In addition to being prepared for any
kind of weather conditions when driving mountain roads in Montana, you need to
be prepared to suddenly find the route impassable because a tree has dropped
across the road. To that end, I carry a couple of handsaws in my truck at all
times. Often, I also have my chainsaw bouncing around in the box of the truck.
Yesterday, after rounding a corner on
a road traversing the mountains outside of Lincoln, Desiree and I encountered
an aspen tree slashed across the roadway, making it entirely impassable. Not a
sapling, either. This one was nearly sixteen inches thick at the base. Luckily,
I had the chainsaw.
I fired it up and chunked the lower
section into pieces we could roll aside. Desiree and I worked together,
clearing just enough space for the truck. At one point, the chainsaw bar got
pinched between two trunk sections, and I had to dig out the handsaw to free
it. Fifteen minutes later, I squeezed through the narrow path we’d made—back on
the road, the way open behind us.
—Mitchell Hegman
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