Weird, cool stuff you found in the woods.

Elk led me into this nightmare from the other end. This cedar took out dozens of other large stems when it fell. It was “only” 125’ tall but the fir and spruce were taller despite being less wide. All growing trees and brush on the sides and in between. If I got on top I couldn’t tell how far down the ground was. Plus the creek was under there too. Acres of carnage and the elk knew exactly how to get through it!!! I was elated to find that root wad.

 

I found a frog INSIDE a log once. And I'm not talking about in a rotten cavity. There was a wind downed tree and a friend and I were taking turns hacking at it with a hatchet, and I chipped some trunk away down close to the roots and there was a hole. We could see something moving inside. With a little careful effort we enlarged the hole enough to bring a frog out. It was very weak and died within minutes. The hole was perfectly round and smooth inside and the frog was completely encased. Can you imagine? No wonder it died.

 

A random (blurry) eagle's nest with the eagle to the left.

 

Are those beaver felled “high” stumps behind the stove?

 

cool! I've never seen any myself that high. I remember an image that seemed to show some chewed off at 6' or so after the snow melted away.

 

Was out mountain biking today and stumbled across something out of a True Detective episode. A couple of dilapidated houses in the middle of a vast forrest. There are no access roads on these trails so I have no idea how they built these homes or who would be living in them. I kept waiting for someone to come running towards me with a machete or chain saw.
They were riddled with graffiti, some of which I’ve left out due to the highly offensive nature of what was displayed, yes, more so than the swastika tagging, which is NOT cool btw. Just including it to reference the creepy nature of the place.

 

The painted footprints are cool. It was probably an old scout camp or something.

 

Those shrooms are wild!

 

If they were made out of just wood I could see that, but one of the homes was made solely of cinder blocks. How would they transport those through miles of forrest? It just seems really strange to me.

 

Smart decision. In the natural world, things with colors like that are usually a strong warning to stay the h*ll away: bugs, snakes, plants, fish, people: name it: "do not touch", "do not eat", "Keep back 500'." To me it looks radio-active. If the birds, Deere or other wildlife in your area don't eat it: wait until it dies and falls off on it's own and decays: Then sell the house and move to Bora Bora.

 

Why the elaborate tagging far out in the woods where few people will see it? Practice?

 

No idea, I think the elaborate stuff was done for exactly that, practice, there was also a ton of racist, homophobic and all around hate filled graffiti that was most likely done by separate parties.

 

Yeah, and it has what appears to be a concrete slab foundation, which means they either did it by hand or got trucks in there. I'm betting there was a dirt road in there at some point, but nature has taken it back.

 

Late to the party...

I currently own a '46 Stude M-5 1/2t. w/ the Commander I-6 L-Head. 3 speed transmission. Max speed is 45 mph, Min speed is... well I have literally gotten out and walked beside it as it idled up the path. Original color was Tan, but that had been changed at least seven times before I got it.
It was passed down from my grandfather to my father to me.
I drove it in college, courted my bride in it, brought my new-born daughter home from the hospital in it, and used it as a daily commuter for years.
Still have it now, but sadly Hurricane Harvey beat it up pretty bad.

-It is licensed as a '46, but all the parts are from '42. (Stude just used what they had on hand after war to build it.) So mine has the Weasel (a Stude tracked military vehicle*) spark distributor in it. That made for a difficult cap replacement few times.
-To allow it to be a better daily driver, I converted it to 12v by changing the generator for an alternator, battery too of course. And all of the bulbs. Never had to have the starter re-wound though. It always started right away, so never needed prolonged starter use.
-Added a second taillight (came w/ only one).
-Door key was on passenger side only (didn't want you opening the door into traffic, I guess).
-Had an oil bath air filter on a Carter carburetor. (I later swapped out the Carter for a Fish carburetor. That Fish is an amazing piece of engineering!)
-Mine came with a by-pass oil filter and a Fram C-4 was the spec, but a roll of toilet paper worked in a pinch (since it was by-pass and not full-flow).
-Driver side tire lug nuts are lefthanded threads (the thought was: they would stay tight w/ forward motion, right side had righthanded threads for the same reason).
-I can sit inside the engine cowling to adjust the valves while the engine was running. (L-Head remember.)
-Has a solid front axle (& rear wheel drive).
-Vacuum windshield wipers quit when passing (throttle wide open). #*%#@!!
-All of the original gauges still work, except for the temperature gauge. I broke (not loosened; broke) the line and let the ether escape. My back-up wrench let go. The odo is only five digits, has restarted, and is at 37k. So, 137k total is my guess because I doubt my forefathers ever flipped it.
-I permanently mounted a vacuum gauge under the hood and used it to fine tune that Fish carb. Was such a sweet set-up! Made travel between FL and CO with those altitude changes a piece of cake.
-It has had synthetic oil only in it since I've owned it (1979). Eng, Xmsn, & Diff, which kept it running like new 70 years later. (Parked it when I got my '17 Taco and that's when Harvey nailed it.)


*Studebaker is the only U.S. auto manufacturer to have built a vehicle for our military for every war from the Civil War to the Vietnam War.
That "unusually aerodynamic" styling also makes it easier to pick out the Stude built 6x6 trucks in WW2. They all look similar.

 

Great story
We need a picture or two!