A few have asked me questions about my rock hauling.
This is the rocky road across the bog. Must be 100 feet long. I have to measure it someday.This is floating land. Even my 40hp tractor use to make the land roll in front of me and behind me. This is the start of it,in the middle the rocks are an easy 2 feet deep,might even be 3 feet. This is the only way to get to the wood on the other side.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/longrockyroad2017.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507893388)
All rocks are hauled up in my bucket on my 40hp tractor. Sometimes only one rock at a time,because of the size of it. Sometimes I make 2-3 trips at a time and than others a load of rocks,than I bring out a load of wood.
Note how the left side has tall trees,none on the right. I cleared off the right side a few years back. I had to winch everything to me. This is a warm bog and I really have nothing to get onto it with. This bog I can be walking on snow,than I can hit a warm spot and sink into a foot of water. I think I cleared off about 200 feet off from the rocky road.There was really nothing of any logs,it's a hard place to grow trees when your feet are wet all the time.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/clearcutbog2017.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507893923)
I put small rocks on top of the big rocks to make for a smoother ride. Some rocks are 2 feet tall. I am on the end of the rocky road,so the rocks are only a foot high now.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/rocky_road2017.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507893473)
This is where the rocks are coming from this time. I have already hauled off about 50 feet of the wall. The first tree is a white birch,than the next one is an elm tree,I think the only one I have on my land,than that small one is a butternut tree,I might give that one to the neighbor. He's planting a bunch of nut trees. Than past that are some bigger butternut trees.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/stonewallbydriveway2017.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507893644)
This is looking the other way,elm tree,small butternut.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/stonewallby_driveway2.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507893540)
This is down by the big butternut.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/stonewallbydriveway3.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507893589)
This is a stonewall in the woods. I have been working on this one for years. This one connects to the one above. Use to be a field where all the trees are.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/stonewalls_in_woods2017.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507893733)
And here is one I could not pick up. I could roll/push it,so I pushed it up on top of another rock. That is a hat for size.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/bigrock.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1507893275)
Looks fun :). Nice property.
What an accomplishment! nice looking road
Nice looking place you got there. Looks like you've put in a lot of work.
Nice to have round rocks. Everything around here is ledge'y and sharp, unless your picking new grown rocks from corn fields ;D .
Ah Ray,You are such a slacker,you weren't around when they built the pyramids were you? ;D
Wow, that's A LOT of work I can just imagine. I have been picking a lot too on my land, but more on the land I am farming.
It's nice to see about the progress and the benefits you will have from putting wood roads in.
I have a bog like that just on the edge of the bush, where I would like to put a 300' lane in so I can pass it year around.
Maybe 200' is bad and black muck, just thought that might be a good place to bury the old barn foundation.
Keep on rocking Ray. :)
I have several rock bars on y 40+ acres of WV mountain land and they can be useful but most of the time they are just a pain. I have thought about putting out signs "Anyone caught stealing rocks will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law" and hopefully someone will think they are valuable and come steal them. :D I was going to try that with my multi-flora roses till I got goats and got ahead of them. Good luck with you rock moving project. At least it looks like you have good use for them.
LoL
You've done a ton of good work Ray. Amazing. I have one trail that I call rocky road but it is nothing compared to what you built for yourself there. I can see that I am doing it all wrong - I take the big rocks out of the road and put them on the old wall ;D
gg
Well now.. that there is determination. A hundred years some one will come across that road and be amazed. Nice job on your property. Thank you for taking the time to post some pics. :)
That's a lot of work. When you were talking about rocks I was thinking you were clearing a field not moving a rock wall.
Nice road. Thanks for the pixs
Determination,good word. Need a place for all the rocks I dig out. And I need a safe way to get across the bog. Makes a person kinda nervous to see the ground rise before you and fall behind you. Than I had my land logged. A forwarder with a load of logs really finds the soft places. The big rocks held it up just fine.
Peter,I was digging some rocks out of the field.
