How to find the view

[angus]

Greetings all-

I have a question as to how to find the best potential view through the tree cover. We are relatively high (2000' +- elevation) in dense hard/softwood tree cover.  We know the land affords us the potential for some great vistas overlooking the valley and neighboring mountains but because the tree cover is so thick we cant tell where to focus our building site efforts. 

How far down a slope would we need to clear to get us the views we want?  I feel like kind of like the answer is right there available to me but Im afraid to start clearing trees a couple hundred feet in any one direction and come to realize we just look at more trees blocking the mountains.

Does this question make sense? Any advice?

[firefox]

I know this sounds crazy, but I think it would work. Improvise a very long pole
by tacking together a bunch of 2 x4's or what is available. attach a small pully to the top
end and thread a light weight rope thru it so that the rope forms a loop that reaches the bottom of the pole. Get some friends to help you push the pole up thru the branches.
Attach a small wireless camera to the rope and hoist it up.
It may take a little effort, but much less than cutting down a bunch of trees.
G/L

[hpinson]

Wait until winter and take a look then?

[Rob_O]

The satellite views from Google/Bing maps would be a good place to start

[MushCreek]

We have a similar view situation, but we have a pretty good view in the winter. The funny thing about a great view is that you won't 'see' it after a while. I kind of like rediscovering our view every fall when the leaves drop. You did mention softwoods, which will block the view year-round, assuming they are evergreen. We thinned out just about all of our pines, which were pretty scruffy to begin with. I'm starting to do some selective thinning of the smaller trees, but leaving the big ones in place. That way, we still have our seasonal view without losing the forest. I really recommend patience with determining what to take out; it takes a LONG time to grow a big tree!

[angus]

Thanks to all for the responses.  Firefox...I read your post three or four times and still dont know if you were screwing with me with that tip.

Hpinson: a good suggestion and we thought of that first but want to start clearing this summer...although at the rate Im moving, I probably wont get to it until next spring though so the winter would be the most opportune time.

[firefox]

No, I wasn't screwing with you, I meant every word of it. Essentially you want to get a picture
of what you would see if the trees weren't there. Th idea is to get a camera up there without
climbing up there  and having an acident. Cameras don't weigh much nowadays, so figure a way
to get the camera up there and be able to point it where you want it and take pictures.

If you were good with a bow and arrow you could shoot the pulley and  a string up there and then
use the string to pull in the heavier line for the camera.

There is really nothing new about this aproach other than the wireless camera.

[Rob_O]

Thanks to all for the responses.  Firefox...I read your post three or four times and still dont know if you were screwing with me with that tip.

I'd probably head to the toy department for a cheap RC helicopter, but his method would accomplish the same thing

Are there any airports nearby? Around here a couple hundred bucks will get you an hour in a Cessna and you will see things from the air you will never see on the ground

[waggin]

A topographical survey may be helpful, but it certainly wouldn't be cheap.  Do you have some places either on or adjacent to your property where you can see the views unobstructed?  How good are you at trigonometry?  I face the same problem at my place with rolling terrain and thick brush and tree cover.  There are several areas where I can see piece-meal views, and I'd love to open a few of them up a little bit more.  Some of the trees are well over 100' tall, so it would require some specialized equipment to shoot lines to run a camera up via pulley, and once it's up there, how would one be able to control which way it faces?  The remote helicopter idea sounds intriguing.  Might be an expensive learning curve if the canopy is dense, though. 

[rick91351]

To bad PeterNap is not around anymore.  He had all kinds of camera gadgets.  He had them way up in the air and low to the ground both.  I think you could do it with a inexpensive  GoPro and a piece of conduit.  They have all kinds of mounting brackets.  Even one for your pole for your crossing of a little known fork of the Grand Canyon.       Or then there is always just unpack the Stihl chain saw and start falling and trimming.  Around here the trees tremble at my name....    And I don't even own a Stihl. 

[firefox]

The hard part is going to be getting the pully located in a spot where the branches wont interfear with the line. (fishing line could be used instead of rope type line since it would be plenty strong for the job and wont snag on things.

