3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 15:20:22 GMT -5
Here are the photos from this weekend's trip up there. The contractor had poured all the footings for the home and garage. Again, this is approaching the home site from the circular drive. We were pretty jazzed to see the progress. Loretta holding the Contractor's building sign. Normally, he pounds this into the ground but our location is so remote, he just had it leaning against an Oak tree.
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3RRL
Administrator
Huge Kama
Posts: 2,027
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 15:23:12 GMT -5
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3RRL
Administrator
Huge Kama
Posts: 2,027
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 15:25:58 GMT -5
These pictures show how they are going to put the foundation for the posts into the rocks. They poured concrete into the crevices between the rock structure to solidify it. They do not want it to cave in on the home nor fall down the slope. also a concept drawing of the footings and steel brackets. Here's what the water tank slab looks like now. We have the tank on order. It is one of those green plastic 5400 gallon ones. We need 4000 gallons for the fire department and can use the rest for the home and barn. Our contractor says the log package should arrive in late August. He has also ordered the materials for the metal barn, so I presume he will start digging the foundation for it pretty soon.
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3RRL
Administrator
Huge Kama
Posts: 2,027
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 15:30:32 GMT -5
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3RRL
Administrator
Huge Kama
Posts: 2,027
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 15:52:19 GMT -5
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3RRL
Administrator
Huge Kama
Posts: 2,027
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:01:32 GMT -5
OK, so this weekend we decided to start grubbing some of the Buckbrush on the steep slope in front of the rock bluff. This is a daunting project, since a lot of it is nearly a 45 degree slope. But we have to clear that area eventually for the Firemarshall approval. To compound matters, I have never had the tractor down in that meadow below the rock bluff either, since there is no access to it from the main road or homesite. The first thing we decided to do was cut a road from the homesite past the solar shed and meander down along the ravine, then circle into the meadow below. For those of you who've been there, perhaps you can remember how steep the game trails are leading down. The following photos (I have lots) shows the area where we will be working. This picture is where the road from the homesite will go past the solar shed (just past the tractor) and along the solar panels. This portion ended up about 150' long. These two pictures show the front of the rock bluff looking up from the bottom of the meadow. All that Buckbrush near the rock bluff and some small Oaks and deadfall will have to be removed. I figure the road would end up being just shy of 1000' long. We only had a day and a half to spend on the project so we didn't get it all done. I was scared to death too!
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3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:03:56 GMT -5
Without further delay, I started to make the service road from the homesite down past the solar arrays. This part was not too bad but still required some chainsaw, fel and grapple work. All of the road was on a slant ... especially going down to the meadow. But up here I was able to use some concrete fill to build up the low sides first. This one was not too bad and it turned out fairly good. It got over to the end of the solar arrays but not going down paralleling the ravine. That was next. As usual, I did a lot of bulldozing in reverse with my boxblade. The ability to tilt the blade with hydraulic side links made cutting out the slope pretty easy. Lucky there were not too many large rocks in this section.
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3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:05:23 GMT -5
The next part of the service road was to go down a fairly steep slope and follow the ravine down to the start of the meadow. Loretta took the 4wd ATV ahead of me to scout for big rocks. I had to pick my way down the trail with the boxblade cutting ... no rippers down, and the fel held super low. I don't like to use the rippers down because it's too easy to catch a big rock or root doing these roads. 4 wheel drive is a must in these conditions. After a couple passes with the boxblade it started to take shape. I kept cutting into the high side when needed to level the road out.
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3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:07:49 GMT -5
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3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:09:14 GMT -5
After several hours working that section, we finally made it down to the start of the meadow. This is looking at where we came from. And these are looking towards the start of the meadow below. To be honest, I did not think I would even get this part done, but it went surprisingly fast. In the background you can see the big Kama and Loretta on her Arctic Cat ATV.
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3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:11:15 GMT -5
Also, here is a video of that one nasty section that was sloped towards the ravine. You can see the Kama working cutting out the high side and the ravine on the left about 15' or so. It was a pretty weird feeling to have the tractor sliding sideways towards it. Even with all 4 wheels spinning.
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3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:11:37 GMT -5
Here is another video taking a second pass, pushing a little more dirt. Then I was able to make some forward and backward passes to get it leveled up. If the ground is not too rocky, I can bulldoze in 2nd low. Not needing anymore horsepower, I never ran the tractor over 1800 rpm.
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3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:15:30 GMT -5
Now it was time to get up that hillside and start plucking the Buckbrush out. OH BROTHER! Buckbrush is highly flammable due to it's high content of oil. There were several large Oaks that were down which I had to move also. I started with the ones near the bottom, working my way to the top. My goal was to get all the way to the base of the rock out cropping and get as many of them as I could. This was really scary. I had to find a direct path to each one and back down the same way...no going sideways on this hill. The slope is deceiving and the camera does not do it justice. Some parts were steeper than others. Here's one looking down from the rock bluff to the meadow, as I make my way up in the Kama. The distance from the bottom of the meadow up to the rock bluff is close to 500'.
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3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:18:45 GMT -5
Here is a view from the bottom of the hill going up. You can see how many trips I've made already from all the grass being gone. Some of these views show the steepness better than others. Finally, I got to the very top of the hill just below the rock bluff. There is a small area that levels out just a little up here, but still pretty steep. there's no way to turn around so You have to back straight down again. After this weekend's work, there's still a lot of them to get on the North and South slopes. Unfortunately, there's no way to get the tractor up those sides...it's just too rocky and steep in some places. Before we left, we took several chains hooked together and pulled some trees and brush out from the top. That's no cake walk either, trying to negotiate the steep slopes with heavy chains. So we left the rest for us to get later this month when we return. I'm afraid some are so precarious it will take a chain saw and hand saw or axe to get them out. Then we'll have to drag them down close enough for the tractor to get with the grapples. Man, that is going to be a lot of work!
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3RRL
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Huge Kama
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Post by 3RRL on Feb 6, 2008 16:21:32 GMT -5
The elevation changes approximate 150' from the bottom of that meadow to the top. It is gradual at first and then starts to climb steeply. The first couple hundred feet coming up the meadow it only rises about 40' or 50'. Larry G, do you remember getting on the rock bluff and looking down over them?
I'm glad Loretta took a video of that...I had no idea, I figured she was just taking snapshots. You are right about it being a good video of the Kama working like that. It's no secrete that I'm proud of what it can do. Especially with the armament of modifications expanding it's capabilities.
Loretta said when I first came down the ravine path dragging the boxblade forward, the tractor was almost sideways with the nose facing right, but moving forward while sliding down. The front wheels were pointed all the way to the left...all spinning. During he first pass dragging the box forward down, I almost slid into that ravine to my right. I had to stop dragging the box and start bulldozing in reverse. The slope there was very deceiving.
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