Wow!! What a wonderful day to ride. It was good to see all you fair weather riders, thirty riders in all! We also had a good showing for help in the kitchen, nine in all. The only ones not enjoying our ride were the mule deer, who seemed to always be in front of us wherever we rode.

A trail ride is like a pack string, don't stop or something will probably happen. While waiting to regroup, Susie Paulsen dropped a water bottle and her horse proceeded to drop her in short order. Then when Susie went to get on, she slipped and fell, which of course the trail boss said added bread sticks with the pizza! This could be our first Pizza of the year? The verdict is still out if losing your horse while bridling is worthy of pizza.

The trail boss next lead us into a dead end behind an electric fence, which to his knowledge has never been hot in the last eight years. Well, it was our lucky day. We decided to lower the wire, stand on it and cross our stock thinking it was not hot. Well, horse shoes make a good conductor and Bud Scott's horse was the guinea pig. A little trip backwards into the herd and rolling the wire up on the way, everything ended up alright and lucky for Bud he never lost his horse.

Well, we had a gate to pass through now, so all we had to do was hook the wire back up. Somehow the more we tried to hook it up, the hotter the wire got. The trail boss got delegated to reconnect the wires.

You would think disconnecting the battery cables would kill the juice, but we did not see the solar charger in the weeds. The most fun was trying to connect the cables back to the battery as every time he tried, he got bit again. Some cheap entertainment for the other riders!!

Since we were not doing to good on Pizza and everyone laughed when Rod got bit by the hot wire, he decided to head down the canyon to a water crossing for his entertainment. Everyone cleared the water fine, and we were headed back to Kuther's for chili.

The only entertainment after that was when Carl did a little bronc riding when a cow gave his horse a dirty look. Carl made his best ride ever!!

The food was fantastic, and boy were there lots of yummy desserts. It was such a nice day that Donna Kopczynski brought ice cream bars! Wow ice cream in February, it was a great day for a ride!!

The weather could not have been better, no rain and no wind. We sold 116 hands, 85 participants, sold lots of food and had many stories to tell. We are not aware of any one getting hurt on the ride, but did have a minor wreck loading a horse for the trip home.

Station #1 had constantly changing rules, so no one was able to cheat. Ida and Chantel got the pigpen award for handling the puffballs all day and getting so dirty. Each station had a different game to challenge the riders, with a beverage stop at midpoint to wash down the dust.

All in all I would have to say a very successful day Comments from most riders were very favorable for the new location and again we had comments on how well the trail was marked $250 in cash was awarded to the winners: Tony Bogar won 1st Place, Frank Hoyt 2nd place, Kathy Morris low ball hand, and Aspen White won for the youth class. Gayle Hagenah won $29.00 in the 50/50 pot, a new addition this year.

Thanks to the ones that jumped into gear and made it possible for us to have the ride. The help from the trail marking crew, setup crew, cook crew, parking crew, and station tenders all made this thing work. Everyone pat themselves on the back for there dedication!!

We owe a BIG thanks to the private landowners who were so generous to let us ride on their land. Becker Farms, the Thiessen, Egland, Lynch, and Cook families are the real heroes in this year's ride.

Thanks so much to all the landowners!!

It appears that not many like removing barbwire anymore that I do, as more people cancelled out than showed up to work. Thanks to the hard working crew of five on Friday, Rod & Karen Parks, Bill Correll, Becky Paull & Tom Fitzpatrick and two on Saturday, Rod Parks & Matt Bake, we were able to complete all the work that Bill and Rod had marked to remove.

There is still lots of wire to remove, but it is much safer than before.

Short Canyon is pretty much wire free anywhere near the road.

We had great weather other than the humidity from the wet grass sure created lots of sweat. Becky Paull tried to turn her jeans into a pair of crop pants, or maybe she has a tattoo she was trying to show off?? Everyone left a little blood with some of the wire we rolled up. Rod probably gets the award for the biggest blunder. When we went to eat lunch at the river Karen opened the cooler and instead of the lunch cooler, he has loaded the beer and pop cooler for when we got back to the trailhead.

Everyone was willing to share their lunch for an ice cold beer, so it all worked out great, and we had snacks back at the trailhead instead of cold beer and pop. Horsemen were not the only ones that canceled, as five ATVs were suppose to show up on Saturday to pack the wire we removed back to the trailhead. It could have been that Matt and I were working so hard, we never saw them, but surely our stock would have lets us know they were coming! Thanks to all the workers that are now healing from all their wounds!!

--------------------

Thanks to several members of TRBCH and their friends we now have a nice cabin in Dough Creek, on Idaho Fish & Game Property, in the Craig Mountains. This is the cabin the chapter adopted at the last meeting.

Rusty Bentz made it all possible by hauling all the materials to the site, then we had people on horseback, ATV, airplane, and motorcycle that showed up in force to accomplish building an almost completed cabin in three days.

A follow up trip to finish and cleanup was done last week and everything that was scheduled to be finished is done except staining the floor. We need to schedule a trip down to fulfill our obligations in adopting the cabin. Thanks to everyone that helped with the work. We had twenty two different people that helped to make this a successful project.

At the most recent Sportsman’s Breakfast, Bill Correll accepted a plaque for our BCH chapter from IDFG for our volunteer work.

Jennifer Bruns and Travis Johnson passed out information on the Craig Mountain Adopt-A-Cabin Program. They plan signs at the cabins for each group adopting the site. There are 5 cabins to adopt. Our group came up with some good suggestions for the program.

Motion to adopt Dough Creek Cabin passed. We have the sign to install in 2009.

The 2008 camp is in the books!! Mark and I only had three days between Kids Kamp and the Chief Joseph Trail Ride, Lolo Hot Springs to Stephenville, MT (nine days of good riding, too). I will now try to give you all a run down on how camp went.

