A host of hemlocks, killed by the wooly adelgid, are beginning to fall throughout the gorge. The problem is serious in the north end, where giant snags four feet in diameter will soon block trails and have to be cleared by monumental crosscut saw efforts. Today the crew got off relatively easy, with most of the trees being about a foot wide.
This little saw was used to remove branches so the tree could be slid of the trail. Always nice to find an alternative to cutting the thicker trunk.
There’s always more trailbed work to do! In this case, the trail was widened slightly out of safety concerns. The innocent looking slide (at left in the photo) ends quickly in a shear fall of hundreds of feet.
These little hemlocks are easy to underestimate. When moving them, watch out for the limbs which are often hardened by resin and dangerously sharp.
