Waiting For Pole Truck

We are busy on the other side of the ridge while we wait for the pole truck to clean out the rest of the timber in the back landing.

The truck that hauls most of our timber to mills is this beauty owned by Weller Timber Corp. Not only do they do the trucking each year for our property but they are also the loggers that did the back patch on steep ground and the thinning operation currently in progress on the top of the hill on the other side of the ridge.

This truck is a self-loader, meaning that it has a crane/boom between the cab and the bed of the truck to pick up trees that have been cut for the mill and can load the truck ready for hauling. The pole trucks that we are waiting for do not have the unit for picking up logs giving the truck quite a bit more space in order to haul those really long logs. Since the pole truck does not have its own crane, a piece of equipment strong enough to handle the loading process needs to be ready to load the truck. The Weller crew has that equipment on site since they are using it during the thinning job on the other side of the ridge.

The dust in the air shows just how dry the soil is right now. Even with the showers on and off throughout the summer we are still very low for our rain year. Our hauler and loggers are watching weather conditions and follow strict guidelines for their equipment and work in the forest during this dry time. Mandatory  two hour fire watch is in effect, that means after every last piece of equipment has been shut down for the day a vigil is still kept to assure no lingering sparks or smoldering embers are around to ignite disaster.

There is an art to the loading. Dennis is a master at manipulating single sticks to fill out a load to the maximum capacity while still staying under the designated load limit for this truck.

Once full loaded, the logs will be secured by four binders (cables that are ratcheted tight to secure the load onto the truck for the drive back down the steep and dusty logging road, to the county road and then to the mill.

This load is designated to go to the RSG mill (Olympic) in Birkenfeld because of the size of the logs. This happens to be the closest mill to our property so is the shortest haul for the trucker. Dennis can make several trips from our forest to the mill in a single day whereas other mills can take a full day for only one load.