BCHC Mid Valley Unit

Mud Lake Work Party

Eight of us packed in to Mud Lake to clear trees which were blocking the trails.
All photos courtesy of Carl Perry.
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On August 5th 8 warriors packed up 11 mules and horses to the Mud Lake camp site. The trail in had already been cleared by the Pine Valley work party. The trip was only about one and a half hours in. The weather was very warm and muggy.

We arrived in a little after lunch. We set up camp and all the tents, high lines and tables. We ate lunch and took a little rest. About 3pm we started up the trail and started clearing downed logs. There was more than we anticipated so at 5pm we knocked off and headed back to camp.

The next morning we ate breakfast and hit the trail about 8am. The chain saws were buzzing all morning. By noon the heater had turned on and we were looking for a shade tree to eat lunch. We had to put new chains on both chain saws for the afternoon adventure. We came across a cow caretaker and asked him, how was the trail up to chain of lakes. He said what trail. At that point Joe, Jim, John and myself looked at one another and knew we were in trouble. We finished that trail and started up to chain of lakes. We didn't get 100 feet from the crossing and a 32 inch downed tree was completely blocking the trail. We started cutting with both chain saws and about 5 cuts later the tree was off the path. Jim went on foot to check the trail. He did not return so I knew it was time to keep walking. We sawed a couple more and got back on the horses. We didn't ride but about 10 minutes and a repeat of the same scenario. We didn't even brush cut as there were too many trees down and our stamina was dwindling. At 3:30 we decided that next year is another year and we will return. Mud Lake see you in 2020!!

The 8 warriors were Jim and Chris Westmoreland, Joe Hoover, Nancy Marquardt, John Marshall, Vicki Morales, Carl and Julie Perry. Thanks for all your hard work.

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