Bull wheel

We had originally planned to suspend the top bull wheel in the air using cables and a come-along for adjustment (as we saw done at the Royalton tow that we had visited earlier).  After realizing how heavy the wheel was  going to be we decided to build a stand to keep it at the right height.  The plan was to build it out of pressure treated lumber but Jay had enough metal scraps to weld a sturdy setup.  I'm amazed at how well Jay can work with metal.  It came out solid.

Here is Jay drilling holes for the side hook connections that we'll use to tie it down.

Jay also made a hitch so we could pull it up the hill using his 4 wheeler.  My dad helped us drag the stand up.  It started off smoothly but once we hit a steep section it was slow going.

The stand kept getting stuck on rocks and stumps.  We even used a come-along at one point to get it up the steepest section.  It took us a little under an hour and half to get it up to the top.

Here is Jay and I getting out the chains and come-along.

Here is Jay and Dad working over a rock in the trail.

We were all relieved to get it up there as it was hard work and nothing broke!  The next step was to create a flat area for the wheel stand.  We used rocks to fill in a large depression.

Here I am getting ready to put the wheel together.

It looked pretty cool once we got it put together.

Dad was psyched to see it in place.

Here is Dad and Jay looking all important with their phones.

We also did a little glade work too.  Here is Dad.

The woods are starting to look very skiable near the top.

It's fun to glade the upper half of the slope as there isn't much that needs to be cut.  Down lower though, where the previous owner logged a little over a decade ago, it is extremely thick and slow going.  We focused on getting a narrow skiable line through this section for now.  There isn't much for overhead tree canopy and because of that you see crowded clumps of pin cherry and moose maple (mostly all 1-4" saplings).  It makes sense to cut these so called "tree weeds" out as there is very little timber value in them when they mature.  We're tyring to thin these trees out and encourage trees like sugar maples and yellow birches to grow.  Sugar maples can establish a nice mature canopy someday and provide a great source of sap for maple syrup!  A mature canopy also helps prevent undergrowth which is ideal for glade management as it keeps dense saplings from growing in so quickly.  After about hour and half of cutting we hiked back up to the top, loaded up the 4 wheeler and hike down the other side back to the house while Jay rode his 4 wheeler back down.