Yesterday, I joined 3 other adventurers to do a workday on the Goat River Trail.  The main purpose being to fix the hand cable car that allows hikers to cross the Goat River.  A tree, on the far side of the river, to which the cable was connected had fallen over.  The cable was still connected to the tree, which remained anchored enough to support the car, but the lines needed to pull the car from one side of the river to the other had broken.

    To get to the cable car meant we had to hike a few kilometers, and along the way, there were trees and brush that had to be cleared from the trail.  We slogged through muddy patches and deep woods, and arrived at the cable car in time for a rest and lunch.  We were able to loop a line to the car, so it could be pulled to either side of the river (normally, it rests above the middle of the river, because of the sag in the cable).

    The actual ride on the cable car is an exciting experience.  When you get in on one side and let it go, you rapidly zip across, above the river, to just beyond the half-way point.  Then the work begins, as you have to pull on the cable above you to move you and the car, up the incline to the other side.  Its amazing how hard you have to pull to achieve this.

    Once we were done with the cable car, we continued trail clearing on the other side of the river, all the way to Whitehorse Creek, where hot and exhausted, I lay down on the rocks beside the creek and lowered my face into the bracingly cold water rushing over the boulders.  I was instantly renewed. 

    After a short rest, we turned around, and hiked back on the newly cleaned out trail to the cable car, which we used it to cross the Goat River.    Then tired and beaten, we continued our slog up and down the hills, through the muddy bits, and finally made it back to the truck at 6:30.

    I was pretty sore and exhausted, but it had been a good day.  I was able to take lots of photos of the deep forest and some interesting plants and mushrooms.

    It was rewarding to get out in nature and see things that you have never seen before.  But there is always a price to pay, and I expect, by tomorrow, all my poor old muscles will informing me of that price.