BCHC Mid Valley Unit

Spring Meadow Pack trip

We cleaned up the trails around Spring Meadow on August 10 - 12, 2019.
All photos courtesy of Carl Perry.
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The Spring Meadow pack trip was only two days after the mud lake pack-in. There were a few advantages since the trailers were already packed up with our saddles and pack equipment. The disadvantages were that we were not using chain saws in the wilderness. The tool loads had to be completely repacked. Dennis Serpa dropped off the grip hoist, pulleys, ropes, two cross cut saws, bars etc. The tool load weighed about 125 pounds.

Julia Heller and Justin Black needed rides so I let them ride two of my mules, which left us short on pack animals. The forest service packers John and Emily supplied 4 pack animals. They met us up at the Gianelli Trailhead and loaded the necessary gear. They started ahead of us as John was going to find us a place for base camp. Thank you John

We had a few problems along the way and it took us six and a half hours to get to camp. Needless to say our stomachs were touching our backbones by dinner. That was the best noodles and salad I have ever eaten.

Next morning we rode to Long Lake where we cut a couple of trees out of the trail. Then we decided to back track to Whitesides and cut a fallen tree that was totally blocking the trail. We had to cut this long tree three times with the whip saw. It was a challenge but one that was conquered. We were all proud of the job and headed back to camp.

The next day we traveled to Deer Lake. The CCC crew was rebuilding bad spots along the trail. They cut some real large downed trees and we were relieved that they did. We took out a 14 inch leaner with the grip hoist and then sawed it out of the trail. We tried to fish after lunch but no catches for me. Julia reeled in a 12 incher out of Deer Lake. We started back to our camp at Starvation Lake. The trout there was plentiful on bites but slim on catches. We managed to catch some and they were delicious.

The ride out only took 4 1/2 hours which included a lunch break. We had a episode with Julia as she got a horrendous cramp on her side from a long downhill stride. She could not breathe and panic was amongst us. I jumped off my horse gave her a drink of water and nothing happened. Ernie was holding my horse, his mule and all 4 of my pack mules. They were coiled around him like rattlesnake. He was saying what do I do, I said just hang in there. I unpacked the ice chest from klint (my mule) and grabbed the dill pickles. She drank the juice and then ate a dill pickle. It was like instant relief. In a matter of minutes we were on the trail again and headed for home.

We had 10 people on this work party. They were Jim Westmoreland, John Marshall, Vicki Morales, Joe Hoover. Nancy Marquardt, Julia Heller, Justin Black, Ernie Warzyca and Julie and I. They all worked hard on this trip and Thank you!

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