Btw Dogwood---Who makes the absolute BEST folding saw in your opinion?? Corona is nice but wears out fast.
Silky Zubat preferably in the 13" Zubat Arborist Edition. Despite the up front cost should last many yrs with responsible care.
For occasional home use a big box hardware store folding Corona or Felco model keeping the blade sharpened and with a little oil. But I don't like these cheaper models because the one pivot point and handles are susceptible to failure in commercial/pro arborist remote use and with all the cuts and usage you're putting your saws through on trails which is more like commercial work cutting various woods and up to who knows what diameters. The fixed(non folding)Silky in a scabbard something like the pro Zubat model ($$) is the best IMO. Not a deal breaker IMHO for you since you already are willing to haul big loads. Second, if you absolutely must have a folding model, would be a Bahco one of the 396 models.
TIP: If you do opt for a folding model make sure the pivot holds the blade firmly as that can bend the blade or lead to pivot pt/handle failure. Look for better quality metals in the blade construction too.
TIP: You might consider for trail tools high quality well maintained sharp hand pruners and two size hand saws, a folding cheaper model, although the Bahco 396 versions aren't super pricey, for smaller diam less dense softer woods, and a fixed larger hand saw with quick cutting tooth construction that stays sharper a long time(getting back to higher quality materials especially metal blades), for larger non engine powered cuts(I know you want to keep your activities stealthy on the low down), as this leads to quicker work and longer lasting tools. Of course be able to sharpen or have sharpened tools on trail.
Timely recommendation as I'm mulling over another crap-clearing option as I head up there in a few days. My Felcro pruners were not enough for 80% most of the briars, etc. impeding 54A.
Oh, bypass pruners like the Felcos you use, not anvail style hand pruners. Anvil styles unless exceedingly sharp for smaller diameter lighter work I'd stay away from as they crush wood not always making the cleanest cuts hence making for more strenuous work.
There are two 54As---North and South. The south part is in great shape and leaves Cold Spring Gap up to Bob Bald. The north part climbs up from Cherry Log Gap south and reaches the same place---the Bob---but in a hell thicket.Originally Posted by martinb
Felcos aren't much good on overgrown trails full of brush, saplings and long walls of brambles---although all I take for such crap is my pair of Felco #9s. Cuts briars and sawbriars like butter.
For long thicket stretches (think 54A North; Jenkins Meadow trail)---you just cut what's in your face and squeeze thru.
I hiked 54A N, and it was pretty bad. Took a photo of the trailhead.
Tipi, in some of your trip reports, you mention dropping down to a campsite in that area to avoid storms on the ridge (I can't remember what you call it). Where exactly is that site?
IMG_6390.JPG
Just FYI,......I'm still liking my Silky 'Big Boy.'
Walter, this was 54A heading to the Bob from the Kilmer side. It's a bushwack through the butt-rock area, above and below. I went down to Naked Ground the next day and, heading to the Hangover, dense thicket of briars. I wound up pocketing the felcros and using my Griptillian as a mini-machete.
Another great Silky model. It comes in at least 4 versions I know. The XL for XL teeth and # of teeth per inch has a curved 14" or so blade is great for green wood pruning making FAST cuts on up to larger diam branches but not as good, but certainly acceptable, for harder wood or hard dead wood cuts meaning you'll have to work more. Only you know what kind of wood you're cutting. The longer blade length should be used to make a longer stroke saving labor on cutting the larger diam woods. These considerations and reasons and others is why the big box home improvement Corona and Felco models carried are failing on you. Although, you could carry a replacement blade easy to change out too onto trails. I had a large tooth straight blade model for stick built framing of houses back in the day when that was my summer job and when building a remote Tiny House off grid. The longer better quality curved blades of say this XL model would be my choice for mixed trail pruning. Dead hard or hard wood I'd want a large maybe a med tooth blade for less fatigue. And, when you go to selecting the Lg, med, and fine tooth versions they only come in a straight blade. Overall the XL is the one. Understand this saw is heavier wt then what you're used to.
Yes, I call this spot the Bob Tee because it's where Trail 54A South meets 54A North---and junctions Trail 54 proper for the half mile trek to the Bob. It stays Trail 54 across Bob's Wall to the Butt Rock where the trail (I call it Four Mile Ridge trail) splits---a left becomes Trail 53 down to Naked Ground Gap, a right at the Butt Rock takes you down to Wolf Laurel side trail on the Stratton Ridge aka Horse Cove trail #54. See below.
