By Virginia Lefferd and Harriett Barber

The next morning more people began to arrive and set up camp for the weekend’s activities. Long-time KTC member, Dolores Baker shuttled hikers out to various drop-off points on the Elk River Hiking Trail and also to the Table Mound Trail. Even though it was a little wet at times, it was a good weekend for hiking and horseback riding.

The horseback riders saddled up and headed out to the trail at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Since this is an early spring outing, the horses were anxious to move quickly along the trail. Because of this it was not long before one rider was out of the saddle and on the ground. Several riders headed back to help the downed rider and one of these horses began bucking rodeo style. This particular rider managed to stay on his horse until it settled down. After this incident the remainder of the day was uneventful for both the riders and their horses.

As the riders made their way along the trail, many of them were impressed with the sights encountered there. Whenever the trail took them through the trees, the riders had to be careful not to bump their knees against them in close quarters. Several places along the Elk River Trail are not suitable for horseback travel and the riders had to detour around them.

The large rock formations and outcroppings that they rode through were interesting and exciting especially for some of the riders who had not been on this trail before and did not realize that there were rock formations like these in Kansas. Once again the riders had to be careful not to scrape their knees or heads as they passed near or under these formation. In fact, in one area they passed below a rock that was sitting precariously on the edge of an outcropping. There was some speculation as to how much longer the rock might hang precariously there on the edge of this particular outcropping, since water apparently washes more soil away from the rock each time it rains. Some of the riders hoped and prayed that they would not be under the rock when it decided to come down from its perch.

Occasionally in years past, there have been riders and/or horses that have not been able to complete the long ride and have been brought or hauled back to the campground, but not this year. All of the riders turned out to be hearty souls and everyone made the long trip back to the campground riding their mounts.

At six o’clock on Saturday evening everyone assembled at the Corps shelter house for the potluck supper. The meal consisted of venison burgers and a wide variety of tasty dishes supplied by the participants. Rocky Shire and Maxine Thorne cooked the venison burgers, which Bud and Dolores Baker donated. After considerable time and effort and with the aid of charcoal lighter fluid, Dolores Baker was able to start a campfire in the pit next to the shelter house. All of the firewood was wet from the recent rainfall and this made it particularly difficult to start a fire.. After the dinner the board of directors conducted their April meeting, while others sat around the campfire laughing and telling stories.

The next morning members of the board prepared breakfast for about forty people who had previously signed up for it. The breakfast included pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice and coffee. This breakfast menu really hit the spot with the cool morning breeze coming off the lake. After breakfast several horseback riders saddled up and hit the trail once more for a short ride before departing for home. As the clouds began to break away and the sun finally came out, some of the hiking contingent took to the trails as well for a short hike.

Approximately one hundred people participated in this year’s Super Outdoor Weekend, and as usual everyone seemed to have enjoyed the event in spite of the overcast skies and the cool and damp weather that characterized most of the weekend. As always the weekend provided an opportunity to make new friends as well as to renew old friendships and acquaintances. This year marked the twentieth anniversary of this event. The board wishes to express its appreciation to Elk City State Park for supplying the charcoal grills and picnic tables for the potluck supper and to the Corps of Engineers for making the campground and shelter house available free of charge to all of the participants. A special thank you also goes to Bud and Dolores Baker for donating the venison burgers, charcoal and firewood for the event.

[The pictures below from the 2002 Super Outdoor Weekend are supplied courtesy of KTC Board Member, Harriett Barber.  Remember to click on the thumbnail in order to see an enlarged view of each picture.]