Doesn’t it look pitiful down there, the poor, little Kawasaki Mule?

I had driven it down the slope of our new lot towards Fouche Gap Road to get to a downed hickory. I failed to get enough firewood last summer, and this tree looked like a good bet. It had broken off a couple of feet above the ground but it hadn’t broken entirely off. That held most of it off the ground, so it didn’t rot. It seems pretty well seasoned. I took the Mule down on Tuesday with my chainsaw to cut it up and then back on Wednesday to haul the rounds up the hill and to our current house.

I got the Mule a few years ago to haul firewood, rocks and landscaping material around the yard. It was a little hard to justify then, but there is no way I could have brought the hickory up the hill without it. I expect to use it for firewood gathering in the future, and I think that’s going to make it worthwhile.

The slope down towards Fouche Gap Road is fairly steep; with the deep leaf litter on the ground, it’s actually hard to walk down hill. The Mule takes the slope down easily, although it was not particularly comfortable when I had to go across the slope a couple of times. I made it down to the tree and was able to turn around so I could head back uphill after putting the first load in the back. On the return trip, I got the Mule turned around, but it slipped downhill a little and rolled over one of the rounds. It was wedged in under the rear suspension just tight enough that I couldn’t move.

It’s hard enough to get traction going uphill with all the leaves on the ground. With the log stuck under the rear suspension the tires just spun, even with four-wheel drive.

I tried to figure a way to dislodge the piece of wood, but there was nothing around to use, and the Mule is far to heavy to try to pick it up. I had no choice but to climb back up to the top and then walk home to get a shovel. Unfortunately, once I got back to the Mule, I couldn’t dig the offending round from beneath the rear suspension, so I had to go back home again to get a come-along and a six-foot tamper/pry bar. All that gear was too heavy to carry by hand, so I drove the truck.

I used the big pry bar to pound the tree section out and get the Mule moving again. I divided the remaining wood into two loads because I was a little worried about making it up with a heavy load. Once all the wood was at the top, I put it into the back of the Mule and took it home. Then I walked back to get the truck.

All that climbing and walking seems to have been a little more than my knees wanted to do. They’re bothering me a little tonight.

I made this panorama starting down towards Fouche Gap Road, then turning to look back up the slope towards where our house will be.

You really need to hold the camera level to make a good panorama, but it’s hard to do that on a slope like this. Photoshop Elements does a really good job of stitching the shots together. If you end up with blank areas like in this image, it will offer to fill them in. It can do a reasonably good job with something like sky or even water, but it can’t put trees in when they’re not there, so I just left the blank areas in the image.