8 / Sport and Trail Magazine
back country riding friends start to dream about the next trip. With thousands of miles of trails across the country to explore, the only thing limiting you is time.
If you like this picture, you can thank a Back Country Horseman for helping to make it possible. For over 45 years, the volunteer efforts of the Back Country Horsemen of America have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in trail maintenance and repairs.
If not for the work of BCHA, many of those trails you dream of riding would go uncleared and unusable – not only for horses and mules, but also for other trail users.
BCHA was founded by people like you who cared about the opportunity to explore the Wilderness on horseback. In 1971, an outfitter, a forester, a wrangler and packer were horse packing in Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness. The nights are long in the Bob and the founders had plenty of time to talk about righting the many signs of neglect they saw along the trail – cigarette butts, candy wrappers, and beat up barb wire corrals. They surmised that if the Wilderness was to stay open for their children and grandchildren, something must be done. Horsemen had to clean up their act. The back country was being loved to death. Piles of garbage, dying trees due to stock tying, and human waste were polluting the Wilderness BCHA’s founders enjoyed. The United State Forest Service was talking about closing many areas to camping and horse use. In a wall tent next to the wood stove and a hissing Coleman lantern, a recipe was concocted.
BCHA
A nation-wide organization committed to protecting Access of Equestrians to Public Lands
P
icture this: You’re comfortably astride your favorite horse or mule finishing up a long day of riding up a mountain trail. You’ve ridden past tumbling waterfalls and climbed past lakes with spectacular shorelines. Even though you’re with a pack group, you’ve found genuine solitude on the trail and witnessed breathtaking views that can only be seen from the back of a horse. You’ve reached the highest lake by early evening and your group is deciding whether to cast a line for mountain trout or stay in the saddle and climb to a higher alpine campsite. Over the campfire and tasty trout or mouth-watering Dutch oven BBQ ribs, you and your back country riding friends start to dream about the next trip. With thousands of miles of trails across the country to explore, the only thing limiting you is time.
past tumbling waterfalls and climbed past lakes with
spectacular shorelines. Even though you’re with a
pack group, you’ve found genuine solitude on the
trail and witnessed breathtaking views that can only
be seen from the back of a horse. You’ve reached the
highest lake by early evening and your group is
deciding whether to cast a line for mountain trout or
stay in the saddle and climb to a higher alpine
campsite. Over the campfire and tasty trout or
mouth-watering Dutch oven BBQ ribs, you and your