In which the trails must be located and rescued and we all help out

We needed to haul the Dragon and the quad, plus a lot of tools

 to camp for the trail party weekend.

Jim built the "Okie Box" so we could cram even more stuff into and onto the rig

The box works great, but it brings to mind the theme song from a certain 1960's era television show.

Filled with gear, lacking only Granny's rocking chair on the top

Our destination for all this stuff:  the Renegade Rendezvous ridecamp at Sawmill Flats, of course.

If this isn't one of the prettiest places on earth, I don't know what is

It was a long holiday weekend, and we had a bucket-ton of work to do.

The dragon begs for breakfast-treats from Santa

Extensive logging on and around our trails left a huge mess.  We tidied up enough last year to hold the ride, but this year we need to do some serious excavation.

Tanking up on food in the morning just in case the work goes long

Marty and I saddled up and headed out early to scout the trail.

Somewhere, under all this detritus, is our trail.

Trying to find the trails wasn't just difficult.

It was akin to trying to locate the shredded remains of your childhood home ... in Pompeii ...  following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

This large task is difficult but do-able, given a large, strong, dedicated crew

For the work-weekend, we had enough volunteers to run several work sites simultaneously--a welcome luxury.

Christina and her sons (and her husband) worked with Gail to fix the bridge

Sandy and Guy cleared  blowdown and overgrowth from the creek to mitigate winter flooding

About half of the crew spent a morning building a new entry-point to a trail.
The old entry was demolished by logging trucks and bulldozers.

New Trailmasters worked with new volunteers to build this section of trail.  The dogs came along for comic relief.

We lost count of the number of logs that needed chainsaw work to clear them out

There were some unexpected rewards for working on trails this year:

morel mushrooms!

We filled my hat and took these little treasures back to camp for dinner

Potluck suppers in camp are always enviable, and the morels made the feasting even more sublime.

Grilled ribs, potatoes, mushrooms and salmon, salads (green and fruit), fresh asparagus, fancy beers, and cake!

burgers, more morels, more asparagus, some steaks, more salads, and cookies!

Back on the trail each morning, we employed hand tools,

Jason and the McLeod raise a dust cloud

and power tools

Jim had to sharpen the chainsaws every night

and our hands and feet

the hooves of passing horses help by stomping our trail flat

so that, by the end of the weekend

a clear trail with good footing

flowers on the hillsides

we have a trail that will outlive us all.

Sandy and Beth and I rode the entire rebuilt trail on Monday morning

And that is, as we all know,

The prettiest view in the world

a Very Good Thing.

Want to join the fun?  

The Renegade Rendezvous trail crew will be back on the job from June 23rd to June 30th, 

and we welcome volunteers! 

Bring your horse, your dog, your spouse, your kids (and grandkids), 

whatever tools you feel comfortable using (we bring extra tools, too), 

and some food for the potlucks.  

Come for a day or two, or stay for the entire week.  All skill levels are needed.