Some of my very best time has been spent with a chainsaw (a 14" poulan) collecting deadwood in the San Juan mountains.
This is one of the very best places in
North America to enjoy that hobby. These are not my
photographs, I'm just sharing the memory. Sometimes
I actually got some work done.
This is Engineer Mountain North of Durango Colorado.
Done properly this is a half day hike. I'm not a mountain
climber like Bill Ryan, but I have been up to the first
saddle. You get there by walking up over the talus of the
rock glacier on the right side. Once up to the first saddle
there is a rock shelter which is an ideal place to eat
lunch and enjoy the view.
This is a view of the rock glacier from the shelter. I never went any higher than this because I was alone,
it is desolate and I was not equipped for the minor
technical climbing this summit requires. It's still a long
way down if you fall and you'd lie there until the wildlife
found you.
Note that it is above the tree line. This is a lovely photo
of the mountain tundra. I suspect Sol Invictus would be
very happy romping here...
You would start such a trip at first light to be as high as you wanted to be by about 10AM. Your goal was to be off
the mountain and safely back below the tree line by 2pm. The mountains make their own weather and both
thunderstorms or unexpected snow in mid summer could
be deadly. It worked out to an all day trip cutting and
collecting the dead wood later in the afternoon if the
weather behaved.
