2015 Turkey Trot Breakfast Ride

On August 8th nine riders met at Joe and Carol Hebert’s place at 8:00 am and rode over to the Hebert’s “Headgate” area in Little Bridge Creek. 

Riders heading out for breakfast at Little Bridge Creek

The riders were joined by the folks who preferred to drive up in their vehicles, and even Anita Ellis came all the way from Tunk Valley! The group thoroughly enjoyed Carol’s breakfast of biscuits & gravy, egg casserole, fruit, and the “homegrown muffins” made by Anna Heathman. Dick Heathman was the “coffee hero”. All enjoyed the really good food and company! 

2015 Loup Loup Campout/Ride

During the weekend of July 30—August 1, a group of MVBCH members gathered at our proposed North Summit horse camp to enjoy a few days of summer riding and camping in the cooler mountain air. Ann Port headed up the food part of the ride and reported that a fine time was had by all. 

A few of the riders gathered on Thursday to get settled, and had a great ride on Friday exploring the snowmobile trails. 

They had a group breakfast on Saturday morning of omelets cooked in zip-lock bags. How do you do that? You boil them in water on a propane stove! The “new idea” was quite a hit! After breakfast, everyone headed out on a short ride over by the Loup Loup ski area and followed the ski trails. To everyone’s delight, Virginia Hammer from the Forest Service happened by and took lots of photos of the riders actually using the area, and included all the horse trailers, camping gear, and a few shots of the group having a meal. Virginia said she would show the photos in a presentation as evidence that “Yes, riders are already using and enjoying the area!”.

Repairing the East Fork of the Buttermilk Trail

Work to repair the East Fork of the Buttermilk Trail (EFBT) was arduous at best, but highly successful after teams of Methow Valley Back Country Horsemen put their shovels and lots of pure muscle into the effort. After 5 work parties and over 100 volunteer hours, the 6 1/2 mile trail is now open to riders and pack stock. To achieve this, MVBCH members:

• cut out 116 trees (a chainsaw could be used for only 32 which were outside the wilderness)
• built a trail over a washout which was impassable to stock
• repaired tread in a couple of other areas where there were minor washouts
• moved, or worked a trail round, some large rocks which were making the trail impassable to stock just below HooDoo pass
• began to fill some of the holes in the trail in the same rocky area below and at the pass

Pete Stoothoff, Mike McHugh, and Bill Ford start clearing the trail of trees