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August 2021 - A general update for the month. We
apparently came in contact with some type of poison oak within the last couple
of weeks. A lot of scratching and lotions and took about two weeks for this to
get better. We put in a call to the city about maintain the public access road
to the property and to pick up trash which we collected and put at the beginning
of the city road. The answer was okay about picking up the trash but a no about
maintaining the road which currently can only be accessed using a four wheel
drive vehicle. A week after the call and still the trash was not picked
up....typical island procrastination. |
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August 1, 2021 - Worked at the campsite basically
burning a lot of understory trees cut during previous trips. Got a visit from
the manager of the adjacent park who was wondering who was working on land he
thought was publicly owned. The banana tree was untouched by the deer. We put a
bunch of sweet potato vines, unplanted, to see if the deer would eat them. |
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August 3, 2021 - Came up with a crazy idea today.
The campsite is going to double as a kind of amphitheater for small concerts
with an audience of up to 50 people. We began taking out understory trees for
this purpose. The natural slope of the terrain is perfect for this. Work at the
campsite once again included burning a lot of previously cut understory trees. A
fire was made over the proposed tent site to get rid of roots and any ant
colonies. The banana tree and the sweet potato vines were untouched by the deer. |
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August 5, 2021 - A lot of work on the campsite
today. More soil removed from the tent area and another fire over an unwanted
tree stump using termite infested wood. Another attempt at making a trail to the
public walkway which leads to a bathroom and found a huge boulder. A large piece
was split off (forgot to take a picture) and rolled it all the way to the
campsite. Makes a great chair. A bit more work on the parking area. |
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August 7, 2021 - A crazy day up in the mountains.
We were in between a couple of tropical storms and the weather forecast called
for cloudy skies and a 25% chance of rain which they changed to 40% later in the
day. Anyway, looking at the radar map and being the weather geek that I am, I
was sure it was going to rain....and it did, a lot. The family was huddled in
the back of the truck for a couple of hours while I was out cutting understory
trees in the pouring rain. Anyway, we really thinned out the original campsite
close to the parking area. We are planning to move the brown farm bus up to this
campsite to be used for sleeping and for storage of things we would need to
continuously bring up there like the tent, sleeping bags, BBQ equipment, and
tools. |
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August 9, 2021 - The tropical storm was now north
of the island and we decided to head up to the mountains once again. The
forecast was for a lot of wind but there was a moderate breeze at best. A partly
cloudy beautiful day. We spent the entire day working on the parking area and
the adjacent campsite. |
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August 16, 2021 - Today was all about the
campsite close to the entry. The mountain was soaked from a week of rain and
burning the leaves was difficult but worked out okay. Getting much closer to
being able to camp up there and finish up with the day trips. Walked to the
public bathroom which took about ten minutes each way. The road to get there is
full of weeds though. |
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August 23, 2021 - Another soaked day up in the
mountains. Spent a few hours with a hand hoe and rake and got rid of the weeds
on the city road from the agroforest entry to the public walking road. Now easy
access to the public bathroom from the campsite. A bit more work on the campsite
and the parking area. Found a bird nest and was able to listen to deer sounds.
Was a very tiring day though. |
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August 25, 2021 - Much of today was spent working
on the campsite. Possibly first day to see a worst bee. Yuk. |
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August 27, 2021 - Today was all about making an
access road from the parking area to the campsite in order to move the bus up
there. A lot of trees were removed and now we are ready for camping. |
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August 29-31, 2021 - We went camping for the
first time on our mountain. The stay was for three days and two nights. Day one
was all about getting set up. All of us drove up in the truck except Akiko who
drove our recently converted brown farm bus which will now serve as a tent and
storage space. We set up the tent and small table and enjoyed our first night at
the mountains. The second day was spent removing all the trees we cut to make
room for the campsite. The third day was spent mostly on the parking area and
repositioning the bus. We put up all the keep out notices. Still getting over
the second round of poison oak and stubbed my little toe on a small tree chunk.
The kids had a really good time and all of us are making plans to move up there.
Picture - Mountain - Us about to return home
picture-1.
Picture - Mountain - Us about to return home
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