We met at the Stevensville trailhead at 9 AM. David was taking his new electric chainsaw and chainsaw chaps for a trial run, and John was along for safety and to help move cut branches and cut smaller stuff with a handsaw. We headed up Butler Lodge and continued up Wampahoofus. The first test of the saw came there, clearing three blowdown and leaners. The saw (an 18″ bar 56V EGO CS1800) worked very well, cut easily and quickly, and was much quieter than we are used to with gas powered saws. We then headed north on the LT to the north end of the Forehead Bypass (which neither of us had hiked in years), then followed it to the Needles Eye, and the LT to Wallace Cutoff, clearing some smaller stuff with the hand saw and one or two more with the chainsaw. We went a short way down Wallace Cutoff to a blowdown we’d been told of, cleared it, and continued on the LT to Twin Brooks.

We’d heard there was a lot of work to do there, but visited all the tent platforms and saw only a couple small things to remove. There are certainly a lot of blowdowns next to the trails and scattered around within the perimeter of the tenting area, but none obstructing any access. We then headed down the ski trails, arriving back at the trailhead around 3 PM. The power gauge on the chainsaw battery said we’d use only about 20% of the 5 AH battery.

Participants: David Hathaway, John Sharp.