Category: Interacting with nature

Luck shouldn’t factor into daily events – maybe it has a role in investing, or coincidental meetings, but surely not when it comes to my tracked Takeuchi bobcat.  The way I am feeling right now is lucky and this is probably because I acted carelessly and was able to extricate myself from a sticky jam, actually muddy patch, without much loss.

I mentioned previously a trail I cut through the woods which ran close to a spring.  The spring fills a small pool from which it saunters down the hill, mostly unseen, below the surface of a dry stream bed.  My thought was to cut an access path from the trail to the spring and then enlarge the pool.  Because this is rough terrain my friend Mike volunteered to be on hand for the unforeseen.  Cutting the access path was relatively straightforward – we agreed on the route, then highlighted the route with yellow rope, then me with the bobcat and Mike with the machete, cut the path to the spring.

How to deepen the pool.  The lowest side of the pool was on the northwest but it was barred by briar necklaces.  So I initially approached with the bobcat from the higher west bank and quickly realized the incline was too steep.  So I backed out the bobcat and we hacked an approach from the northwest which shouldered between two large trees.  The bobcat loader made quick work of thick roots and, because I was tired from my previous attempt and lack of sleep the previous evening (to sleep at 1am and up at 5am to drop a relative at the airport), I was impatient and did not widen the new ramp or cut it for a more gentle approach angle.  I headed down the ramp in the bobcat, loaded the bucket with mud backed out and dumped the contents.  That was easy, so without pause I went in again, deeper.  As I backed out the bobcat’s tracks began to spin.

I have learned a lot the past 24 hours.  Tracks are great and provide much, much more traction on wet soil than wheels.  But, if the front of the bobcat is in water and you are backing out, the mud covered track at the front moves to the rear and slathers the dry soil under the rear tracks with water and mud.  The first, primeval instinct is panic, I gotta get out, so you increase the throttle and more mud and water are rapidly transferred to the back and the front of the bobcat settles deeper into the mud because it is digging a hole by the tracks scooping up the mud and water in the front, and transferring it to the rear.  I plunged the loader edge vertically into the mud and tried to use the leverage of the loader to push the bobcat backward up the ramp.  To no avail.

So I cut the engine and together with Mike we strategized.  When a vehicle is trapped in soft sand you place sticks and branches and rough material behind or in front of  the engine driven wheels for the treads to grip and, with some luck (again the “luck” word) you can get out.  We cut lengths of 4″ to 6″ diameter trunks (lots of trees around) and jammed these under the tracks – this was possible because using the loader I was able to move the bobcat forward onto its front edge and expose the rear tracks.  Then with full throttle and using the loader for leverage I powered the bobcat backwards – and barely moved.

I suggested to Mike that rather than place the trunks parallel and under the tracks we should place them at right angles to the tracks.  A lot of work and full bore throttle and – no progress.

We thought the rear of the bobcat was catching the ground and so with long handled shovels we dug out the dirt and, with a lot of throttle, gained a few inches to freedom.  At this point, with 4 hours invested to little avail, Mike had to leave and kindly agreed to return the next day and his parting words were “you are tired, leave it for tonight, you can get injured.”  Which is good advice when you are deep in the woods with no one around.

Getting stuck in the mud, especially with a tracked vehicle, which should not get stuck anywhere, is an insult to ones sense of independence, self reliance, and ego.  Needless to say, I spent another hour digging, investigating and throttling and concluded a) remnants of the roots of the biggest tree were snagging the bobcat (revenge of the tree whose roots I had savaged); b) pushing wood under the tracks was a bad idea – the wood became slippery from the mud and water and because it did not span the width of the tracks, a good part of the gripping surface of the tracks was not getting traction; and c) the spring, which I had thought was a dribbler seemed more of a gusher and the water from the spring was transforming the area into a mud bath.

After a really good night’s sleep and early next morning I was back at the muddy site – my hope was to single handed retrieve the situation and save Mike a trip.  I replaced the new chain on my chainsaw with an older chain and cut through some of the blocking roots – their diameter was 4″ to 6″ and I decided the old chain would be temporarily sacrificed cutting roots surrounded by soil and pebbles (until I could re-sharpen it).  This helped  and I got the bobcat back about 6″.  I then decided the rising water was a problem and with the machete cleared a path down the dry stream bed and then with shovel and pick axe dug a 40ft trench in the stream bed.  The bed appeared dry on the top but the holes dug by the shovel quickly revealed the water running just below the surface.  This helped to remove the water which had been building up around the bobcat.

