More Pictures           Lou Ann’s Directions
June 2, 2018 was National Trails Day and Squaw Butte likes to make this project weekend fun for it’s members and to put our organization in front of the public. The Peace Creek trail head fits both of those requirements.  Working with Charlie Jarvis, the Boise National Forest trails supervisor, we got the camping site reserved for our team and planned a full day of trail clearing and sawyer education.

Thirteen members and seventeen stock meet at the trail head camp, most arriving on Friday night. Camp was set up and stock feed and then an ad-hock dinner was prepared and shared. Even with a nice camp fire, when the sun went down around 21:30 the air turned cold and all wandered off to their warm sleeping bags.  Morning came about 06:30 when the first of us got up and the stock noticed.  Soon they were all asking to be feed and by 07:00 coffee was being sipped around the fire.  Lisa had pre-made breakfast sandwiches which Bill warmed in the oven of his camper.  By 08:30 we were saddling up and when Charlie Jarvis arrived ready for our project safety meeting.


With 13 members plus Charlie and multiple packing stock, we broke up into two teams, one would work the main Peace Creek trail with Charlie and a second would work the lower valley trail that connected to the Devil’s slide trail.

Peace creek trail (blue) Devil’s Slide Trail (red)

Rob, Shelly, Lou Ann, Nancy and Shannon worked the lower trail, while Chick & Lorraine, David, Lisa, Phil, Charlie, Fanny and Jon worked the main trail.  Bill stayed in camp, fished and got some fire wood for our evening fire.

On Rob’s crew, Shelly did all the work while Rob took the role of limb swapper and sounding board as Shelly worked out her plan to tackle each down tree we encountered. Lou Ann helped with limbs and took all the pictures.  Nancy and Shannon arrived late and had a nice ride on the trail we had just cleared.

This tree had a complex bind and was stressed like a big spring, Shelly had to determine how to safely release the tension and then she could cut it up and remove it from the trail.
After 20 trees were removed and six miles of trail cleared, it was time to head back to the trailer for happy hour and munchies. The other team had arrived back just before us. They cleared a bit over 5.5 miles of trail, but didn’t clear as many trees, as a motorcyclist had started working the trail the weekend before. Charlie had wanted to survey general trail conditions and look at a rock slide that will need major work. After a great dinner that included pork tenderloin and moose, beers were drunk and stories swapped. If you didn’t cook, you helped with the dishes.

By 21:30 most of us had wandered off to our sleeping bags for a great nights sleep. Sunday dawned clear and not as cold, a great breakfast of onions, moose, eggs and potatoes, with home-made bread and hot coffee. Some headed for home and some of us took a fun ride before heading for our respective barns. This was a very successful project weekend and all who attended had a great time.

1 Comment

  1. Chris, your hubby is a great dishwasher. His stories are hilarious. Thanks for making him go camping with us! lol