Local Montana Back Country Horsemen set to celebrate Christmas and 2009 season
Lynn Harris leads his horse and mule to be tied, during a break on a trail clearing.
Ron Rude
If Santa can wiggle his way into the Senior Citizens’ Center in Plains on December 5, he’ll find lots of good girls and boys there, members of the local Montana Back Country Horsemen group celebrating not only Christmas, but the 2009 season as a volunteer group in the community.
The Wildhorse chapter listed three goals for the season: increase membership by 10%, do at least one community-service project and clear the trail from Loneman Divide to Big Hole Peak once again. All three goals were met, but with some qualifications.
New members were added but a few were lost. The community-service project involved the group in a “diabetes awareness day” at the fairgrounds. Horse related activities went off without a hitch, but spectators weren’t as numerous as expected.
The trail project got off to a slow start due to lingering snow on Big Hole Peak. Sawing went on sporadically through the summer, finally finishing on a bright Saturday in late September. Just a few days later, the snow started back again.
In addition to working on those three goals, some BCH members packed camp materials in and out of the North Fork of the Blackfoot River for a Bob Marshall Wilderness Foundation weed-picking crew. Some surveyed potential trail-related recreational development along the St. Regis Cutoff. Some took their own camping trips in the rain, and some packed out equipment and seed cones for a USFS whitebark pine project in the high country off Prospect Creek. In late July, everyone who could make it spent a couple of days riding in the Murr Creek and Snowstorm Ridge areas and kicking back at the Bend Work Station on Thompson River.
The Christmas party is open to members and anyone else interested in meeting people whose idea of fun includes chain saws, horses and mules, and back country trails. The club provides the main dish for the meal. Small gifts are exchanged anonymously by those who wish to participate in a type of free-for-all potlatch.
For further information on the party or the BCH, call 826-3182.