrr” a lot. Once the ice and snow were gone, grooming the trails became a realistic priority. During the winter and early spring, I made several forays into the woods to pick up small branches and other debris and to replace fallen trail signs, but several larger trees that came down across the paths were going to require a chain saw. A daunting task I have done before, but I was not looking forward to doing it again by myself. Also, I suspected that the small chain saw I usually use would not do the job with some of these trees. But God provides!

One of our guests during Great Lent this year offered to come back from his home in Connecticut to help with grooming the trails. This was a graced moment for many reasons. Our guest, Ed Capowich, offered not only to help with the grooming but also to bring along his chain saw! This was an offer I could not refuse. So we settled on a date during Bright Week following Pascha. The weatherman was not cooperating, as the forecast called for rain. But other days that week would not be possible because of other conflicts, so we went ahead with our plans as scheduled.

I don’t usually take Kahn for long walks in the woods anymore, as he will be 10 years old in just a couple of weeks. But the puppies: now that’s another story. Keeping them active is a must, so this adventure was the perfect outing for them. Ed arrived, and the clouds looked threatening but held off, so we suited up—that is, I put on my tool belt and boots; Ed, his boots already on, grabbed the chain saw; and we set off, my two puppies, Fuller and Iris, now 10 months old, leaping for joy at the prospect of a hike in the woods. I showed Ed the entrance to the trails behind the training kennel. The small culvert had washed out and I think that some kind of bridge would be a better replacement. Not sure if we’ll try homemade or prefab; we’ll see.

So we crossed the stream and trudged up the yellow trail to the red trail intersection and turned left, where only a few yards away was a tangle of large trees that had fallen across the path. Sometimes in such cases I just re-route the trail, but in this particular location cutting was the better choice. So Ed cut the trees and I kept the puppies occupied with small branches.

Mission accomplished there, we continued on the red trail. A lot of the work was simply clearing debris and nailing up fallen signs or replacing them. But there were other downed trees to cut on the red trail, one on the orange trail that connected the red and yellow trails and also on the blue trail.

On the blue trail I had a little deja-vu experience. I told Ed about an experience a few years back when I had been out on the trails and lost my branch clippers. I looked everywhere for them but could not find them. Then, lo and behold, a couple visited with their grandsons, I took them on a hike in the woods with my dogs, and as we passed by the area where I had lost the clippers, the wife called out, “Look here, a pair of clippers!” I had searched and searched and failed to find them, and she found them without even trying! And this was months after I had lost them! I had a similar experience on the blue trail a few years back where I lost my hammer. Again I searched and searched, but to no avail. Then weeks later on a hike with Br Isaac, he found the hammer; again, he had no previous knowledge of it being lost. So what happened this time? I lost that same hammer again in the same area of the blue trail, and again I could not find it. Ed and I retraced our steps, but to no avail. We’ll see what the future brings!

The puppies were thoroughly enjoying themselves. But if I thought being out on the trails would wear them out, I had another think coming. Iris loves to roam around looking for trouble, interesting smells, and deer poops! Fuller wants to help with the grooming by bringing back to the trail all the small branches I throw off the trail! Just like his mother Jaci! But it was all fun for them and for us. They were really no bother at all.

Fuller helping to clear the trail

We continued on the blue trail and cleared another large tree that had fallen across two wings of the trail. It was now nearing lunch-time, so we headed back to the monastery for our mid-day meal.

After lunch we decided to tackle the Two-Top Mountain trails, so off we went again. This time no puppies. The sky was darker, and a misty snow was beginning to fall. Undeterred, we set off because I knew that two of the largest trees that had fallen were on the yellow trail up Two-Top. I brought along a different hammer, figuring I would not lose two in one day, and we headed up the yellow trail that begins next to our smoke-house. A number of trees were down and needed to be cut as we climbed up the trail. By the time we got to the top of the mountain it was beginning to rain a little more seriously, but we were beyond the halfway point, so we kept on going. On the western side we did some re-routing of the trail and also cut away other trees blocking the trail. When we finally emerged from the woods and reached the red trail that starts at our guest house and follows a recently cleared logging road, we had to decide whether to head down to Emmaus House and call for a ride back to the monastery or take the red trail up the side of the mountain back to the monastery. By this time the sprinkles had stopped, so we took the red trail back. The road was clear of most debris. When we got to the spot where hikers need to turn off the road and head down the side of the mountain, we found a fallen tree next to the trail. It was still attached to its base and not directly over the trail, so we left it, figuring that if it fell down completely it would still not affect the trail. Once we emerged from the woods, Ed prepared to head back home, and I set off across the cemetery to the puppy kennel to do afternoon chores. We were back to normal, but with a valuable task accomplished.

I was so fortunate that Ed volunteered to help with this project because we cleared all the trails except a short stretch down near our stream in about three hours of total working time. I could never have done all that work by myself so quickly. Ed offered to help out again in the future, so this should make keeping the trails open a lot more manageable. I also learned something useful about chain saws. His saw was just about the same size as ours, but he did not have the tip protector on the end of the saw. This allowed him to use the tip to cut larger logs than I could cut with our saw, which has the tip protector. So for this task I can remove that device and make our saw a little more effective for this chore.

Then there is the project of creating a new path that runs behind the Holy Transfiguration Temple, continues behind the puppy kennel, and connects to the original red trail, creating a continuous red trail all the way around the property. Ed has already signed up for that task. So the story continues...

Meanwhile, I have been back out on part of the trails with Kahn and Fuller (Iris, now in heat, couldn’t come with us). Here are some photos of the trails with the boys doing the inspecting!