by Sherry Baysinger

Since it was drizzling and foggy, we tied a tarp over the front of our small wall tent so we had a place to feed the crew out of the weather. The forecast called for sun and unless the weather cleared up, helicopters would not be able to fly the heavy equipment in to move the chalet.

Each morning Sara and I had coffee perking on the propane stove at daylight and a cowboy breakfast, which this first morning was Denver scramble and hash browns.

The horses and mules were fed their morning ration of pelleted feed, called “packer pellets”, a complete diet of alfalfa, grains, vitamins, minerals, and salt.  It comes in 50# bags and True Value carries it right here in Forks. Horse and mules love it and it’s weed free, which is a requirement on all USFS and ONP lands.

Our mules were packing in pelleted feed every trip along with food from our trailhead freezer.

After breakfast Larry saddled his mules and horse and headed to the trailhead where he would wait for Scott Montgomery to arrive with his mules from Cle Elum to bring in the biggest load of the trip. They would be bringing in more groceries, packer pellets and all of the house movers personal gear, tents, sleeping bags and several hundred pounds of miscellaneous tools and equipment.

The backcountry ranger, Wes was very accommodating to us.

However, right after breakfast, he got called to assist with a hiker over O’Neil Pass who had a broken ankle. One cannot appreciate the value of backcountry rangers until you need them. We have assisted in several medical evacuations via mule and often the rangers will hike 15-20 miles to reach and evaluate injured hikers.

In this particular situation, Wes determined that a helicopter would be needed to evacuate the hiker. Wes made it back to camp several days later just in time to hike out for his days off duty. Backcountry rangers have to be in excellent physical condition and they are all trained in wilderness first aid.

Our camp set up at Enchanted Valley was deluxe in comparison to most of our backcountry camps. There is a nice outhouse, with a great view of the valley between the boards. We packed in plastic pipe to increase the flow of a gravity fed creek to a water spigot near the chalet.

We had two water bags with filters set up so our crew always had fresh filtered water, Gatorade, etc. Once the crews started really working, Larry made trips to the Amanda Park Store and packed in cases of Red Bull, Pepsi and other drinks that we managed to keep cold for the crew.

After getting breakfast done and lunches made for the trail crew, Sara and I hiked across the river and set up a high lines and a camp area for Larry and Scott.  It would be best to have the majority of our livestock away from the chalet activities, especially during the helicopter flights. This would also leave less stock impact in the area most traveled by hikers. We would keep Sara’s and my horse in camp, in case we needed them for any kind of evacuation.  As it turned out the horses and mules were not the least bothered when the helicopter started flying in and out.

Jeff Monroe and his initial crew of three arrived on late Wednesday, along with Jeff Doryland, the Park’s project safety manager, two trail guards who would keep hikers away from the chalet during helicopter flights and Rainey, the ONP media person. The rest of the house movers were at the landing zone managing the helicopter loads.

When Scott and Larry arrived in camp with mule loads of gear, they also delivered Lucy, the Beagle dog. Okay, for those of you who know that dogs are not allowed in the Park, let me introduce Lucy.

Jeff and his wife love Beagle’s, so Jeff talked Larry into packing his life-sized stuffed Beagle dog, Lucy into camp. Lucy gave us all many moments of fun and diversion during the entire chalet move. She “supervised” the crew from the windowsill or the “sofa” the entire time.  At the end it was Lucy who pulled the chalet the last 17 feet where it will remain until further decisions are made. I have it on video.

The first laugh that Lucy brought to everyone was when Jeff reached into his backpack to get a snack on the hike in and discovered someone who sincerely cared about Lucy’s welfare had put a 15oz can of Alpo in Jeff’s pack. Those who backpack would understand both the humor and the disgust of that discovery!

We served up snacks and drinks to the crew as they all had to set up their tents and get settled in before dinner. With help from the crew Sara and I managed to borrow some furniture from the chalet to use during the project; a nice “sofa”, a rocking chair and two serving tables all made of cedar by some old-timers long ago.

We had a late supper of Sara’s Beef Curry with rice and I fixed a Dutch oven dessert a pineapple/cherry dump cake with whipped cream.

We had been waiting to hear the final chapter of the hard-to-catch mule. When Scott and Larry got into camp they told us that Al called his wife, Carrie, who it seems was the only one who had every really got the mule to come close.

She drove up from Morton with a bucket-load of carrots. Al backed his horse trailer up to the corral gate, and Carrie coaxed the mule in with carrots.  Which all goes to show that behind every good mule man is a mule-whispering wife!