Another Day on the Pine Ridge Trail

Yesterday I joined two fellow Volunteer Wilderness Rangers to cut three trees—one of them a gnarly, as in multiply split, redwood—on the main trail that leads from Big Sur into the Ventana Wilderness. We are hoping that trail, which is currently closed because of old damage from a fire a few years ago, will be reopened soon, but the US Forest Service mucky-mucks are dragging their heels. With every day that doesn't see boots on the trail, the more opportunity the plant life has to take over, despite our hard work these past few months. But hopefully in May?

In any event, trees keep falling, and we keep heading out there to remove them from the trail. These are some pictures I took yesterday while I wasn't on the saw.

The view from near the top of Terrace Creek Trail,
our entree into the Wilderness: Double Cone in the middle

Mt. Kandlbinder, from down on the Pine Ridge Trail

Barking that nasty redwood

It was a very, very long tree

The big saw was binding badly, so we had to
finish it off with a hand saw. But we got it!

You can see Dave and Lynn working on a
tan oak waaaaaay over on the right (they are tiny).
That's Double Cone Peak again in the middle.

New leafing of a California buckeye: like little jewels

See the moon?