Your trail would be the Stratton Ridge trail up from Rattler Ford or Wolf Laurel, named simply Trail 54, not 54A. I call it Horse Cove Ridge trail and it's a long 8 mile trek from the bottom at Rattler Ford campground to the top at the Butt Rock on Bob's Wall.
I call the high ground trail from Cold Spring Gap up to the Bob and east to the Hangover---Four Mile Ridge trail---and dispense with the numbers, except for the confusing 54As south or north. I just pulled this section and while choked with briars and brush didn't find it too bad and nothing my felcos couldn't handle.
Here's my keyword Four Mile Ridge pics and my Bob Tee pics---(Four Mile Ridge encompasses Bob's Wall, Butt Rock, trail down to Naked Ground, Haoe Peak and Saddle Tree Gap).
https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/keywo...0mile%20ridge/
https://tipiwalter.smugmug.com/keyword/bob%20tee/
Last edited by Tipi Walter; 07-02-2017 at 11:50.
This is a Emerald Thicket titled thread.
I'm probably talking about the Wedge camp below Cold Spring Gap---because the gap is a very windy place in a storm---and the Wedge is "off the map" on an old logging cut heading east out of Cold Spring Gap (near Strawberry Knob). It's about 200 yards downhill from the Gap and has a big flat place next to Bob Creek---so it always has water. Here's some pics---
TRIP 108 251-L.jpg
TRIP 108 272-L.jpg
I remember one time pulling a BMT thruhike with Sgt Rock and others and we reached Cold Spring Gap in a terrible windstorm and I directed them down into the Wedge to avoid the howling blasts---
This pic shows our campsite in the Wedge with Sgt Rock sitting on left and Rick Harris sitting center and 4 time BMT thruhiker Regina Reiter on right.
Are you noticing many briars and poison ivy on your area of the BMT?
Curious, what camera are you using for the pics? You capture nice shots.
No pics or descriptions could really describe the condition of the Slickrock Creek trail---think a hundred big tree blowdowns across the trail and across the emerald creek at the various crossings. I spent 9 hour days cutting a path thru for me and my pack and was lucky to go 1+ mile in that time. Some pics of the emerald thicket---This is a Emerald Thicket titled thread.
This beauty describes the entire trail---big butt blowdowns across the path. Too big to go over, tough to scoot under.
It's always fun to do a belly crawl with a 75 lb pack. Now repeat 35 times.
Another bad section of the trail whereby a big tree fell off the bank 50 feet above and brought down a bunch of rocks and roots. I moved some rocks and cut all the roots away in this pic.
Finally, this is the Slickrock trailhead to the beginning of the Nutbuster section heading eventually up on outrageous tread to Naked Ground Gap. I mark the trailhead with red ribbon and cut a detour step over to the left.
Oh and btw, here's the Wildcat Falls crossing on the Slickrock Creek trail---obliterated by a fresh pine blowdown right across the crossing. I cut a little section out to allow a step over---
You don't take such a pack off when going under such low blow downs?
My camera is a Panasonic Lumix LX7---though I'm peeved alittle by blurry pics.
Briars are a constant on all area trails no matter what. A pruner helps to cut the things out of my face. Poison Ivy is really a problem on certain select parts of the BMT, especially between Unicoi Gap north to Six Mile Gap below Waucheesi Mt---and further to Sandy Gap and State Line Ridge. When every campsite is a sea of poison ivy you know things are tough.
I wouldn't be able to drag it thru, no upper body strength. Your question reminds me of a blowdown in Pisgah on the Harper Creek trail---see pic. It was so low and so steep that I had to dump my pack and remove items piece by piece and ferry each item under the trunk down to the left until I had everything on the other side. A true belly crawl.
Btw, this is a typical campsite on the BMT on the poison ivy section near Peels Top and Tate Gap---Luckily I only had to clear a spot in a patch of Mayapples---
Walter, thanks for clarifying my trail # mixup. What storm was it that blew all those trees down? Must've been a hell storm to blow down big, healthy (looking, at least) trees.
In the last couple months we've had "80mph windstorms" in the Smokies and it spilled over into my neck of the woods and brought tornado-like winds up thru certain valleys and across ridgetops like the Bob. A bad storm blew up Slickrock Creek valley and toppled hundreds of trees, especially bad between Wildcat Falls downstream to Lower Falls.
Fir trees are usually very strong but a big windstorm hit the Bob and brought this one down.
In the fir tree grove on Bob Mt---notice my tent in the back.
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