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

A daunting prospect...

Where oh where did my saw go... ?

Can we really do this... ?

The new trail begins to take shape...

Pik, pik... dig, dig!

The rocks go on forever!

Creating something out of nothing...

Taking a break to another section that seems a little easier...

Back to the hard stuff again...

There really is a trail in here somewhere!

Finally, something stock can use!

Definitely passable!

C'mon, let's move these rocks!

Did we really make something out of all this?

Yes, I believe we did!