GC34G9J The Skidder
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro | Difficulty: | Terrain:
By: 2/3 Marine @ | Hide Date: 09/19/2011 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N39° 01.447 W104° 58.152 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
           

---

Cache can be reached off of the Schubarth Rd. Turn north on Forest Service Rd. 307A and from this point it's approximately 1.5 miles to the parking for this cache. You will need a 4X4 with decent clearance as 307A is a little rough & washed out in places. A mororcycle or ATV should also work. After the first couple of snows this cache will be hard to drive to. but the container will still be findable. Ran across this skidder about 40 years ago while hunting in the area.

---

HYSTER ARCH SKIDDER

A skidder is any type of heavy vehicle used in a logging operation for pulling cut trees out of a forest in a process called "skidding", in which the logs are transported from the cutting site to a landing.
Many styles and shapes of arches have been used to assist in moving logs. The winch line was threaded through the the arch. It provided two distinct benefits. First by pulling 'up' on the logs a little you could help free them from hang ups and obstacles that might be in the way (stumps for example). Secondly, logs drag a lot easier if they are partially lifted off the ground. This means that with an arch you can pull a lot more wood than if you are dragging the logs on the ground.
Similar in function to the slip-tongue wheels, arches were used to reduce friction by raising up one end of the load, which was dangled from a cable that in turn ran down the back of the arch, & was raised or lowered by the crawler's winch.
Tractor logging with an arch proved less expensive on favorable ground than cable logging. The keyword, of course, is 'favorable ground' which implies ground level enough that a dozer can operate.
I tried to date this skidder but didn't have any luck with that. Guessing it's from the 1930's.

08/01/2017 By YamaGypsy
Wow! Not what I expected to find. How did you find this? What happened to the trail or road they had been working on I wonder. Thanks for bringing us here.

07/08/2017 By billkat
Spent a while looking for the little booger even with the hint. Interesting antique. Tftc!

11/08/2016 By Back Country Horsemen
After finding the other 3 caches in the area I headed DOWN to this one. Of course when I was a little more than 1/2 way I came across the beautiful trail which took me right to the skidder. So cool to see something like that & I can just imagine the men working down in this beautiful little valley but surprised it was left there. I would have loved to see where this trail met the road but I was parked the other way so I went back the way I came.

10/23/2016 By DustyKat
Short but steep hike into this relic. Thanks for the fun.

09/04/2016 By SnailMan1
You never know what you will find when you are walking though the woods. This was a first for me I have never seen anything like this before.. TFTC.