16. May 2011 by Heather Holloway.

May 14 marked the date of this year’s annual Chainsaw Safety Course offered by the US Forest Service to volunteers who wish to participate in maintaining Idaho’s multiple-use trails. Due to difficult economic times these days, volunteers help the Forest Service in a major way by taking on projects that the agency’s tight budget simply cannot afford. With so many popular recreation trails in this state, it serves to reason that volunteers would be a necessary element to uphold optimum trail conditions. And since our chapter makes good use of these beloved trails, we are instinctively driven to be stewards of the land.

Held just outside the picturesque town of Garden Valley, Idaho, this course offered essential safety information to people of all skill levels, as well instruction for using proper techniques for operating and maintaining a chainsaw, bucking and limbing downfall, and felling dead and dying trees that may pose a hazard to trail users. The course attendees consisted mainly of gentlemen over fifty, with one young lad and two tenacious ladies tossed in for good measure. Probably a fairly accurate representation of the types of people most interested in sawing logs in the back country, but that is just my personal biased opinion. Several members of the USFS Hot Shot Crew of Garden Valley quickly, yet thoroughly walked us through a PowerPoint presentation that covered all the basics. These down-to-earth guys even managed to their own flair to the otherwise bland talk by speaking candidly about personal stories and sharing back country humor with the group.

Due to the relatively low number of participants in the course, and the ominous forecast for the following Sunday, the instructors (volunteering their time to teach us) decided to attempt to finish the normally two-day event in just one intense Saturday. The plan worked beautifully. We spend the entire morning in the classroom, but around noon, we all grabbed our sack lunches and headed out to the location of the field portion of this course. A few miles up Old Crouch Road, just past Tie Creek Campground, we corralled the trucks and prepared ourselves for an afternoon of fun with potentially dangerous equipment.

Rob, Janine and I slipped into some Kevlar chaps meant for use during chainsaw operation, and lugged our equipment up a steep incline to the cutting site. The attendees were then split up into groups according to skill level, which facilitated the hands-on education, and gave everyone an experience more attuned to their current level of sawyer certification. Because of this fieldwork, I have decided that it I enjoy the powerful feeling if running a chainsaw, and I am very much looking forward to putting my newfound skill to good use!

Janine and I acquired a level A Sawyer Certification, and Rob refreshed his B Sawyer status, and got in more time with the saw. All in all, it was a fantastic and worthwhile experience, and a great excuse to get a group together and play with powerful tools. I highly recommend this course to anyone interested in learning how to operate a chainsaw, as well as those who simply want to better understand the safety information and practices for trail maintenance in Idaho back country.

Posted in Training Events | Print | No Comments »

8. May 2011 by Janine Townsend.

Saturday May 7th turned out to be an awesome day for our possible-First Annual AQHA/SBBCH Joint Ride at Wilson Creek in Owyhee County.  Temperature was perfect– in the high 50s or low 60s—overcast, but nary a drop of rain.  Sandwiched in between a down pour Friday night and Saturday night, and high winds on Sunday, we couldn’t have asked for better weather.

We had eleven riders participating, and five or so cooks and organizers holding down camp, making sure all was ready for the riders upon our return.  Two AQHA members attended, Margaret Berggren and Robbin Schindele, and two guests, Rebecca McClellan and Lynda Clark.

We took two groups on the ride, so riders could pick between a longer, more technical trek through Hard Trigger Canyon, or a shorter, more gentle ride along Wilson Creek.  Both rides offered plenty of creek (pronounced ‘crik’ in Owyhee County) crossings, and by the time we were done with the ride I think most horses were well versed in water crossings.  The scenery on the Hard Trigger ride was pure Owyhee County splendor; grassy lowlands along the creek bottoms, steep climbs up rocky side hills, high mesas with snowy mountains in the distance, and the chance of seeing wild horses roaming free (we had to settle for black cows and red cows, and their little calves peering at us from their hillside perches.  My horse wondered where are the black and white cows he was used to seeing??).  Hard Trigger Canyon was amazing.  It’s a short canyon whittled out of lava rock by a rushing creek just big enough that the horses don’t know whether to wade it or jump it.  The more athletic (translated flighty) horses insisted on jumping at every opportunity.  The canyon walls offer an array of sights and oddities to behold,  such as spires and interesting rock formations, as well as ‘caves’ that are actually lava bubbles formed however many  thousands of years ago.

