Thanks for the happy b-days, its appreciated. Don't tell anyone but it was actually Friday the 16th.
Speaking of Friday the 16th, there was work done Friday also. It started at RS Braswell Bobcat picking up the T300 at 9:30AM, and ended around 3PM with wildfires breaking out on River Rd. We didn't get as much done as I had planned, but we still got enough completed to make an impact on Saturday. Drew and De from the Forest Service were with me, and the main accomplishment was laying out 2 different plans. 1st Plan was the overall plan for Saturday. One group would be coming from Rocky Mount to Dutch John to take care of the guard rail, a small amount of split rail, and the log bridges. The 2nd group would go in from Wolf Den to Dutch John and work with the Bobcat on the "emergency" area with the arch site that needed a lot of split rail installed. The 2nd plan was how to navigate the Bobcat around many trees, rocks, etc to get into some tight areas to drill all the holes needed for the split rail.
So when Saturday rolled around we had a clear idea of what we would be doing, and how we would be doing it. But the plan was to get the holes drilled also, so we unloaded the Auger out of the 4in1 bucket and then Drew and De left to haul in the split rail from off site. 2nd accomplishment was during this time I ran the T300 with the 4in1 combo bucket and cleared rocks, brush, dead trees, busted split rail, etc from areas I needed to navigate through. I then found out fires had broken out on River Rd from a truck with an exhaust dragging on the pavement (shooting out sparks) and Drew and De had to go. So we had to cut the day short. Pictures I took:
T300 at the Bottom of the Hill where the old rail ended:
The top of the Hill where we unloaded the Auger and bit:
Zoomed out View of the dispersed camping/arch site area:
After the prep work is done, T300 sitting and waiting for Saturday:
Drew and De had to leave in a hurry, so I was the last one out:
Gate was a pain in the butt to lock, but at least I didn't find any hornets like Drew did the next day:
On the way out I snapped a shot of the Caterpillar Track Loader (I think it was a 953) the contractor has been using to re-do tail ditches (the ones we didn't get to) at the Wolf Den trail head:
Makes me wish we could get our hands on a metal tracked Bobcat. It would make our ability to get around so much easier. Maybe some day...
That was the end of Friday. Saturday went as well as I have seen any workday go. The meet at Hunt Camp went smoothly, the plan was all ready established so there wasn't much discussion between myself, Drew, and head ranger Deborah Walker. Once again this year Deborah and the Forest Service decided to hand out season passes to the volunteering clubs. And before anyone asks NC4X4/FoU didn't receive passes, so if you didn't make the workday you didn't miss out. The groups split up, we loaded up tools (thanks to the Blazer), and we headed out. Thanks to gus for hauling the railing in his Jeep, and then we got to work.
Without the individuals/clubs that were there all the planning that was done Friday wouldn't have meant squat. So thanks for everyone that came out and worked, including the multiple spotters we had for the Bobcat. It allowed us to work efficiently without an tracks coming off (I would poke fun at Scott here about his Bobcat Excavator experiences
this weekend), and we got out of there at a good time. I was also impressed with the Bobcat man handling the boulders, especially the big one that I clamped onto with the 4in1 Bucket. Can't ask for too much more.
SHHHH,,,, don't tell everybody, it's ELI'S, BIRTHDAY!!!! Has he got Irish Luck? Heard the work day went till 4, but everything was accomplished! GREAT JOB, VOLUNTEERS 
just kidding. Eli did a great job with the bobcat lining them up.
