I usually make a bridge across the river in late October or early November, before we have any permanent snow on the ground. Most years we have a snow or two in September and October, but with the global warming trends we have been seeing less and less of that. I have always figured if it snowed before the middle of November we would get some warm sunny days after that to take the snow off; any snow after the middle of November marks the start of our permanent snow for the winter. This year we didn't get any real snow until November. Unfortunately, it snowed hard November 1 and we got somewhere between 10" and 14", and I had a lot of chores that should have been done before permanent snow still undone. One of them was getting the bridge in.
My friends Steve and Diana dropped in for a few days on their way back from Alaska to help their daughter build a boathouse. We went up the river one day and built the piling on the far side for the landing for the log bridge. Then Sid came home after being discharged from the military, and he helped me put the logs on.
It used to be a long arduous process with come-alongs and a big tripod on the far side of the river, but then I discovered my tractor could (barely) lift one of the telephone poles oriented like a big stinger. So now it's a lot easier, albeit a bit dicey. So far we haven't broken any tractor parts, but I think we're pushing things. The tractor is a 65 Hp CaseIH C80 with a heavy-duty CaseIH front end loader, and has a big concrete weight (about 2000 pounds) on the back to counter-balance the leverage of the telephone pole.
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| Picking up the first pole |
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| Placing the first pole across | |
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| Checking the near side landing spot | Undoing the chain |
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| Sid going across to tie the pole down |
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| Tieing the Pole temporarily in Place | |
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| Hooking up the Second Pole | Moving the Second Pole into Place |
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| Setting the Second Pole on the Piling | Setting the Near End in Place |
After we had set the second pole in place and I went to take the chain which supported it on the end of the tractor fork off, I realized I had the same problem I had last year... In order to lift the pole, I put a chain across the front of the tractor fork to support it. The butt end of the pole then rides underneath the frame of the fork. After placing the first log, it's easy to remove the chain — you simply lower the tip of the fork and raise the rear end, and the chain is then slack underneath the pole. Unfortunately, when the second log is lowered into place, the chain is riding on top of the first log. So you can no longer tip the front of the fork down; you can't tip it up either; and the chain is tight. Fortunately, it is just wrapped around the front tip of the fork, and I could kick it off the end. Whew!
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| Contemplating the Tight Chain |
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| Two logs make a bridge! | Sid Crossing Back with the Rope |
We spread the near end of the logs a bit to support the deck better, then piled rocks to sort-of hold them in place.
Now all we have to do is screw down the deck and rig some planks to make it easy to get down to the ground on the far end.
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| Positioning the Near Ends Just So |
This page last updated on 2017-11-08.
