Labor of Love

Being "retired" means you can do whatever you want, so when someone mentioned to me last month that the stairway to Annie Healy's Lookout in Argentia was impassable due to tree overgrowth I took it upon myself to see if it was a project I could tackle in an afternoon.

Entire boardwalk choked closed

The lookout is my favorite spot in Argentia, but I came at it from the water side this year on my two previous visits so I didn't notice the stairway condition.  I was a bit shocked to see that some mild intrusion of bushes from last summer had turned into a jungle of Alder this year.

Not trusting myself with a chainsaw, I borrowed Wayne's hand trimmers that we had bought to take with us out to St. Kyran's and sat down to get to the root of the problem.

Let's do the limbo?

The views are spectacular, and while I was working the sun even made an appearace to light up the hills and make moose spotting easier.  There could have been one pass by, I was a bit busy looking down mostly to notice.

Perfect hunting blind?

If you'd like to see the views from last summer, not to mention the moose we spotted, here is the link to that post.  There is a great shot of all of us on the boardwalk showing that it was definitely passable last year.

Look out below! Branches overboard!

The overgrowth was so thick that I even uncovered pieces of handrail that had fallen off into the trees.  Maybe next time I visit I will bring a hammer and nails?

About halfway up I took a short break to pick some early blueberries at the top and to scope out how bad it was up ahead.

Around the first turn

The top was not only choked with alder, a spruce had decided to grow right at the edge and was spreading across as well.  Luckily its trunk was soft and narrow enough that I was able to get through it with three passes of the cutters.

Coming down from the lookout - where is the stairway opening again?

It took me about 3 hours with blueberry picking breaks, but when I was done it was worth it.

I had cut down as close to the ground as I could when possible so hopefully it stays clear a few years.  Come on out and watch a sunset, Friends and Neighbors!

As for retirement and working for free...that might be coming to an end soon.  But we all know that just means adventures outside of Placentia Bay, right?