Get Your Wood Cutting Permit

After a successful day of painting our house (again) we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head north before the snow really covers the ground and get some of our wood for the winter. Free to all the Forest Service has designated areas for people to cut their own wood for the winter. Loaded up, Zach, Erin, three dogs, and I stopped by the Forest Service head quarters to pick up our permit and go cut some wood. Unfortunately, they were closed. We got the proper information and studied the maps on where to cut before leaving.

After a long day of seeking out trees, falling, cutting, and loading the trailer we had finally filled about five trees worth of wood. We were exhausted! Mentally as well as physically...cutting wood is not merely an act of human strength but a test of marriage communication. Zach and I could not agree on which tree to cut, where, or how. In the end I realized it was best to let Zach cut what he wanted because after all he is using the chainsaw and Erin and I were just carrying and stacking it. And most importantly we would never get through this day if we didn't work together. But we managed to put differences aside and do a fantastic job!

Still married with some wood...
Heading south we were almost to Ketchum when we see a Forest Service truck pull up behind us with his lights on. After pulling over the officer informs us that we needed a wood cutting permit prior to cutting anything. Being extremely apologetic we said we would go directly to the Forest Service office in the morning and fill out the proper paperwork. Unfortunately, this officer was going to make an example of us. We had to follow him into a fenced off ranger field where he had us empty our trailer of wood into a field. He then handed Zach a $200 ticket for not possessing a "FREE Wood Permit" prior to cutting. We were shocked! It was one thing to take the wood for our mistake but to charge us $200 for FREE wood seemed absurd. We ended up having a really expensive day of arguements and no wood to show for our hard work. It was horrible!

In the end we learned a hard lesson. We will ALWAYS get a wood cutting permit for anything prior to cutting our wood. And PLEASE don't forget to get yours! Erin thanks for your help and for putting up with us :)