When you attach the camera to the line, attach it to one side of the camera at two points so that if the line is taught, it will keep the camera's  vertical axis parralel with the line. Now thread the other side of the line thru one or two points on the other side of the camera, so that the line is free to move thru those points. Now when you hoist the camera up, the camera will be pulled by one line and the other will act as rail. When it gets to the top, you can point the camera by rotating the pair of lines as a unit. Sorry if that wasn't all that clear. Here is a simplified description only to show the concept:

Take a piece of wood, say 2" x 4" x 1/4"
Put a small screw eye in each corner on the face of the wood.
attach the end of the line to the top left eye.
thread the other line that comes down from the pully thru the top right eye and then down thru the bottom right eye.
let it down a bit further forming a loop and bring it up and attach it to the bottom left eye.

Holding the loop at the bottom, pull on the right hand line and the block should go up.
The face of the block can be orientated by rotating the loop at the bottom.

I hope this cleared things up.

I don't think this will be all that hard to do if you manage to get the pully located where you want. The rest is pretty simple and should be pretty cheap.

Although the rv helicopter sounds cool, it is quite expensive and prone to crashing, especially
with all the branches in the way.

Using 1/2" electrical conduit and the really tight conduit couplers might be reasonably easy to do
if you can route it up the trunk of the tree using the branches as a guide, but that will depend on the tree and the skill of the person doing it. If it is really high up you may want to start with a much larger diameter conduit and then reduce as you go higher so as to make a tapered pole.

The pully should have a hook at the top and a stem at the bottom that fits into the end of the conduit. Keep the line taught until you get the hook on a branch, then pull the conduit away.
Note, if you have one person manuver the conduit and two other people, one on each line, it should help on manuvering the hook to the right spot.

Hope this helps

[Rob_O]

A topographical survey may be helpful, but it certainly wouldn't be cheap.

The topo map is a great idea, and I'm (reasonably) sure it would be available on the USGS site. I know they have one for my property

[rick91351]

Might try here. 

http://nationalmap.gov/index.html

But then there is Google Earth and Google Maps......

[BAdams]

I wonder if an area just above a steeper part of your land would be a good place to to check for this?

[db4570]

I think I would start with USGS Topo maps and study them closely. You can learn a lot from them about the lay of the land. For instance, start counting contour lines until you get to the height of the trees and you know how far down the slope you have to cut.

David

[angus]

So I think I figured this out. I used google earth to plot a point on my land and then measure the elevation change as i run a path through the proposed cleared area.  I have to figure out what the tree heights are and get a building site just above that height to open up the area to the potential view.  For example; I plot a point in the middle of my land and its 2500'. If I estimate the average tree heights of 60' I then have to open up an area from the house down a slope to approximately 2440'.  It almost seems too simple...which makes me feel like Im missing something.

Thoughts?

[diyfrank]

I think I would pick a spot that would make a great building site that has good access. Then thin the tree's starting with the ugly stuff first.
When you start seeing the view that appeals to you you can customize to get it how you like.
It sure seems if the view is hiding there you'll find it once you begin.

[flyingvan]

Go downhill to the prettiest area---lake, forest, city if that's your thing---and look back towards your property.  Bring a compass, make a note of the direction, then face your house 180 degrees from that

[knightbuild]

I would go with a good topo at 1:25000, or google earth.  You could probably get more accurate with google earth as far as elevation goes.  You can rough guess tree height by walking from the trunk of the tree straight away until you are at an estimated 45 degree angle to the very top.  Point your arm at the top to determine this.  The tree height is the distance you walked from the tree to obtain the 45 plus the height of your eyeballs; i.e., 5' or 5'6". 

Also keep in mind the close the closer the trees are to your house, you may be able to limb them from the bottom up and obtain the same view without taking down the entire tree.

[old_guy]

A lot of good tips here.  Also keep in mind that those trees will all be taller by the time you move in, and every year after that.

[Manitou]

Did this as diyfrank suggested. Went to highest area of land most likely to have best views. Found flattest most buildable location there, climbed a few trees to see what i could and then gradually started thinning. Wasn't all that difficult. Just keep in mind you can't put them back so take the minimum til you are sure. I have found I like a view thru the trees rather than wide open. Good luck, you might just be in funniest part of the project

[Manitou]

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