When we made an on site inspection he pointed out the two hitch rails and said he'd leave it up to TRBCH to where to relocate the hitchrails. A volunteer group consisting of Bob Hough, Mike Karlin, Bob Kuther, Rod Parks, and Bill Correll met at 3 PM on Oct. 15th. Thank heaven Bob Hough brought his track hoe with the blade on the front.

After the usual give and take discussion on where to relocate the hitch rails, Bob dug a ditch along the shorter hitch rail. We shoved it over, but a chain on it and Bob hauled it over to the new site. He then proceeded to dig a 4 foot deep ditch, hang the rail in the ditch where stabilizing rock and gravel was shoveled in.

He then finished the job by pushing rock and gravel in the ditch with the blade. The 21 foot hitchrail took a little longer as he ran into some two foot rock and it was a longer ditch.

While we had some of the members there, we selected a site for the Don Uhlman Memorial Shelter. It will be just South of the Restroom and will overlook the area that hopefully will be developed into an equestrian overnight camping area.

Respectfully Submitted, Bill Correll

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Another projected completed for the year! Where has the year gone? Summer is winding down fast.

Everyone decided that it was time to head home before we ran out of bug spray, so camp was picked up and everyone went home Friday evening before the war with the mosquitoes started again.

The Forest Service did a great job of providing us enough tools to get the job done!

The huckleberries were just starting to come on, but were few and far between. Thanks to everyone that helped with this project.

This project was interesting in the fact that we had some confusion as to when we were going to start work. When we all got done chastising each other, we dug in on Thursday and got a good section of the Upper Basin Interpretive Trail cleared and brushed.

With a much earlier start on Friday, we whacked, cut and tossed brush and completed the project by about 3:00 pm.

This was a five-mile loop trail that was very much in need of brushing. Bob Henriksen spent Friday with a local friend repairing a broken girder on a pack bridge.

This trail has many bridges and sections of puncheon, but has a very wide and safe trail tread. Some of the busiest creatures were the mosquitoes who were ours in warfare quantities.

The Forest Service advised that the Morris Cedar Grove Trail did not need brushing, and just like that we were through with the work.

This is a great place to go in July, as the temperature was 25 degrees cooler than in the valley.

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7 o'clock Friday morning of the 17th of July, found 10 members of Twin Rivers Back Country Horsemen ready to clear and or establish trail signs on trails No 318, Doc Denny Trail No 319, Marble Point Trail No 328 and Driveway Trail No 431.

We were joined at the Corral Campground and Trail Head by two Forest Service Trail crew members, Blake Everson and Elise Lear. John Fantini and the trail crew had pioneered and flagged the old Mill Creek Trail No 318 on Thursday.

This trail hadn’t been used for years so they found downfalls, bogs, and brush, this terminating in an impassable rock.

Four of us with Blake, rode and hiked the trail to ascertain the condition. There were many bogs but they seemed to have a pretty firm bottom.

Brush wasn’t bad, downfalls were mostly cut out but the tread was practically non-existent. The rock would have to be blasted or by passed. It was determined the scope of the job was too large for our group and needed a lot of time, money and a trail contractor.

At camp we decided to take the “cowboy trail” which bypassed the first part of the Mill Creek Trail and work on the bottom end.

We brushed and did some extensive tread work until time ran out about 1 ½ miles short of the Doc Denny Trail No 319.

The ”cowboy trail” goes thru some pleasant timber and ends up in meadows along the Mill Creek.

Intermittent meadows follow with an occasional creek crossing. Makes you want to stop and fish.

Saturday, Blake and 2 of us took directional signs up the mountain where trail No 431 had been confused by a haul road.

Coming back to camp found the rest of the crew cutting out a tree that had fallen on the wood fence and Karin and Bill Streeter were patching the barbed wire section.

Blake then took Tom, Virginia and John Partridge to the top of Doc Denny with the plan of opening up the bottom of Mill Creek and checking out the Doc Denny Trail No 319.

Elise and the rest of us rode down with them and worked on a new section of trail that intersects Marble Point Trail No 328.

While Elise, Bob Hough and Rod Parks worked ahead cutting down timber and falling trees, Laurel, Karin, and I trimmed trees and lopped brush.

Laurel noticed a 10 foot treated 4/4 post with a directional sign on it lying on the edge of the trail. As it seemed like a trail intersection, and the post hole diggers were there, she proceeded to establish said sign post. Great job.

There was a lot of timber cut on this trail and will be a good connection between Doc Denny and the Marble Creek Trail.

As we sat resting at this intersection, Elise says “We can plant that trail directional sign here now”. I said “Laurel already planted that sign about ¾ mile back up the hill”.

