You really have not surveyed until you've had to brush out 200' long cross sections every 100 feet for miles in 10' to 20' blackberries
Reminds me of the early days of road traverse and cross sections.
We'd peg the traverse then cut sections 20 metres left and right.
Then level them with dumpy level.
We'd joke about the 'banana sections' where the bloke cutting obviously didn't take care and when he got out to his limit couldn't see the traverse. He'd cut an arc!
Those were the days.
But what was worse were the times you'd spend week or more slogging and cutting in our dismal Ti Tree and cutting grass swamps only to see the dozer walk through in an hour or so.
My chainman always said 'it's the same rate', referring to whatever the job we got paid the same.
John,
You really have not surveyed until you work solo carrying traverse equipment above timberline all day or carrying a bunch of steel to pound in the ground.
A narrative aside: I only carry two hammers, a Estwing g-pick and a 3 lb. hand sledge. 😉
I get a kick out of folks that see photos of me up there wondering how an old, gray-haired, and fluffy guy makes it around.
Here I am at 13,200 ready to set a witness corner on the ridge line. The only part that gets cold on a windy day is my neck, so therefore the stylish and moth nibbled balaclava. The Leica RTK setup with the stakeout a line feature is awesome!
My gear and pack after setting the first pin and two accessories. The views at this altitude make it worthwhile. The stone in the mid ground had been pulled out of the ground by an enviro nerd so I got a warmup by replanting it before my scheduled work.
Gene Kooper, post: 444198, member: 9850 wrote: The stone in the mid ground had been pulled out of the ground by an enviro nerd so I got a warmup by replanting it before my scheduled work.]
Those enviro nerds can be annoying!
During the short amount of time I worked in CO I once had to carry 6' tall 4"x4" posts over long distances in pretty high altitudes to set with rocks mounds to stake a claim. That felt like real work!
I've been blessed to survey all over the world. Each and every place posed unique challenges and provided unique benefits.
As for cutting line, try pretty much anywhere in Central America. Trees with 8 inch thorns, caterpillars that knock you flat with electric shocks, canopy so thick the darkness is described as '3 feet up a cats a$$' and an abundance of animals willing to kill and eat you. When you leave the city it gets worse;^)
Ahhh, cutting tools.....
In the back of my vest, carried every minute of everyday, is an estwing 14" hatchet. It is used for everything from making nice clean cuts in lawns, hammering nails, mini-pry bar, used as a chisel (with a sledge) to chip out asphalt covered monuments, and to set a groove on rocky ground for lath.
It is obvously super dull, but can still limb trees if required. This is the modernized version of the northern Canadian surveyors "ground axe".
For woodland surveying, I carry my (personal) trusty old ox-head (ochsenkopf) ax with a 22" hickory handle tucked into my belt. Anything shorter is a hatchet and is considerably more hazardous, anything longer becomes unwieldy for hiking. For someone not willing to do the maintenance on an ox-head, a fiskars cutting Ax is a close match with no maintenance required.
For a machete, I have a tramontina from Mexico. Light, and flexible, but the modern ones aren't the same. For the crew, the fiscars, with the 5 holes in the nose are great. They are thick and weighty, so your preferences may vary.
In the mail I have the fiskars retractable pole saw, 3' collapsed, (fits in a lath bag!) and 8' fully extended! Hopefully it doesn't suck.
Gene Kooper, post: 444198, member: 9850 wrote: I only carry two hammers, a Estwing g-pick and a 3 lb. hand sledge.
Considering that those appear to be #6 rebars, I'm going to guess that you mostly work in loose soils or talus if you can drive a #6 rebar 24 inches or longer with a 3-lb. sledge. I don't see a rock drill among the field equipment, which would be needed in most of the Hill Country of Central Texas. Must be nice to have it so easy.
Kent McMillan, post: 444210, member: 3 wrote: Considering that those appear to be #6 rebars, I'm going to guess that you mostly work in loose soils or talus if you can drive a #6 rebar 24 inches or longer with a 3-lb. sledge. I don't see a rock drill among the field equipment, which would be needed in most of the Hill Country of Central Texas. Must be nice to have it so easy.
The No. 6 rebar are 30" long and yes there is little to no clay in the mountain soil. I can usually drive a 30" rebar nearly flush to the ground and pull it back out with one hand. In these areas I also drive two 2-foot long steel "T" fence posts as accessories flush to the ground and tie a stainless steel washer to them. Since I was staking the witness corners on the ridge line and using Leica's equipment, I was free to establish the witness corner at a point on the line that was conducive to driving it 2 feet. Simple when you have the right equipment instead of relying on the brutishness of a hammer drill.
And no Kent, I don't see you being able to carry a pack full of steel and equipment at elevation. You just wouldn't make it anywhere where your Tundra can't drive to. Besides, the chill and wind up there isn't conducive to a desert reptile like yourself. For example here is a PhD geologist following me around at 13,600 on July 19th. The poor guy was nearly an icicle. 😉
On the other hand, you seem only comfortable down on the flats, Kent. An old photo before you lost your hat.
Gene Kooper, post: 444215, member: 9850 wrote: The No. 6 rebar are 30" long and yes there is little to no clay in the mountain soil. I can usually drive a 30" rebar nearly flush to the ground and pull it back out with one hand.
So, basically what you're saying is that you search for places where you can't set a permanent monument in order to be able to use a small sledge to drive it. Interesting philosophy, if not exactly a model for land surveyors.
