Surveying in wooded, steep terrain

parts of WV = parts of TN^2
We got flat mostly here in MS, but sometimes swamps, skeeters, and cottonmouths.
I guess they get used to climbing hills. I'm about too old for it.
btw, I worked in Bluefield, WV for about a year, younger & stronger then.

You haven't lived until you have had to stand tip toe on one side of the gun and are almost on your knees on the other side, and then when you get back to the same job a week later half of your nails have been pulled up.:'(
I work in the Asheville area and it's not usually that bad but we have had some jobs that were nightmares. Two days to go 600 feet, after climbing down the side of a mountain to get to the line. Fortunately most of what we do is in the valleys.

I've been working occasionally in WV since I started surveying. In the early 80's I laid out a lot of gas well road relocations for Stonewall Jackson Lake (near Weston), and I can tell you it is tough. Besides the traverse, we had to run levels up and down the mountains.

WV is the toughest place in the country for GPS. They do have a VRS now (DOT), but cell service isn't the best either.

I have done a lot of work in TN as well, all photo control, it is a beautiful state and the people are nice. If I didn't live in western PA I would like to live in eastern TN. Western TN, not so much. Too flat.

I live in West Tennessee. I have never surveyed in the mountains. It is a young man's game. I am not in good enough shape to climb/traverse those mountains.

It is beautiful over there. I have a lot of good surveying buddies that live in East Tennessee.

When I was a student at ETSU, it didn't take long for me to figure out that I wouldn't like surveying in the terrain.

Been there, done that. But the best comment I ever heard about surveying in rough terrain came from Andrew Ellicott when he was surveying the Western PA line where it joins OH & WV. Basically his comment came down to he couldn't understand why anyone cared where the line was.

I've surveyed in every mountain range from Elizabethton to Chattanooga and although they are the most difficult jobs (physically) I've done, I look back and realize they're always my favorite jobs because of all the treachery....makes for good stories, especially wildlife encounters, moonshine/meth/weed run-ins, etc.

It keeps you in shape. When we survey it is 90% of the time in a straight line cutting a 3 foot wide path in often the least desireable parts of the land. Nobody wants a transmission line in there back yard. I quickly got out of shape when I moved in the office. I went and worked on a job in the field that before wouldn't bother me and it about killed me.

> ...I went and worked on a job in the field that before wouldn't bother me and it about killed me.

...join the club...be proud. :pinch:

> Been there, done that. But the best comment I ever heard about surveying in rough terrain came from Andrew Ellicott when he was surveying the Western PA line where it joins OH & WV. Basically his comment came down to he couldn't understand why anyone cared where the line was.

Started surveying in the Steubenville, OH and Wheeling WV area. Have had many hillside setups like Hollandbriscoe mentioned above. Some so steep that we were forced to add traverse points because a standards mount EDM could not elevate/depress to the prism. Naturally that required cutting more brush.

We've got some terrain around these parts real similar to what you describe. So steep a guy has to grab roots and brush to pull himself up. I'm still flabbergasted by the old GLO surveyors that came through in 1915-1918 and broke down these townships using transits and chains and somehow managed to be within a foot or two of record distance. They were a lot tougher and more patient men than me.

:good: :good:

30 years surveying in the National Forest in Montana. ATV's and GPS made the job faster, but not necessarily easier. We did primarily static GPS on corners and sawed our way on the line. A few trees died so many would live.

I cut my surveying teeth all over the western NC mountains that border East TN.
The scenery is down right awesome to say the least.
I remember a few places saying "really, we got to survey through that?"
Some places you just shake your head wondering if anyone in the office ever got out the chair, much put eyeballs on the ground before sending us out.
Some places were just downright dangerous and some ropes and lite climbing gear would have been nice.

Someone else mentioned about being on your knees for one shot, turn a 180 and you are on tippy-toes. Not being a tall guy, I usually had to find something to stand on or call someone else who was taller to come over and take the shots. Times like that, we'd usually just trade off running the gun for the rod for a while.

I'm glad to have had the experiences. You can't hardly beat it when you come upon a waterfall so far off the beaten path (if there was any), that you wonder when the last time a human may have seen it.

My body and vertigo couldn't come close to taking that king environment anymore.
E

I have surveyed the mountains in the "High Country" here in NC. There is nothing like hiking and climbing up down these mountains. It is hard work. It takes about six months to get acclimated to the terrain physically. At 43 I can still do it with the best of them. Actually seen some land owners in their 60's, 70's, and several in their 80,s actually do better than the young'ins.

I have surveyed from the toe of Mt Mitchell at the South Toe River to the top, up and down Grandfather, hills around Avery County, and the love of life Wilkes County. Been to Asheville, Murphy, and Andrews up and down those mountains.

I am current stuck in Charlotte in an office. While the money is good the drive stinks. My heart ache's for the hills. Money and the corporate world is no caomparasion. Waiting for the right opportunity to come along and back to the hills I go.

I miss the thrill as each job was different from the last. Corners where no other surveyor had been in hundred or more years and some no one had been in many years.

Tracers would have been a great help on most jobs but alas no young'ins no how or what.

I just ran about 10 miles of traverse in the Green Mountains of southern Vermont this past November through January. It involved some steep hills, ALOT of walking and ALOT of chainsaw work. The witch hobble down there was 6 feet tall! I never realised how hard that stuff is to cut line through. Fortunately 99% of the work was in mature hardwoods and of course the leaves were off.

It was very physically demanding but it makes you feel good at the end of the day. Now I've been sitting in the office all day trying to make sense of all of this data. I love running through the data and remembering all of the things that happened while I was out there.... chainsaw broke here, up and down a 40% grade 5 times there, ect, ect...

Good times

Gregg

I also have surveyed on Mt. Mitchell. Part of the park boundary. Gets the heart beating both from the views and the work. I actually own land on the South Toe river. My front porch(when I build it) will have a view of Mt. Mitchell! For the moment I am in eastern NC-but maybe one day????

My brother used to work for a surveyor in western NC. He would tell me stories of their adventures. Hiking in to remote areas with only time to make one or two traverse legs for the day, then start hiking out. Walking all day looking for a parcel of land only to find out from the old timers that they were one valley over from where they should have been. Taking most of the day to make one traverse leg across a ravine. Shoveling out a spot for the gun on the side of a mountain. Real work. At that time, the guys he worked for stayed booked for a year out.
They kept the office door locked and only returned calls for a few minutes at the end of day.

I'm in the exact same neck of the woods Hollandbriscoe and I hear ya! I was on a lot so steep the other day I could barely walk up it much less try to set up the gun!!