Moment of silence, Elise,”I’ll go get it”. In 22 minutes Elise retrieved the sign post and post hole diggers. I think we ought to sponsor her in the Olympics.

Back up the trail to the vehicles and to camp for a well earned refreshment. The rest of the crew came out of Mill Creek about 5.

That evening, Tom treated us to his famous spare rib roast. The potluck was delicious and as usual more than we could eat.

Sunday morning Blake and Elise ferried us down to the “new” trail, Doc Denny Trail no 319 to Marble Creek trail no. 328. We needed to establish some tread marks on the new trail and ride the loop back to camp to cut out any down falls.

The Marble Creek trail is a main line trail and goes thru some beautiful meadows. The grade is moderate until ½ mile from Marble Peak where it steepened but with good switchbacks.

Shortly after intersecting with the Driveway Trail No 431 we broke for lunch and admired all the bear grass flowers nurtured by the numerous springs along this section of trail.

Dropping down to the upper directional sign post location, we found it was planted! On the second sign post location, it also was installed by the trail crew. We greatly appreciated this as our butts were getting tired and it was getting pretty warm.

As we relaxed under the Chapter’s canopy we decided this was a good project with a variety of interesting rides.

Bill Correll, Trail Boss

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Thursday morning the fun begins…we get the campers up at 6:00 am to take care of their animals, fix their own lunches and eat breakfast at 7:00. It is then 9:00 am SOP (saddle on pony). We do a check of gear and tack before taking off for a nice trail ride out of camp. We cross logs and early that morning have a good sized water crossing that concerns us, however, all the critters crossed the water in very good shape.

At lunch this day Mark had the teams look for specific weeds, and the teams received points for bringing in the weeds. We finished the ride about 3:00 pm and they unsaddle and take care of the stock. At that point Pat H. has snacks set out for the kids and we have an education activity. We were able to get the Nez Perce County Deputy Sheriff, Bill Madison, to give a PowerPoint on the new hybrid marijuana drug growing situation in our area. What to look out for and what to do if you run in to an operation of this kind.

After this we had quite a few games, Lisa managed, from sack races to pack races. They had a very good time. Dinner is at 6:00 pm with a couple of kids helping before dinner to do set up and a couple helping with clean up after dinner. The kids usually have some free time before and after dinner for showers and socializing. After that time the fire is started and everyone enjoys the warmth, as well as the coyotes yapping, wolves howling, and kids being silly. At 10:00 pm lights out and off to bed, or maybe reverse that.

At 6:00 am it all begins again. Our ride on Friday consisted of a good ride up over Cherry Butte and thru the clay mine. Lots of great trails, good experiences and a lunch time project. This day the teams were questioned on the parts of the program we had previously studied and points were given.

Upon returning to camp our educational speaker was Bruce Meacham with the Diamond C Saddle Shop. He gave a nice presentation on leather care, saddle building and general saddle care, as well as answered questions from the group.

And on a cold Saturday at 6:00 am we start again…the kids are sleeping better, more difficult to get up which means we are keeping them busy!! The Latah County Sheriff’s Posse arrives by 9:00 am to begin the program of how to search and how to find whatever you are looking for by looking in all directions. They actually put out ~29 plates for the teams to find. It was a long day and no team found all the plates. One team found 23 out of the 29, which was very good. When we returned to camp the kids were all debriefed by the Latah County Sheriff’s Posse. This entire project was a good experience for all.

Later we had the remaining mounted horse games. And after dinner on Saturday the kids did a Dutch oven desert cook off for more points. They cooked a variety of cobblers that were tested by all. This went over very well. The points were totaled and kids picked their prizes in order of points. Due to the generous contributions of many they all received numerous gifts.

And another early wakeup began Sunday morning…the parents begin arriving before the 9:00 am ride out time. We had an especially good turn out of parents to ride the trail this year. We tried to find all the plates from the day before to pick them up, but didn’t quite succeed and came up a few short. After a nice ride we returned to another good lunch provided for the kids and the families.

Then the go home frenzy began! Cleaning all the stalls, picking up everything, taking down tents, scrubbing kitchens and bathrooms to leave the camp in shining good shape for the next visitors was a task. And of course each kid rounding up their gear, personal and horse, to get ready for home.

For the first time since we started kids’ camp we did not end up with extra chairs, only a towel and a shirt (Colby’s). I would also compliment all the parents for their excellent choice of mounts for these kids as we didn’t have to pony one child this year, which too is a first.

We would like to thank all of those who participated in any way in making this camp the success it was. We are already looking for your help for next year, keep in mind that we need at least fifteen adults for twenty five kids, 24-7.

