My Morgan gelding and I joined AERC in 2002, and since then we have ridden nearly 2,000 miles of trails together. Many of those trails have taken us through some of the most magnificent natural scenery in the world today. Although I have always felt an enormous sense of gratitude for the efforts of the people who put on these rides, I never thought much about how the trails got there, or how they were preserved and protected.

That all changed when Tom and Jackie Jones asked me to manage the Headwaters of the Rogue Endurance Ride in Southern Oregon. Their hard work and dedication has allowed Headwaters to continue as a premier Northwest ride since 1991. Like most AERC members, I would rather ride than manage rides, but felt a strong desire to give back to the sport. Although I knew I did not have the experience to manage an entire ride by myself, I agreed to take over as much responsibility as possible if Tom and Jackie and their cohort of friends and volunteers guided me along the way, and that included teaching me a lot about trails.

The Headwaters of the Rogue 25/50 takes place on the slopes of the volcanic Cascade Mountain Range in the upper reaches of the Rogue River. The topography encompasses deep canyons, grassy alpine meadows, and numerous meandering streams in an extensive old-growth forest of hemlock, ponderosa pine, and magnificent douglas fir. The course includes breathtaking views, and consists of three distinct loops of 25, 17 and eight miles. Hence we needed to clear 50 miles of trail in some of the deepest areas of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. Much of this area is covered with snow until June, and winter winds had blown nearly 85 trees onto the trails, so there was plenty of work to be done.

Work party gets started

Our work party consisted of 12 volunteers; most were experienced at trail building and preservation. We split into three groups, each with a chainsaw operator who had completed formal training to receive Forest Service certification to cut fallen trees in the National Forest. Although we used an OHV to carry equipment and supplies for part of the distance, most of the trails are single-track and our gear needed to be packed in. We carried loppers and shovels, a specialized trail-building tool called a MacLeod, oil and gas for the chainsaws, food and water so that we could stay out until we finished the job (or keeled over from exhaustion), and lots of bug spray.

The work was sometimes slow and arduous. During one workday, my husband, Ry Wagner, cut through 17 fallen trees on a four-mile stretch south of "Three Lakes." Jackie Jones and I rolled the fallen logs off the trail and cleared away the remaining debris. While we waited for Ry to finish sawing, we lopped off overhanging tree limbs that could snag a riderŐs helmet and removed uncountable roots and rocks that could trip up a flying hoof. Veteran Trail Master Carol Crawford Myers worked with Tom Jones, Terry Canavello, Pat Super, Diane and Jerry Luternaeur and several other volunteers on their own sections of trail.

Sometimes we were able to clear several miles in an hour or two, but then suddenly would come upon a large tree that required two chainsaws to cut through. One was a four-foot-diameter monster doug fir that lay suspended from a slope three feet above the trail. Workers needed to gather rocks to buttress up the bottom of the log before sawing it so the blades would not be trapped. This one recalcitrant tree took the better part of two days to clear.

Reclaiming trails back from the forest is a never-ending task and I was prepared to battle Mother Nature, but I never expected to see so much damage caused by ordinary trail usage. Mountains are made of rock, and the thin layer of soil that cushions the surface is deposited by decaying vegetation, falling leaves and such, over hundreds of years. Human and vehicle traffic can damage the fragile forest surface, leaving the rocks beneath exposed. Sometimes, a deep groove forms in the most heavily traveled center of the trail, with a rim of rock on either side, making it difficult for hikers and horses to get by. The ruts fill with water, preventing precipitation from running off and further damaging the trails.

Trading success stories

As dinnertime approached, our hungry work groups headed back to camp. Everyone had a story to tell about how they surmounted unexpected technical difficulties. One group rebuilt five feet of trail near a creek that had caved in last year. They needed to find a cedar tree, which weathers better than pine or fir, to saw into ground rails, before filling in the footing. The only person with a big enough chainsaw was a local cowboy, so they drafted him to our cause in return for home cooking and a beer.

It took 12 volunteers four long days of hard work to clear most of the 50 miles, and we are not done yet. We still need to remove one submerged tree from the Muir Creek crossing (need some tall rubber boots) and to repair a critical bridge over Hurry On Creek. And of course there will certainly be more downed trees waiting for us. We have lined up more volunteers and plan on another work weekend before the trails will be ready for the Headwaters of the Rogue Endurance Ride on August 25.

I encourage all endurance riders who have not participated in managing rides or clearing trail to volunteer their time to at least one ride per year. I guarantee you will get a whole new perspective on how much effort and energy putting on a successful endurance ride requires, and a renewed appreciation for the ride managers and dedicated volunteers that give so much of their time year after year. And from now on I will never complain about anything at a ride unless I have a solution to offer!