Employee of the year

Last fall my grandson and I did a few-days camping trip back to the Swan. We spent a few days there at the Cold Creek Bridge. It was many years since I left and I enjoyed again what I had remembered the almost 30 years I had lived there.

In need of the outhouse facilities I went to check it out. I wasn’t prepared for what was there. It was a sight for sore eyes! Someone had not quite made the seat and it was unusable. Not having cell service I drove to a friend’s house with a landline. I called Swan Lake Forest Service to inform the gal the toilet facilities at Cold Creek Bridge were a disaster. She said she’d pass it on to the right people.

The next day a young man showed up and checked it out. He yelled over to me that he needed more equipment to handle the mess. He said he’d be back. True to his word, in a couple of hours he was back and set to work. He was there a while as you can guess. He even had a happy-go-lucky attitude, making jokes. Then he waved as he left.

I went to inspect the job and was pleasantly surprised that the place was clean. It even smelled good. Back to the phone I called the Forest Service a couple of days later. It must have been the same gal I called before. I said I was calling to report on the clean up job at the Cold Creek toilet. She must have thought I was complaining; her voice was somewhat defensive. I wanted her to know that the person who cleaned that place needed my thank you. In fact, the public needed to thank him.

These toilets are of great construction and are absolutely necessary at these hard-used camping areas. Visualize the alternative without them. The Forest Service can’t know there’s a need unless they’re notified.

It’s no secret over the years I’ve wondered why the Forest Service doesn’t attack forest fires like the old timers did. Aggressive from day one. Anyway, credit where credit is due.

I make a motion that the guy who cleaned the outhouse be hunted down and put up for employee of the year!