Pit-log-tossers: Cleaning up the mess

Cave conservation issues, techniques, questions. Also visit the NSS Cave Conservation and Management Section.

Moderator: Moderators

Pit-log-tossers: Cleaning up the mess

Postby JoeyS » Jun 8, 2007 10:02 pm

Ok, maybe some of you have come across this before: You go to a narrow pit, only to find the bottom filled with logs/poles that have been tossed in by passerby hikers wanting to access the pit. Basically, the cut down a 15 or 20 foot sapling tree and shove it down the pit, hoping to create a "ladder" to allow them access. Of course, the pit is 40 feet deep, the pole falls out of site, rinse repeat (considering the pit is just off a trail in a state park). I dropped into this pit and it looked like a boobie trap from a 1980's Vietnam War Movie :shock: ) I managed to find a landing spot, but it really ticked me off.
I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this sort of buffoonery in a blind pit on public land? I was thinking I could just take a saw down there and cut it into shorter logs and haul them out (pretty dangerous). Or I could just cut them strategically and force them to one side (not quite as dangerous). And then there's the option of just shutting up and finding another pit.
Thoughts?
________________
Joey Stuckey
JoeyS
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 402
Joined: Aug 8, 2006 11:22 am
Location: Middle Tennessee
NSS #: 57719
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Nashville Grotto
  

Postby NZcaver » Jun 8, 2007 10:38 pm

Sounds like a good spot for local cave/tech rescue folks to practice their haul systems...
User avatar
NZcaver
Global Moderator
 
Posts: 6367
Joined: Sep 7, 2005 2:05 am
Location: Anchorage, Alaska
Name: Jansen
NSS #: 50665RL
  

Postby wendy » Jun 11, 2007 12:11 pm

after a hurricane we had there was a bunch of downed trees that fell into the pit entrance of a cave. We did cut them into smaller logs and hauled them out.

We also had a similar situation where an idiot had a dump truck full of boulders into the pit entrance of a cave in an effort to seal the cave off (the cave is privately owned and not by the idiot with the boulders). We ended up hiring a crane operator to come and lift the boulders out. Some of the smaller ones were later rolled back in, so we had the crane come out again, and then we broke the boulders up the best we could, dug a trench in the woods nearby and buried the smaller boulders so they could not be rolled back in.

Are there other trees nearby that you can rig a pully to? If so you can cut the trees into manageable sizes and rig a pully to get them out.
User avatar
wendy
Global Moderator
 
Posts: 1527
Joined: Sep 5, 2005 10:51 am
Location: florida
Name: Wendy
NSS #: 53923
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Flint River Grotto
  


Return to Conservation Forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users

cron