But it still wasn’t moving.  I was convinced that the bobcat was snagging on concealed obstacles and, as I dug deeper around the rear of the bobcat and its tracks, these came to light.  By this time Mike had arrived and together, with an array of tools from long handled edgers, mattock, grubbing tools, hand saws and the rapidly blunting chain saw we cleared a path to the rear.  With the benefit of a night’s sleep we agreed that the tracks would grip better if they were not covered with mud and that spinning the tracks quickly in frustration just dug the machine in deeper.  So the new modus operandi after clearing obstacles, including belatedly all the wood we had the previous day shoved under the tracks, was to use our gloved hands to pull the mud out of the exposed treads in the track.  Then, in a frequently repeated sequence, with hopes high, I would fire up the bobcat, apply throttle and slowly power the bobcat rearwards and gain a few inches more to freedom.  Unlike the previous day we were thinking rather than just acting and we were following a procedure that appeared to have traction.  It was surprising how many times we were sure it would get out and it didn’t.  But, eventually, with Mike yelling encouragement I escaped the clutches of the mud and got to level ground.

Was it luck?  Probably not, but an education into new techniques, the importance of thinking it out and a good night’s sleep.

The past few weeks I have been preoccupied with cutting a new trail through the woods.  The northwest part of the property slopes down a hill and its face is creased with contour ditches and berms installed I know not by whom or when.  There is a small spring which forms a stream which slides off the property.  My new trail is designed to give me access to the spring and to meander among the fast growing tulip poplars.  Since this is the north facing slope, which is sheltered from the sun and benefits from the contour ditches, it also has ferns and mosses and a wildness of growth.

My trail is  maybe half a mile long.  I marked its intended route a year ago with yellow rope.  Two weeks ago I began construction.  Initially my thought was to make a road which my tractor could access, but my tractor is 7 ft wide and when hitched with a chipper cannot make sharp turns.  So the road would have had to be fairly straight.  My tracked bobcat on the other hand is 5 ft wide and can turn on a dime, which means it can easily dribble among the larger trees.  So I settled on a trail rather than a road and saved a lot of larger trees and a lot of work.

From previous experience I know not to leave any stumps, especially the smaller ones which upset the unwary, so instead of chainsawing and pulling the trees out of the way (and leaving stumps in place),  I used my tracked bobcat to clear the way.  Two alternative procedures.

For those trees with diameters up to 3″, I simply lifted them up out of the ground with a chain and slip hook.  A slip hook allows the chain to run freely through it so as the bobcat pulled on the chain the hook tightened on the trunk of the tree.  The other end of the chain was secured to the bobcat body with a grab hook which gripped onto a link of the chain.  The slip hook worked fine on most of the trees except for one kind where the bark peeled off easily.  In this situation I had to revert to the second procedure.

The second procedure, primarily for the larger trees, was to attempt to push the tree over with the bobcat loader pushing the trunk at about 5 ft off the ground.  If the tree refused to budge I would cut the roots on either side of it with the loader teeth and then it usually could be pushed sufficiently to expose the base of the tree.  Then, with the loader at ground level I would bulldoze the tree out of the ground and push it sufficiently far to sever its roots.  The trees are interlocked by vines, mainly muscadine (grape vines) and they would have been hung up if I had merely chainsawed them.  So the assistance of the bobcat was invaluable.

Once the trees were down I limbed and bucked the trees, that is to say I cut off the branches where they joined the trunks, and I cut the trunk into 5 ft lengths.  The 5ft lengths of the hardwood trees fit into the bobcat’s loader and I brought them back to the log cabin and stored under shelter to dry for firewood use at year’s end.  The pine trees trunks I will leave to degrade and return nutrients to the soil.

I made several additional trips with the bobcat – down the trail to collect the rootballs and dump them in a large gully at the foot of the slope, and up the trail to collect the 5ft wood lengths for transport to the storage area.

Finally my tractor came into play.  I attached a woodchipper  to the rear, which is driven by the tractor’s engine, and I have begun chipping the branches and odd wood lengths.  The chippings will be spread along the trail.

So much strenuous pleasurable work and a good result to date.  I must acknowledge the contributions of Mike, who assisted on the first day with lassoing and removing the trees, and Simon, who on two days worked hard amidst the mosquitoes and diesel fumes to help me complete the task.  On the way back this morning along the trail almost stepped on a baby turtle – it was on 1″ long – see below.