Note the rocks on the edge of the woods. Lots of edges too. ;D Look for the gray areas.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/003.JPG?easyrotate_cache=1400848303)
Than a pile here too.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10436/rocks2013thecfarm.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1366122769)
Not the first time a stone wall has been put into the bog. There was one that was never built. Some places 10 feet wide.Looks like a dump cart was tripped and just move forward. If they dumped in one spot fine,if the rocks got spread out 10 feet fine too. I got tried of trying to keep the bushes down from that area. To the bog the wall went. These was rocks that could be picked up by hand for the most part.Held up a 40 hp tractor fine. A forwarder,not so well. Than the bigger rocks was brought in. That worked.
If you ever get bored, you can just go haul some rocks ;D.
I could use something bigger than a 40hp NH tractor to help out on the boredom part. ;D
Ray has a pretty place there and with a wonderful view. :)
I didn't see no rocks......well maybe a few. ;D
Ray, I do believe you have mentioned rocks in passing before, now I understand why😂
I betcha I have more stonewalls than any other member. And I am only talking about the ones that can be seen from my house. Use to be alot of fields around here. There are stone walls out in the woods too. Many rocks still in those so called fields too,uneven ground too. But some of those fields was either mowed by hand,or with a short cutter bar,horse drawn equipment.
There are still many rocks in my fields too. I have dug out all that I can with my tractor.
c farm i gotta meet you sometime. and by the way i got about 70 acres of rocks up to volkswagon size if you run out lol....if i could only market these things ..... ;D i generally dig a 8 foot deep hole to bury the 3'ers then have to dig a 10' deep hole to bury the 6'er i dug out for the previous one ...and so on
I have rock walls too. I have seen piles of rocks the size of my house. :D :D
pinefeller,you do better than me. If I was to bury my rocks,I would find more rocks. Than I would need dirt to fill up the holes and find more rocks. :D One big rock produces 4-5-6 smaller ones. By smaller I mean a foot across. I can't count the others ones. But I do have a place that I get dirt from. The last layer I dump,then I sort through it and put the rocks into the bucket. Repeat until hole is filled in.
Peter,I don't have piles of rocks that big. Just rocks that big. Lying on that part. ;D Or I think I am. :D I have no idea how big some are underground. Just like the one that I pushed the rock on top of. Who knows what is hidden under ground.
Some good size one was found when digging for the foundation here. I did have to call in the blasting crew for the bedroom. The guy digging hit something of some size. Took the blasting crew twice to get it.
Than the well drilling guy saw all the rocks and metioned how I would have plenty of good water here. He was right.
I took the top link out and cracked the seat cover on my tractor trying to derock one of our fields. I stuck forks under one and hooked into an iceberg, just about rolled it out and it slammed back down on the tractor, that was an expensive rock! Early on I was bush hogging and found the old outhouse pit by making gravel, they had filled it with rocks, another expensive bunch of rocks ::).
There is a cliff at one end of our property, at the base is our quarry when we want to build walls or fill low areas, everything from gravel to house sized. The bears live somewhere up and amongst them. The locals think it is a rattlesnake pit and I don't do anything to dissuade them of that notion ;D. We were in a museum one day and I saw our rock in one of the cases labeled "semi-precious". That particular rock runs for about 100 miles and the jewelers have not lined up yet :D
I would love to build one of those rock walls on my place but there is one small problem..... ::)
ill give you a second to re read my previous post.....
At least you have something to bury the big ones with. You can see what I did with one of mine big ones. And it was smaller than a VW too. ;D
Lots of work! Nice job.
Around here the county would declare that a "wetlands violation" and then steal half your land and make you "reclaim" it with swamp plants and big fines.
yep 580l case is probably the best thing i own (almost own) and with the thumb i can pick up a 4' rock,. im a cash on the barrel kind of guy but for tax reasons and the right now factor i pulled the trigger on mine. if you can swing a small payment youd never go back to farm equipment. when shees paid off bye bye manual mill hello orange... ill keep ol thomas around as a permanent mill with like 50' of track for specialty stuff.
There are big piles of pretty small rocks all around the perimeters of the open spaces on our place, which I am told were accumulated by the farm kids in days of old. Parents would line them up to de-rock the fields.
Would that be...Collective farming?
I popped several turtles on my 1411 discbine in my hay cutting days finding the ones they could not move. It was like "metal 🐢 meets stone 🐢", not so happy outcome.
Northern VA has LOTS of rock walls on its pricey estates. I guess their rock picking had more style.