Twisp River Horse Campground Cleanup

Ten members took part in the Saturday June 23^rd cleanup and made a real impact.  Three sawyers (Mark Brantner, Joe Hebert and Bill Ford) bucked up a lot of trees that had been felled by the Forest Service and left as they were on the ground.  There is now plenty of stacked fire wood for the campers!

Michelle carries brush to the pile.

Bill takes on a treacherous snag over the road...

...and gets it out of the road.

Then Bill takes on another low-hanging snag.

Joe and Bill buck up a fallen hazard tree and George collects the firewood

Talking the fresh cut firewood to the wood pile.

Bill and Michelle take a short break.

Finally, it's lunch time!

UPDATES: North Summit Horse Campground

The latest updates on the North Summit Horse Camp can be found by clicking on the blog page "North Summit Horse Camp" on the left sice of this page or, you can click here.

UPDATE: Twisp River Drainage Trails

In May MVBCH cut out a number of trails in the Twisp River to the wilderness boundary. From June 3^rd a Washington Trails Association (WTA) work party logged a number of trails within the wilderness. At the same time two Forest Service trail workers logged out Scatter Creek Trail #427 and War Creek Trail #408 beyond the wilderness boundary. Twisp River Trail #440 was logged out 15 miles by June 3^rd.

SUMMARY:

South Creek Trail #401 – Logged to 3.8 miles.

Williams Creek Trail #407 – Logged out 2.5 miles to 3.0 miles with two trees left down on the trail.

War Creek Trail #408 - Logged out at least 2-3 miles beyond the cabin.

Eagle Creek Trail #410 – Logged out two miles just past Oval Lake Trail turn off.

North Creek Trail #413 – logged 2.5 miles with some brushing.

East Fork Buttermilk Trail #420 – Logged out at least 1.2 miles.

Scatter Creek Trail #427 – Logged out to the horse camp below the lake.

Louis Lake Trail #428 – Logged out two miles.

Twisp Pass Trail #432 – Logged out to Twisp Pass by Forest Service.

Update: Finley Canyon Trail

Finley Canyon got some much needed attention on Saturday June 16^th by four members who tackled the downed trees and flood-washed trail. Suzan Davis, Mark Brantner, and new MVBCH members Don Hecker and Karl Kaiyala worked through several areas that were blocking stock passage. 

Karl and Mark prepare to cut out tree

Suzan's dog prefers to swim!

Karl on the tree, Don in background

(L-R) Suzan, Mark, Karl take a break as Don takes a photo

(L-R) Don and Karl open a trail segment

Lewis Butte/Riser Lake Ride & BBQ

Gina & Dave Johnston and DK & Stacey Williams hosted a ride and BBQ on Saturday June 9^th at the Williams’ Lewis Butte Ranch. The day was overcast and windy, but that didn’t stop the large group from saddling up and heading out to explore scenic Lewis Butte and the Riser Lake trails. 

Riders crest Lewis Butte...

The 20+ riders rode from the Williams’ ranch hilltop down to Riser Lake and then climbed up the newly constructed multi-use Lewis Butte trail for its 360 degree view of the Winthrop area and Pasayten Wilderness. It became quite chilly in the late afternoon as the wind really came up; we were all glad we had dressed appropriately! After we arrived back at the ranch, the riders joined other non-riding guests who had come for the BBQ. Everyone feasted on a delicious BBQ (DK and Dave manned the grill), with lots of appetizers and salads, and Gina had made a great “Camping Potato” dish.

DK (front) and Dave man the grills

Guests enjoyed hors d'oeuvres before dinner

The hosts and guests were also supporting the local Equine 4H and rodeo youths and had invited our Methow Valley Rodeo Queen, Athena Milani, as the guest of honor to join us. A raffle for several amazing leather horse tack items hand made by Dave Johnston was drawn after dinner. The proceeds of the raffle were given to Athena to help her be able to make the customary travels around the state representing the Methow Valley Rodeo and the local Equine 4H. After the raffle, a game of “horse shoes”—with a novel twist—was played. The horse shoes were actually sawed off toilet seats, resulting in unrestrained hilarity! Lots of laughs later, the evening ended with everyone well-fed and tired.

Many thanks to the Williams and the Johnstons for a wonderful day, a great BBQ, and a highly entertaining evening!

NOTE: The trails we rode can be publicly accessed from the Riser Lake/Fish & Wildlife parking area or, from the new parking area created by MVBCH (working with the Methow Valley Trails Collaborative) farther up the Gunn Ranch Road.   

Athena helps DK (center) and Dave with the raffle

 

Taking a toss in the horseshoe game

Preparing the Crystal Lake Trail for the BCHW Hot Shot Crew

Thanks to: Pete Stoothoff, D.K Williams, Willie Kemper, Mark Brantner, Richard Stahl and Bill Ford for the June 19^th work party to clear the Crystal Lake Trail to the wilderness boundary. This prepares the way for the BCHW work party from June 30^th to July 4^th to clear the trail in the wilderness. Over 100 trees were cut out during this work party.  DK Williams and Dave Johnston had already worked on this trail on June 6^th.

Wilderness Boundary. Yep, the sign says so!

Pete gets after this logs on the trail and then...

...he gets after the next one.

 

2018 Spring Ride "Thank You" Party

We enjoyed a wonderful pot luck BBQ in Ann Port’s back yard next to the Twisp River on June 7^th. It was our thank you to ourselves for working hard and doing another great job with the Spring Ride. The afternoon was lovely and the setting was beautiful. Great steaks were provided by the chapter and perfectly grilled by member George Schoenfeld. Lots of sides and dessert goodies too! We had our general meeting before the BBQ and our guest was BCHW Executive Director Nicole Sedgwick. It was great to have her with us and we had plenty of time to ask lots of those complicated questions that only a senior leader can answer. We were all well-rewarded for doing our jobs at the Spring Ride!

Nicole does a Q&A with the group

George serves a perfectly grilled steak

Betty and Pete at the pot luck buffet

After dinner we talked "shop"

MVBCH Octogenarians

We celebrated our hard working octogenarian members at the June 7^th Spring Ride “Thank you” party. We have other members who are trying hard to be in this elite group, but “almost 80” doesn’t count! For now we honor:  (L-R) Jackie Iddings, Ann Port, Donna Kemper, Ken Shannon, Betty Wagoner, and Joe Hebert. (Donna’s husband Willie managed to avoid the camera by staying home to work on the hay, but we’ve heard he’s in this group too!) 

    

2018 National Trails Day

On June 2^nd a pretty slim but very energetic group showed up at the Twisp River Trailhead to clean up and maintain the trail. MVBCH Trail Boss Bill Ford sent the workers out to their own sections of the Twisp River Trail to clear. Joe and Carol Hebert had the chapter’s grill and tables all set up at noon and cooked a “brat feast” for the workers.