Jim Heidelberger & Deb Gale
SBFC Board Chair & Vice Chair
Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest | Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
From left: Julie, Jim, Ed, Deb, and Gil
While summer is the time for weddings, family reunions, hiking rafting, etc., a few SBFC board members made their way in July to Elk Summit in the southeast corner of the Powell-Lochsa Ranger District of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest.
The view from Diablo Lookout
Three board members and two spouses camped at Hoodoo Campground at the edge of the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness for our board’s annual volunteer project. Arriving a day early allowed us to hike to Diablo Lookout and gaze into the spectacular East Moose/Selway watershed reminding us how vast these wildlands are.
Saturday, bright and early Phil Ralston, the Elk Summit host and former Powell fire crew member from the 1970’s, started with a safety briefing and our project description. Our mission: to install new signs and posts along the local access road and camp loop drives within Hoodoo Campground. Snow, wind, and vandals had damaged and degraded the existing signs over time and due to COVID related staffing constraints the replacement of the signs had been delayed.
Board Chair, Jim Heidelberger and his wife Julie, Board Vice-Chair, Deb Gale and her husband Gil and John Lloyd, a board member and retired homebuilder from Sun Valley all grabbed shovels, picks and pry bars, and starting digging new holes and removing old signs to replace with new signs. By day’s end we had put up the nine posts and signs that had been provided for us.
Before replacing a sign
After replacing the sign
The crew at work!
Saturday evening, a group of young men from Wisconsin hiked into the campground. They had started near Hamilton a few days earlier and crossed over Blodgett Pass. Although they were in good physical shape, it seems they had not planned their food allotment well enough. Fortunately, as so often happens on camping trips, we had more food than we could ever eat. So, the young men were invited over for dinner with us and for coffee and breakfast the next morning before they pushed off for Moose Creek. Everyone left happy and well fed and later this summer followed up with a very kind note of thanks.
We headed home on Sunday, having spent three wonderful evenings together in this remote and beautiful setting. The meals were great and the conversations involved lots of laughs and good stories. The central attraction stationed in the kitchen was Jim’s world class “Detonator.” A colossal stainless steel French press with a handle like a blasting plunger, capable of producing about a gallon of fine coffee. We all agreed how lucky we are to be able to enjoy these magnificent wilderness areas that surround us.