And it’s still snowing…… Will riding season ever get here? Some of my friends have given up ever being able to ride again due to all the snow and rain. They went south to the land of sand and cactus just to ride until the snow melts and the trails dry up. To bask in the warm sunshine, dry off, and flat just warm up. The things we do to escape Mother Nature and be able to ride… Me, I stay behind, manning the store, watching it snow, repairing pack saddles, and hearing the stories of trips gone bad, just how they tore their breeching into bite size pieces …. I tell everyone anymore a great trip to me is an uneventful one. A great trip is when the most exciting thing that happens, is when I catch more fish than I lose.
This is also pack clinic season for me. I use this time as I travel around doing seminars and clinics to further my dream of promoting uneventful trips through education. It seems like a lot of issues can be taken care of before even leaving the trailhead. Last Sunday I taught 2 clinics that morphed into one. It started as a 4-H pack class, a series we are doing to get youth involved with packing. Anyone who ever said kids can’t pack has never seen these kids. I’ve got some 8 year old’s that can manty and swing loads better than half the guys I pack with. And laugh and have fun while doing it. Then I had about a dozen MCC (Montana Conservation Corps) crew leaders stopped by to lend a hand but that turned in a pack class in itself and the 4-H kids were teaching the new MCC crew leader how to pack. Our Northwest Regional MCC crews do trail construction all summer, but are required to learn to pack to assist the packers running pack support on their projects. Next weekend I’ll be at the Sportsman Expo on the big stage teaching how to pack to all those guys who think they know how to pack……I’ll see those guys again when they bring their pack saddle in for repair and share their eventful trip story.
Till next time; see you on the trail…
Andy
P.S. Our events page has all of the details about the trade shows we will be at, and the pack classes/seminars we will be teaching. Click here.