On the other hand, you seem only comfortable down on the flats, Kent.
Yes, obviously there are advantages to working in an atmosphere around 2500 ft. MSL that has a higher oxygen content if at the higher altitudes things go as haywire as would appear from your accounts.
That target that I was standing next to about 25 years ago when the photo was taken is guyed off by wires tied to 8 in. spikes that had to be drilled into the rocky ground. It would be amusing to watch you try to drive a rebar just about anywhere in those limestone hills.
two weeks ago when i finished the pikes peak ascent i stood around without a shirt for about 20 minutes, sweating. it was in the mid 50s. (that's the warmest i ever remember it being up there.)
about a week before that we took the kids and the dog up la plata peak. it was fairly balmy up there too. i wasn't sure how the dog was going to handle the elevation (i had a pretty good idea, which was confirmed, regarding how the kids would handle it- they moaned and whined, but they did it). turned out to be the best day of his 9 year existence- at least so far. he just kept going and going and going. then he slept for about 2 days. here he is taking a short breather on the way back down:
thebionicman, post: 444201, member: 8136 wrote: I've been blessed to survey all over the world. Each and every place posed unique challenges and provided unique benefits.
As for cutting line, try pretty much anywhere in Central America. Trees with 8 inch thorns, caterpillars that knock you flat with electric shocks, canopy so thick the darkness is described as '3 feet up a cats a$$' and an abundance of animals willing to kill and eat you. When you leave the city it gets worse;^)
It sounds like you're qualified to survey in Texas.
Kent McMillan, post: 444235, member: 3 wrote: So, basically what you're saying is that you search for places where you can't set a permanent monument in order to be able to use a small sledge to drive it. Interesting philosophy, if not exactly a model for land surveyors.
Yes, obviously there are advantages to working in an atmosphere around 2500 ft. MSL that has a higher oxygen content if at the higher altitudes things go as haywire as would appear from your accounts.
That target that I was standing next to about 25 years ago when the photo was taken is guyed off by wires tied to 8 in. spikes that had to be drilled into the rocky ground. It would be amusing to watch you try to drive a rebar just about anywhere in those limestone hills.
Sorry, Kent. The idea of working in such a drab place where the only rock type for miles is an off-color limestone with occasional bivalve fossils is too uninteresting for my tastes. I mean if the Edwards Limestone had the occasional concretion with the hope of a well preserved Placenticeras meeki I would volunteer to be the carrier of your hammers.
I guess working in such a drab place is why you were so intrigued with trying to figure out how to cross an 8-foot game fence. BTW...I would have thought that among the answers for how to best protect yourself when crossing one of those fences, nobody suggested placing a saddle blanket over the barb wire. I mean you live in Texas, right?
Hopefully, one of these days you'll finally get a job in an interesting area (geologically speaking that is). For example, in the Llano area working around the Enchanted Rock Batholith. One of my geology professors did his PhD dissertation on the Enchanted Rock Batholith. If I were to ever visit Texas, that would be first on my list.
And, yes I agree that you shouldn't work above 2500'. The affects of anoxia tend to steal the memory of flatlanders. Before you knew it you would have scattered several of your hammers and your treasured impact drill at the many stone mounds you had visited that day. 🙂
Where is the quad in all these tree less wastelands photos
walking is for the unfortunate or a condition required to be a true Texas surveyor plodding across the desert
nice roof to cut the sun
Note ample racks to carry a couple ice cold water Mellon's in a cooler, copy's of the wall street journal plus copy rock / barb wire identification second
edition for surveyors.
Peter Kozub, post: 444294, member: 375 wrote:
that second picture has to be up north somewhere. i don't think that vintage of buick century can exist (strangely enough) more than about 4 years in any environment where the roads aren't salted. that looks like a missouri/iowa/michigan strain of redneck engineering.
Kent VS. Gene
or is it
Gene Vs. Kent?
Either way - it is always fun guessing who will run out of fluids first in a contest such as this.
Bwahahaha.
Actually it almost always ends when one of us becomes uninterested in continuing.
flyin solo, post: 444296, member: 8089 wrote: ...that looks like a missouri/iowa/michigan strain of redneck engineering.
I'll second that vote. Looks like a "Yooper" wagon to me fer sure.
Gene Kooper, post: 444289, member: 9850 wrote: The idea of working in such a drab place where the only rock type for miles is an off-color limestone with occasional bivalve fossils is too uninteresting for my testes.
Hopefully, one of these days you'll finally get a job in an interesting area (geologically speaking that is).
Yes, I can see how if a person were working all day on barren spots above the tree line, he'd have to claim to find interest in what little that sterile scene had to offer, and that would be something like "geology". "Yes," he'd tell the folks at the bar later, "we may not have much oxygen here in Colorado, but there's a reason we have more geologists than land suveyors."
Tom Adams, post: 444262, member: 7285 wrote: It sounds like you're qualified to survey in Texas.
I have thank you. Left when it got too easy... ;^)
thebionicman, post: 444323, member: 8136 wrote: I have thank you. Left when it got too easy... ;^)
Hey...I'm not sure you were supposed to say that out loud with Texas Surveyors present.
Kent McMillan, post: 444320, member: 3 wrote: Yes, I can see how a person working all day above timberline can see through my BS. "Yes," he'd tell the folks at the bar later, "we may not have much flat land here here in Colorado, but at least we don't have to deal with 8 ft. high fences much."
Two can play at that game Kent.
Loyal
