June 12, 2000 I Want to Be a Lumberjack

The Bad news: Three weeks ago, I missed the chance to take you to the Maple Festival in Croghan. I left my camera at home, and I am sorry. You will have to wait until next year to experience that thrill.

The good news: I finally made it to a Lumberjack Festival in Croghan, and I have remembered my camera. Croghan is actually the nearest town to where I live. Depending on how dangerous you are felling on those back road curves, you can get there in 20-25 minutes. It is not where I go most of the time to get supplies. Croghan is still too small to have a real grocery store. The one grocery store they have, has a hardware store in the basement and a gift and toy shop in an annex. Croghan is a tourist town. That is clear, but I have not yet figured out when the attraction is. I guess it could be two Lumberjack festivals a year. A friend of mine that watches ESPN II on occasion says that there are really good lumberjacks from Croghan on when they have lumberjack competitions. There is the maple festival, in may, and what else? I am not really sure. My theory is that Croghan has reached a critical mass of country quirkiness and charm, so that is all it needs is these stores, to draw people in.

Let's get you into the lumberjack events.

First is the log role. It was more exciting to watch than photograph. The object. A team of two roles a log 50 feet and ends it against two posts in the ground, and then returns it. It is a timed event and to log does not role straight.

Then there is the ax toss. It's self explanatory. The best part is they make a target that will hold a pop can in the middle, so if anyone gets a bulls eye, the shaken can of pop sprays all over. We didn't get to see that.

 

 Good form. I think I know this guy, or know of him. I can't remember what someone told me about him though.
 

"Croghan, We have lift off."
"Roger that. Hey, get those people away from the target"
 

These were the amateurs and locals that we watched on Saturday. The top four from each event got to participate in that event with the professionals, on Sunday. Sadly, I had to miss Sunday, because I had to cut down trees, ironically.

So up until this point, this is looking like fun. I could learn how to throw and ax, and role a log faster. And I know how to use a chain saw. Maybe I will do this next year.

In the ax toss you could see the spirit of fun, and why not give it a try. There was a father daughter team that only participated in that event. Maybe someday, that'll be me. I'd be so proud of a daughter that could wield an ax and chain saw with confidence.

This is one of three events that are very similar and boring to watch. The basics are, you have to cut a couple of slabs off the log. The particulars are you have only a certain amount of log to work with and it is timed. One you have a stock chain saw, and are timed. Two you use your own saw, and have to cut two thin slices. Three you have to use your own saw, and cut through a bigger log, as fast as you can.

Still I am thinking that I could do this. Camp would have to get a bigger chain saw so I could look cool.

The next event is a killer. It was called the obstacle or something. You start on one end of the log, run to the other end, back along the top of the log, start your saw, make a full cut, then back the log, and back to the start.
 

Did I mention the log is off the ground six feet? And not so big? This event I will not do.

Maybe in the fall I will get to see some of the professional events. They have a couple of events where they have to actually use and ax and not through on. In one, that I have never seen, they stand on a block, and chop the block away beneath them.

During a chain saw safety demonstration, I heard a guy remark in the back ground. "What is this? We can to see these guys chop themselves up, not be safe." I guess he was referring to one of these ax event. Though, refer to that last picture above, and tell me that is safe.

MiXiM