Then we were out of the canyon and began our ascent back up to the plateaus and were lunchward bound.  Cheeseburgers and Brats were starting to sound pretty darned good, and I wished we would hurry up a bit so we wouldn’t be late for lunch!  But we were not a hurrying group, and we ambled along in the general direction I thought we should be going.  Everybody I talk to says “There’s so many trails out there, you can’t get lost!”  Well, I was.  If it hadn’t been for our illustrious ride leaders, I’d still be roaming around out there looking for burgers and brats!

Lunch was a splendid affair!  Barbequed burgers, chicken burgers, brats hot off the grill,  with all the fixings; salads, chips, cookies, muffins, whatever you wanted to drink, and a nice lady in a bikini (translated Wranglers, Carharts and a big floppy cowboy hat) to serve the cookies.  Definitely worth getting almost lost for! And of course stories to tell of our ride, tall tales from the other group about their ride, new people to meet and acquaintances to renew.

It was a great ride, a great day, and a great way to kick off the long summer riding season stretching out before us.  If you missed it, you missed a good time, but we hope to see you next time!

Posted in Around the Campfire, Fun Rides | Print | No Comments »

7. May 2011 by Linda Paul.

What’s that all about? Hard Trigger? I saw a sign for Wilson Creek. I don’t get the Hard Trigger business. But then, the problem is that I only show up to skim the cream off the top of the jar. My friend Janine supplies the horses, the tack, the trailer, the gas, the feed, and the 24/365 care. I show up to sit on the horse for a while. Pretty cool gig, eh?

Janine, recently retired yet full of youthful exuberance, is a model member of Squaw Butte Back Country Horsemen. Not only did she sign herself up and take on some administrative duties, but she got me—an anti-social, non-joiner—to sign up. So, I still don’t go to meetings and I don’t participate in anything but the fun stuff; i.e., the RIDES. But I’m a dues-paying member and I got some calendars sold. Apparently that gets my boot in the door without being stomped on.

So there I was, early the Saturday morning before Mother’s Day, at Janine’s place just in time to slam the trailer door shut behind the caballo’s arses. Off we went for the Owyhee foothills. The journey thus far was uneventful. But in short order a mini-hell broke loose behind our parked trailer where my head-in-the-clouds mount stood impatiently awaiting the ride. While I was gagging over fistfuls of winter fur that blew off the curry comb, a rider from the trailer beside us mounted up and raced his steed up the hill igniting One Shot’s excitable nature. He pranced and he danced while I struggled to aim the saddle at the appropriate spot on his moving backside.

Meanwhile, Janine was busily engaged with mule-tack lessons. Proud new owner of two mules, she’s eager to glean wise bits of advice from other mule owners. I was about to attempt the bridling process with Mr. One Shot when a beautiful, saddled but unbridled, buckskin quarter horse darted past the back of our trailer, hotly pursued by a phalanx of mounted and non-mounted cowboys. This put Mr. One Shot beside himself. The runaway bronc was not one of Squaw Butte’s horses, nor, by the way, was the thoughtless rider from the trailer beside us. But it was a busy day there in the parking lot with two independent horse groups assembled for excitement.

Unsure of just how wild Mr. One Shot’s behavior might become, I began walking him about, hoping to settle his nerves and avoid a breakaway experience like that of the buckskin bronc. In short order, I decided I’d have a better chance of survival from atop this kegged dynamite. That was premature, as my saddle was still loose. Rob Adams came to my rescue, gentleman that he is. At last we were off.

