This story takes us back to the early days of the Highbanks Hunting Club...when the "crew" consisted of only Paco and Pedro. At that time, one of the major obstacles standing in the way of ultimate hunting success (or so they thought) was the mighty (muddy) creek called Mudbrook. The boys had heard deer crossing the creek on numerous morning and evening hunts and wondered what the habitat looked like on the "other side". Now, the Mudbrook is only about 10 or 12 yards wide when the water is at a normal level but it doesn't take much rain to raise and widen it considerably. To get across the creek to scout, the boys had used a canoe that belonged to one of Pedro's relatives. This worked O.K. but was kind of time consuming and also made the canoe unavailable for it's owner to use. So, an alternative plan was needed and the boys had just the thing...a bridge! The idea was to build a bridge across the Mudbrook at it's narrowest point and then cut a trail through the little piece of tagalder swamp onto high ground. What a brilliant idea! Paco and Pedro decided to put their plan into action one early fall afternoon. They began by cutting pieces of tree trunk off some wind falls in the woods. These large pieces were then carried into the Mudbrook and set down to the bottom. Oddly enough, the bottom of the Mudbrook wasn't muddy at all! It was nice and sandy. At any rate, it was quite a warm day and Paco didn't want to get his pants wet so he took them off and was working in the creek with just his underwear and a t-shirt on. What a character! After the stumps were set on the bottom of the creek (four in all), it was time to apply the planking that would be the walkway over the water. Here it must be pointed out that the four stumps were cut tall enough to stick above the water line approximately 6 inches. The 2" x 6" planks were nailed to the stumps and secured on either bank and, wala, the bridge was complete. What an engineering spectacle it was too...four big stumps rising out of the water with planks nailed to the tops of them to walk on. It was perfect! The boys tried it out a few times and then moved on to cut their trail towards the high ground. At the end of the day all was complete and hunting bliss was just around the corner. Over the next week or so the bridge was used for a couple of hunts across the creek and it worked just fine. Then it rained. The boys didn't account for a rising creek when they cut their stumps. The next time they went to use the bridge, as they approached the swollen creek, they were horrified to see that the water was flowing over the top of their planking and had actually began to tip their stumps over. It was a sad day indeed. The mighty Mudbrook Bridge had only lasted a couple of weeks before rain had caused the creek to rise, virtually detstroying it's usefulness to Paco and Pedro. Oh well, onto the next solution...HIP WADERS! These days, all that remains of the Mudbrook Bridge are stumps in the water and memories of an enjoyable autumn day shared by two best friends.
