Meghan Rorick

Salmon-Challis Wilderness Steward

Hitch 7: #4229 Little Pistol Creek

September 1 – 8

Boise National Forest (Admin by Salmon-Challis NF)

We are coming up on the end of our season, and it is bittersweet. Since most of the Wilderness Fellows have already left to return to school, our crew is down to two people. Through the summer, I believe our little crew of four (Lauren Simms—our fearless leader, Antonio Angel, Thomas Neidenbach, and me) developed a great dynamic and I miss working with Antonio and Thomas. However, we picked up a new member for this hitch, Jaime Breisch from the Payette crew, and I was excited for our … GIRLS HITCH!!!

Our task for the week was to clear trail #4229 along Little Pistol Creek starting from where an MCC crew had left off earlier this summer, as well as some campsite monitoring at Pistol Lake. After a very, very long drive from Missoula to McCall with another roughly 3 hours on gravel roads, we finally arrived at the trailhead. We camped there for the night and the next day hiked about 5 miles to what ended up being our basecamp for the rest of the trip. We discovered a lot of blow-down across the trail, and in our remaining 6 days of work (with 3 people) cleared a little over 2.5 miles and 316 trees.

And tree #316, she was a doozy. At the end of our last day of work, our plan had been to do some brushing on our way back to camp—the trail definitely needed it. Well, you know what is said about best-laid plans. We came upon a massive double-trunk (what I think was) Douglas-fir in the trail. It took us almost two hours to cut and move this tree, but it was a satisfying end to our work day.

*Double-bucking is always interesting: Lauren and I checking the kerf of tree #316.*

The next morning we hiked the 5 miles back up to the ridge and wilderness boundary, then down to the trailhead and our faithful, waiting rig—a seafoam green suburban named Murphy.

On our drive back to town, I couldn’t help but reflect on our all-women crew and the amazing women who have worked, and continue to work, on wilderness issues. Margaret Murie and Bethine Church, the women working for non-profits and agencies tasked with protecting and managing our public lands, and all the women that I’ve had to privilege to work for and with during my time with SBFC this summer. There are things that these women have in common—they are all incredibly strong, intelligent, resourceful, and dedicated. Here’s to all the women in wilderness—I am humbled and honored to be a part of this awesome group.

*From left: Lauren Simms, Jaime Breisch, Meghan Rorick*

MEGHAN RORICK, SALMON-CHALLIS NF WILDERNESS STEWARD

Meghan grew up in East Texas, but had family in Missoula and fell in love with Montana at an early age. Since graduate school at University of Montana, Meghan has worked for environmental education and watershed health groups in Montana and Oregon. Meghan loves to explore trails and is excited to work for SBFC, where she can contribute to the protection and conservation of the wild places that mean so much to her.