SBBCH split into two groups of five riders. I have no idea where group A went. But they sure looked good as they rode off into the sagebrush. Ours was a lovely ride through BLM land where wild horses are often seen, but on this day we saw only doe-eyed beef. We scaled the side of a steep hill under ominous, but fortunately unproductive clouds. Cresting the top of a broad plateau we ambled about long enough for me to get slightly disoriented. When we reached Wilson Creek we passed through a gate and headed back toward the parking lot through a short but fascinating canyon of lava hoodoos. Caves dotted the rock formations where eons ago, large air bubbles had sponged the hardening rock.

I’m just returning to the horse world after nearly a 40-year hiatus, so there’s much for me to learn.  Of course, as we left the trail head, my hot-headed mount was prancing and dancing like a three-year old. Aside from the fact that I must constantly check him with the reins to keep his nose out of the rear of the horse in front, my girlhood romanticism revels in his high-stepping enthusiasm. But when Phil Ryan grumbled that he needed to rid his cowpony of its steady-all-day-jog, I listened and thought about what he said. It’s true. A mincing, prancing horse is nothing but trouble on a trail ride, where careful hoof placement reigns supreme.

Then there were the innumerable stream crossings as we rode through the canyon. Again, the schoolgirl in me thrilled to the unexpected leaps, dashes, and gyrations that took One Shot over each water crossing. But this, too, is detrimental behavior on the trail. If I needed proof, there is the black and blue mark above my groin where I lost a stirrup when One Shot lost his footing during one of his airborne leaps. I was utterly embarrassed to have lost my seat so easily. But the point holds. A trail horse needs some common sense. So does a trail rider. These trail rides are an awesome opportunity to glean wisdom from knowledgeable horsemen in the group.

And then, back at the trail head, there’s hot food, and wild stories to share. Even an old recluse like me enjoys the camaraderie.

Posted in Around the Campfire, Fun Rides | Print | No Comments »

3. May 2011 by Bill & Marybeth.

May 2011- Come Join Us

Hot off the presses, the March BCHI calendar winner is Heather Dobbs from Emmett.  I will present the $500.00 check to this young lady at the upcoming May meeting. Our Roving reporter Phil plans to capture this Kodak moment.

Spring has sprung, so Fred & I are hitting the trail to get in shape and have some fun riding.  The good looking mules are Babe and Sis who have been taking care of me on backcountry trips for years.

The annual Potluck Ride at the Butte hosted by Charles and Ellen was outstanding. The weather was awesome, the views unbelievable and the food was delicious, as usual.  I do need to report a disappearance of some home baked cookies that left the food table and ended up in someone’s horse trailer.  Please let Terry and Gail know if you have any information.  Also a new budding romance is developing between Lilly and a sorrel Quarter horse.  Stay tuned for more details. It was great seeing Linda Adams and Kay Ryan too.

The AQHA/BCHI ride is coming up Saturday May 7th at the Wilson Creek Trail Head, near Murphy and Janine Townsend and Margaret Bergeron are off and galloping with this project. It is great having their fresh ideas on this project. Way to go you two!

Also let’s not forget about Spring Highway cleanup Wednesday the 11th starting at 6:00 pm. Charles Lox is coordinating and is anxious to find another interesting item during this cleanup. Could it be time for Bear II?  Actually, this important project shows our commitment to the Emmett community; enables us to keep the Sign on the Highway, which promotes our organization. Kudos to Charles for taking it on again in 2011.

The Yard sale is right around the corner too on the 28th and Terry, Gail, and Ellen are coordinating that for us. Bring your treasures and have fun helping the SBBCH chapter with one of its fund raising activities. How about another large Saw or perhaps some other Education items to keep us safe out there?

Check out the Chapter’s activity page as there are some outstanding Education clinics and Trail projects too. Hope you can make some of the fun activities in May and of course the rest of the summer.  The SBBCH goal is to offer a variety of fun events, rides, clinics, trail projects, good food throughout the year, so our members will have some options to choose from. Please come join us when you can.

Posted in Around the Campfire | Print | No Comments »