More wood cutting in the Wallowas this weekend. Lindsey and I made a trip into Big Sheep basin this weekend to work for wing ski tours. By helping Roger, the owner/operator of the company, he gives us 2 free nights in one of his backcountry ski huts for each day that we work. This was Lindsey's first trip into the Wallowas, and it was my first time when the fall colors were this vibrant. It was a beautiful weekend, the larch were changing color (bright yellow) as well as the aspen, and to top it off the area we were in was burned in 1989, so all of the understory regen is deciduous. Many of those understory plants are turning a bright color of red.

We spent most of the day splitting and stacking firewood. Lindsey and our other friend Linsy (yes that's how it's spelled) spent much of the day stacking the wood that we split. They did an incredible job of creating very nice and neat stacks with very little sway or open spaces. It was pretty impressive. One of the photos is of those piles at the end of the day, and of Lindsey using a very specialized tool (sledge hammer) to straighten the pile.

Of course the dogs made the trip with us, and they spent most of the day digging in random places in the meadow and chasing anything that made noise....I think they are still sleeping today as a result.

It looks as though the dogs and I will make another trip in there this weekend to do some more work as there is plenty more to be done. Certainly there will be more photos from that next week.