Thanks again everyone,
Pat and Mark Bogar

The oldest and the youngest
(or The tall and short of it!)

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We ended up doing a trailhead camp this year at the trailhead up Lick Creek at the Fordyce Trail. We had plans to cut thistle up the South Fork of Asotin Creek, but an exotic plan kept the game department from being able to spray some of the area, so we ended up on a backup plan. There was no packing needed this year, so no stock was used.

Rod Parks worked with the Scouts on tying knots and then they set up a wall tent they received from the Forest Service.

There were nine Scouts present and on Friday after setting up camp they cut scotch thistle around the trailhead. Saturday they headed up Fordyce Trail to do some brushing and re-route the trail around the bad water crossing.

The busy little beavers not only accomplished this, but also helped roll some large trees out of the trail to get back to the original tread. They also got water running into the water trough that is up the canyon about 2.5 miles. After lunch they removed some fire rings, so there is only one at the trailhead and picked up litter. A good days work for the younger Scouts who were only 11 years old.

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What a beautiful week for trail riding. The group showed up Saturday afternoon and then we made plans for the work on Sunday. We had several fence postholes to dig and about 150 feet of rail fence to build and make two new gates to access the corrals.

Tuesday we all rode to Dough Creek Cabin and installed the Adopt-a Cabin Sign and measured the area under the lean-to for a deck. This was our big game day, as we saw several bunches of deer and elk, but no bear. Almost everyone was lucky enough to see a snake or two before the weekend was over!! Stu, the Billy Creek buck, short for Stupid, named by Katie Hendrickson, visited us on several occasions and was often upset that we were sitting and laying in his yard!

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Snow was the main event for this years Poker Ride! Just like last year, we had to move it to Headsgate County Park, as there was too much snow on the Fordyce Trail. Private land owners again were very helpful in letting us conduct the ride on their property.

It was about as perfect of weather as you could have. You could see three different states from the top of the ridge.

We had over one hundred riders and 117 hands sold. The games at the check stations again were a hit with the riders. We had no pizza riders, which is good news.

Keeping the stakes up that marked the trail was a challenge, as they were natural scratching posts for the cows in the pasture. We marked the trail the evening before, and over half the stakes were knocked down by the time the ride started, so the beverage station crew was in charge of re-staking.

The cook shack had a great variety of food and almost sold out on hamburgers. Thanks to everyone that helped make this a success for another year. Betty Barnes, as usual had all the bases covered.

There is talk of trying Fathers Day weekend next year, and maybe we can give the snow time to melt.

Over $200.00 in prize moneys were paid out and we had a great selection of door prizes this year. Thanks to everyone for participating.

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5-3 Sunday morning was very wet as we broke camp and left Troy a lot wetter than we arrived. New member Connie Marshal and friend arrived late, but got a chance to ride some. Thank you Connie for helping out with breakfast Sunday morning.

All in all it was a great trip and very successful. Most all work got completed with the exception of six pack loads. We will pick them up real soon. I would like to thank everybody for all the help on these 2 projects.
---Bob Hough, Trail Boss

He is so good he has already got our first check for the project. We thank you Bob!!

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As near as I can figure we had 21 (?) riders, February 21, for the annual "Chili Ride". Rod, Trail Boss, took them on a scenic tour of the northeast side of the Hansen Estate. Reports say they traversed hill & dale at a pretty good clip, leaving the parking area at 9:30 and returning a bit past 1 p.m.

The weather broke into sunshine & blue sky; making for an enjoyable day.

In the meantime, back at the ranch, Karen & Laurel prepped the chili & amenities out in the shop. Nine "nonriders" came and enjoyed the chili and company at lunch time. It was hard to make them wait for the riders! Jerry Reese gets the recognition for coming the farthest and he also brought along a potential new member, Chris Reed. Lisa & Lorilee brought two potential new members, as did Colleen, who is working on her brother & friend to join! Other riders were: Marianna, Joy, Christine, Kathy Brooks, Rod, M/M McKnight, Betty & Tom Barnes, Tom & Virginia F., Colleen, Steve, Mike, Jerry, Chris, Lisa, Lorelei, Nita and ??? Nonriders: Doug Head, Dr.Dave & Rob Rustebakke, Mike Rosgen, Becky Paul, Bill Correll, Laurel & Bob and Karen Parks! p.s. It was also a dog-day (8) and they all got along wonderfully and enjoyed playing together!

This year goes on record as the best weather ever for the Chili Ride! Believe it or not, we did not have any Pizza riders. Has been several years since this has happened, maybe we are getting to be better riders!