Community welcome: A gathering place for trail rides and dances

By Brenna Wiegand

A dedicated band of people who enjoy the old-fashioned ways of socializing are dedicated to keeping the Waldo Hills Community Club alive and its wood-heated hall open.

Local farmers constructed the club in 1928-29 on an acre of land donated by Audie Morton, the granddaughter of Ralph and Mary Geer, who arrived by wagon train 1847 and were awarded Oregon’s second 640-acre land claim. Part of which has become the historic GeerCrest Farm, owned by Jim and Erika Toler.

“The community club started out there for the local farmers when people didn’t have TVs,” said Bob Wachter.

“It was a good way to socialize with their neighbors. They’d have card parties, dinners, dances, plays and all kinds things.”

The farm families got together in other ways, too. In the 1940s, Ted Riches organized the first Drift Creek Canyon trail ride. Folks saddled up and came from all around, starting the day with breakfast at Waldo Hills Community Club.

All on private land, the 8 to 10-mile trail they took led deep into Drift Creek Canyon and crossed Drift Creek a few times before climbing out and across vast hills of farmland with their wide-open skies and spectacular views of the region.

“We believe Ted guided the riders through the canyon and that they probably held this event for seven or eight years running,” said Jim Toler, a member of the community club.

A group of riders resurrected the tradition in 1978, but it only ran for three years. The last ride was on May 18, 1980, the day Mount St. Helens erupted.

With their strong interest in local history and family roots in Waldo Hills, the Tolers thought they could raise needed funds for the 80-year-old building’s maintenance by bringing back this unique tradition.

In 2002, they attended a monthly meeting of the Oregon Equestrian Trails club, Silver Falls Chapter to ask whether it would help reorganize the ride as a fundraiser for the Waldo Hills Community Club.

“They enthusiastically took on the project, advertising it through their network,” Jim Toler said. “We mapped out a 10-mile route starting and ending at GeerCrest Farm that featured a breakfast at the start and a mid-ride barbeque.”

The first Waldo Hills Heritage Ride got under way the same year on the second Saturday in September, a date that has stuck. Like before, the scenic ride crosses private farms, canyon trails, Drift Creek and the old Molalla-Klamath Indian trail and stretches over the Waldo Hills area.

Oregon Equestrian Trails handles the trail marking and monitoring for the ride while the community club works with the landowners and organizes the barbeque.

“We were amazed to have over 200 riders participate that first year,” said Toler. Since then, the riders have swelled to as many as 400, many who come back year after year. The ride typically earns between $1,000 and $2,000 each for Waldo Hills Community Club and Oregon Equestrian Trails.

The community club is available for rental for some events and is currently home to the Silver City Squares square dancing group that meets once a month.

Wachter, who takes part in both club activities and the dancing, says involvement in one often leads to involvement in the other.

“There are a lot of nice people who come; I enjoy it,” said Wachter, noting also that keeping the old woodstove stoked is rather an art.