The workday at Houston Valley ORV park started out as a mild beautiful day. But before the end of the day it would turn out to be one long, hot, humid, but productive day.
I arrived at the park about 8:40 am, found a place to park and began unloading. Shortly after, GARTRA’s Houston Valley trail captain, Larry Odom, drove in pulling the GARTRA work trailer. Riding in the truck with Larry were GARTRA members Bill Pingpank and Chris Fowler. Chris is also GARTRA’s Town Creek trail captain and a certified sawyer.
Larry (left) and Bill, setting up. My truck is in left background.
You can see by all the blue sky that it was going to be a great day. Even though we have a small group of 4, we are looking forward to getting started with the day.
Larry walks us through the USFS mandatory safety meeting. (from left to right: Chris, Larry, and Bill. I’m taking the picture)
Since we have two sawyers at the workday, both Chris and I are certified, Larry’s plan is to focus on locating and clearing as many trees on the trails as we can. So shortly after the safety meeting, we suit up, gear up, and hit the trails.
Not long after leaving the parking lot on trail 181-D, we encountered the first grouping of downed trees blocking the trail. There were already multiple bypasses around, so we explored them before we began cutting. As it turned out, just past these trees and around the corner was a very long and deep mud hole. Since one of the bypasses avoided both the downed trees and the mud hole, we decided to leave these trees alone, block some of the bypasses and leave the one that bypassed the mud hole too.
Having cleaned that one up we proceeded on to find more trees down on 181-M (below). Again there was already a bypass around this. But this time we cleared the trees and used the logs to block the bypass. By the time we finished with this group of trees, the day was getting warm and I could really feel the humidity. It felt good to get back on the bikes and get some air moving to cool off.
With all the rain in the days prior, there were several deep mud holes on the trail that we had to navigate or find ways around. Houston Valley has several sections that are hard packed clay and can really be slick when they are wet. CAUTION is the word when wet.
We continued to scout and cut trees along the way until we had made our way around to where 181-J meets 181 (the main road). It was 12:30 pm by then and we were, hot, tired, and getting hungry. I had finished all the water I had in my pack some time ago. So we followed 181 back to the parking lot. Larry, Chris, and Bill are faster riders than I am, so they got out ahead of me and were soon out of sight. At the intersection of 181 and 181-H I encountered a cluster of down trees partially blocking the road, but required me to simply hop over some limbs to get past. As fate would have it, I slipped and found myself on the ground (mud). I picked myself and the bike up and pulled off the road. I decided to cut those limbs so that others could avoid falling into my neat little hole in the ground. After all, it’s my hole now. While getting ready to cut the limbs, another rider and son, Chris and Titus, happened by and helped move the limbs as I cut. We had it cleared in just a few minutes and I was once again headed to the parking lot and lunch.
When I arrived at the parking lot, Larry was already firing up the grill and the others were cooling off with some cool drinks. I couldn’t wait to get a cool Gator-Aid in hand and plop myself down out of the sun. The heat and humidity were beginning to get to me and the cool drink really tasted good. We all relaxed and caught up on who is doing what while Larry worked his magic on the burgers and hot dogs.
As we finished up lunch and began getting ready for round 2 of scouting and cutting, the sun continued to beam down from the blue sky and by now it was getting hot. I had two Gator-Aids and a soft drink at lunch, and had refilled my water bottle for the ride. This time we left the parking lot on trail 181-A. Not far in, we split into two teams, Chris and Larry went right and Bill and I went left. A few miles further Bill and I found a large tree down blocking the trail. We scoped it out and began cutting. We were about half way through the tree when Larry and Chris arrived. They had not found anything down on the path they took so they stopped to help with our tree. While working on this tree, some riders coming from the other direction stopped and reported other trees down. Larry and Chris decided to go on to being on those trees while Bill and I finished up here. When Bill and I finished, we got back on the bikes to catch up with Chris and Larry.
When we caught up with Chris and Larry, they had just finished clearing another group of trees from the trail. So we took a brief rest while Chris packed up his saw and we rode on. The next group of trees we came to (below) was a real mess. The picture below was taken after we had already cleared half of it. We had both chain saws running, one at each end of the pile, working toward the middle. As we were cutting, another couple riders stopped to help us move the limbs as we cut.
By the time we finished this tree, with the heat and humidity, I was pretty well whipped. By now it was getting late, approaching 5:30pm, and we were all ready to call it a day. As we rode up the trail pictured behind this tree, just up around the bend was a moderate to difficult rocky climb with a tricky rocky section in a turn to the right at the top. I felt lucky to have made it without falling down, as tired as I was. Just past that point, much to my dismay, was yet another tree on the trail. I was about ready to pass out. Chris’s saw was dull by now, but he had more energy than I. So we used my saw and Chris did the honors and cut the tree. Once we got that one off the trail, we packed up and then just a fun ride back to the parking lot, right? Well for some maybe. The route back included the rocky ridge on 181-H, which is nothing but loose rock of various sizes golf ball to football, which presents a real challenge when it’s the end of the day and I’m already ready to pack it in. So my strategy was to take it slow and not fall down (again). I made it past the rocky section and then to the downhill descent to the main road 181 where the others were waiting for me. It felt good to finally be on our way back to the parking lot.
It took me a good while to recoup, change clothes, and load up. Larry and the others left the parking lot a few minutes ahead of me. But as I was leaving the parking lot, I sent a text to my better half to let her know I was on my way home. I noticed the time was 6:57pm. This had been a really long day. I was tired and my muscles were sore. But I felt good knowing that we had a productive day, nobody got hurt, and knew that I was going to have a great night’s sleep.