Seven Devils Wilderness Projects
Wallowa-Whitman N F
July 19-25

July 16th Rod Parks and Don Klement drove up and found a place to camp about a mile from the Cold Springs Trailhead and found good water the opposite direction about ½ mile down the road. Don & Lorelei arrived early, installed a stock tank, did some clearing and evaluated the trees down. We split into two work crews with one pack animal each for support and rode to the work area every day. There was lots of riding to get to and from the work area. We had all but about two miles of North Boise Trail cleared by Wednesday.

Thursday, we rode to Old Timer Trail and started clearing it. We rode 24.5 miles that day and did not finish all the clearing during a 12-hour day. Steve, Bruce and Rod went back Friday and finished the clearing in seven hours and only had an eleven-hour day with 20.5 miles ridden. Don & Lorelei drove around to Windy Saddle Trailhead and walked to where they had ridden earlier and had five more trees to clear on the south end of the North Boise Trail.

We spent about 2.5 days brushing out the 11.7 miles of the North Boise Trail #101 to an 8’ width. Old Timer TR# 110, which is 4 miles long and connects to the North Boise Trail was also cleared except for two root wads that were across the trail. We did very little brushing on the Old Timer Trail as time ran out. The trail follows the top ridge most of the way and when it was not smoky there were some great views.

Thank you, Don, Lorelei, Steve, Bruce, Matt, and Rod for all the hard work!

John’s Creek Project
June 12-13

John’s Creek Trailhead is located on the South Fork of the Clearwater River about 22 miles from Grangeville in the NezPerce-Clearwater N F. This loop trail is very scenic and about 12 miles long. Thanks to all that worked opening these trails so all can enjoy.

Six members arrived Saturday morning at the John’s Creek Trailhead. We saddled the stock and loaded two pack animals with tools. Matt Bake provided one pack animal and Bruce Wyatt the other. Our first obstacle was the pack bridge across the South Fork. Matts pack animal decided to not go across, then Bruce’s mule was not so sure after watching Matt’s horse.  Carl Paulson got off his horse during the excitement and when he went to mount his saddle spun and he ended up on the ground. What a great start. After the saddle horses crossed the bridge, the others decided it was safe and made the crossing with no problem. We split into two groups of three with one crew going up Snoose Trail and the other Blue Ridge Trail. We planned to clear trail until 3:00 pm or until we met in the middle, and then back to the trailhead and load up to move to Leggett Campground for the night. We never met on the loop trail and after discussion and looking at the map the Blue Ridge crew realized they went the wrong way when they got to the Frank Brown Trail.

We had a great potluck with home made cookies made by Susie Paulson and two banana cream pies brought by Matt for dessert. Just some practice clearing the wrong trail. Sunday morning, after breakfast, we tore down camp. Matt decided to go home as his pack horse got a rope burn while on the highline. Carl was real sore after his crash and decided to go home with Matt.

The four of us left went to the trailhead and headed out to finish the project clearing trail. We finished clearing at about 2:00 pm. We spent about the next hour brushing out a section of trail with the new chapter gas powered hedge trimmer and chainsaw. Bruce was so impressed with the hedge trimmer that we had a hard time getting him to quit so we could ride back to the trailhead and load up for home.

This was the best turnout in years for a work project, 16 riders, 2 camp tenders & 19 head of stock. Nine members attacked Cabin Gulch, then continued on until they caught up with the crew on Fordyce Trail. There have been more than normal amounts of trees down on every trail this year. Thanks to everyone for opening up this loop trail for all users to enjoy. Back at the trailhead turkey noodle soup was prepared by Karen Parks and Debbie Flanagan had chocolate chip cookies! It sure is nice to have camp tenders!

North Fork Asotin Creek Project
Mar 21

We had permission to use ATV’s for access to the trail. Members on ATV’s went to the end of the trail and work back. Wider SXS worked starting at the trailhead while the members on stock did brushing and clearing brush from the power tool work. We had a great turnout with 15 workers. Two Riding horses and two pack animals and seven motorized vehicles spread out on the trail and accomplished a lot of brushing and did a real good job of cutting overhead trees with telescoping chainsaws. Thanks everyone for all the hard work! Bill Corral showed up with president Bob Hough in Bill’s SXS and at 90+ years behind him did some brushing. Was great to see Bill out still volunteering for our chapter!

Monthly Chapter Ride -
Halsey Loop Ride
Mar 20

We had beautiful weather for the Halsey Loop Ride. There were eight members that made the trip down Kelley Cr, continue down Pintler Cr, and up Ayers Gulch. Tied up at the bottom of Ayers Gulch for lunch along the creek for a relaxing break

Redbird Trail Project
Mar.7

Wow, did we have a bunch of motorized vehicles for a stock group full of eager workers to dive into clearing the trail. We did have Steve Cooper and Billy Havens on horses to represent the group. The weather was a little cool when we started then the clouds started rolling in and before we got back to the trailhead we had rain and sleet. Luckily almost all of the trail was finished before the bad weather.

The blackberries looked really good this year thanks to some herbicide application last spring. Earlier in the week a couple members rode their stock down Redbird and cut out most of the trail up Short Canyon if anyone is interested in make it a loop ride.

Annual Chili Ride
Feb 21

Our Annual Chili Ride was held at Hellsgate State Park in Lewiston ID. The weather had been less than ideal for the week with a late winter storm, then a big melt off. Thirteen members showed up ready for whatever the weather dealt us and fifteen head of stock. It ended up being pretty nice until the rain started. After we got unsaddled and hit the tables for the potluck, we forgot all about the rain. The Don Uhlman Memorial Shelter provided a great place to set out the food. Tom Barnes and Don Klement provided a fire ring and wood to keep us warm. We had chili, pulled pork sandwiches, taco soup, fruit salad, rolls, cornbread and chips for some great choices. Then there was the dessert table, german chocolate cake, brownies, apple pie, marionberry pie, apple rhubarb pie, and cookies. We differently need to get on to our work projects to work off some of the great food. Thanks everyone who brought the food and supplies for a great day .

Monthly Chapter Ride -
Hellsgate State Park
Feb 14

Well, there were two of us there! Could be that the 15-degree temperature and the snow cut heavily into the participation. Thanks, Steve Cooper for joining Rod Parks for the ride. There was no wind and it was actually a pretty nice day.