We had twenty-three kids and their critters this year...we actually had four kids cancel the two weeks previous to our camp date. We sure enjoyed the kids that attended and felt like we had a good bunch of children. They ranged from 10 to 17 years of age this year.

The fourth day the Latah County Sheriff’s Posse Search & Rescue actually brought in their base camp trailer (command center) and we all participated in a mock search and rescue. I know the kids and adults really enjoyed and learned from this project.

There was a live subject that was "lost" in the woods and had left a few clues...tracks, candy wrapper, jacket, 4-wheeler.

The kids used the radios to communicate properly with the base camp for instructions, directions, and to relay information. The whole experience was very well received and nicely done by the S & R group.

Karen had terrific games and the kids did learn from them as well. Her Price is Right game really let us know which kids have helped shop &/or pay for their own tack, medicine and such.

We worked on LNT, saddle fitting, leather work, trail cleaning, and built a hitching rail at the facility bathroom/shower building.

We also gave a test on Sunday on all the subjects covered over the weekend and the kids did very well.

We ended up with plenty of hay and just enough help to make the camp a great success!! I have already received Thank you notes from kids with comments about attending next year's camp.

I feel this is still a very valuable tool for the BCH to use to keep a renewable resource available (the youth) and confirm the BCH has a longevity factor in place. I do, however, feel that we need to recruit more folks at an earlier time to make this continue successfully.

I want to say a big 'THANK YOU' to all of you that stepped up to the plate and worked extremely hard to once again make a great experience for everyone involved.

Thanks again -

~~~~~Pat and Mark Bogar

We had a small but enthusiastic group for the project, and with the aide of Dave Hefler, Forest Service Employee, we were able to repair the buck and pole and barb wire fences surrounding the trailhead area and replace rails on some of the surrounding fences. In addition, two signs, one trailhead information sign and the Mill Creek Trailhead sign were erected.

On Sunday, Bill Correll, Rod Parks, and Bob Hough rode the Mill Creek Trail doing some brushing and checking conditions for connecting it with the Doc Denny Trail, which would make this a possible loop ride from the trailhead. The trail has been kept open by the graze lessee, but could use some work to make it safer in a few areas where the tread is in bad condition and some big boulders need moved.

We think we found where the Doc Denny Trail heads up the hill away from the creek, but are not sure.
Saturday Night Potluck: Tom Fitzpatrick has been unanimously chosen as a trail boss for at least one project each year for the foreseeable future. He did a fantastic job of rewarding us for our hard work with some of the best prime rib you could ever eat in any restaurant in town! We had so much prime rib to eat, that most of the other dishes were barely touched. Then, Virginia made the Sunday riders a prime rib sandwich for their lunch that was just as delicious.

The September 28, Pre-ride to check out this project had 11 riders. The chapter voted to pursue this project consisting of removing and packing out 2 miles of fencing. The pre-ride was to see if this is a feasible project that our members could accomplish. If we get enough members committed to help, the project could be accomplished.

There are five separate sections to be removed.

The first section is outside wilderness and a trail parallels the fence line, so access is good and power tools can be used. This will be the hardest section to remove, as some fencing is in heavy brush.

The next section is accessible from the top and down a grassy ridge.

The next two sections are accessible the entire length with stock.

The fifth section we did not have time to scout out, but shows as a very short section on the map and is near the river.

Thanks to Billie Havens and her mom for letting us use there place for a jumping off place, and the delicious apples for riders and our stock. The weather was wonderful, as was the company on the ride and the scenery fantastic.

We were able to see the Wenaha River from water level to a birds eye view. Laurel Kuther was willing to pay big money for a bridge across the Crooked Fork so she could get back to our trailers without descending and ascending the Wenaha River Canyon one more time.

Laurel also took care of lost and found with her dog whistle. As usual, when no one was for sure as to where the trail was, we had about five different ideas and riders going five different directions. How could we not find and old dozer road down the ridge?

Dick and Della Allen were our entertainment on the ride back to the top. Della demonstrated her leg pumping mount and Dick demonstrated his leg failing dismount after they switched horses and stirrup lengths were not even close.

Thanks to Bob Hough for organizing the pre-ride and Pat Hough for feeding us a fantastic dinner of pot roast stew, delicious corn bread and zucchini bread for dessert.

Thanks to the Bogar’s this is becoming an annual ride. The Washington Game Department closes the gates on Lick Fork and the South Fork of Asotin Creek December 1st and they remain closed until April 1st. There reasoning is to protect the elk in their winter grazing area from disturbances by motorized vehicles. So, November 29th we went for the last ride of the year before the gates are closed.

The forecast was for rain, and it rained all day the day before, but since it was colder that heck the year before, we were not going to let a little rain forecast stop us. Well, it turned out to be much better than any of us had expected and we had 20 riders show up.

It was definitely wet, but you just put someone with a large animal in front to beat the brush and it is not that bad. Most of the day it was foggy and a light drizzle from the fog.

Going up Fordyce the trail was in good shape. The group got split up into two groups due to potty breaks and when we got on top to go down Cabin, the slow group ended up with several different ideas as to where the top of cabin was in the fog, and we were able to see some new areas. It would have been a beautiful day for some side trips if you could see!

Finally Lorelei decided we had done enough side trips and it was time to head down Cabin and she led the way. Things were a little slipping and sliding as there is not much rock on the trail, but everyone made it without any animals falling down and providing a Pizza for the rest of us.

There were advantages of being the last back to the trailhead, as the chili was hot and the campfire was roaring. Everyone rotated positions around the fire until we had a good amount of steam rolling off our cloths.

The chili was great and lots of cookies, cake, etc to go along with it. We told a few lies around the fire and picked up and headed home.