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Carol Jo (“CJ”) Hargreaves joined Mid Valley Unit of Backcountry Horsemen of California sometime in 1989 or ‘90. At the time, she was dating a BCHC member who had a horse and riding mule, and she wanted to join in on the unit’s fun-sounding work “parties” and other riding and social activities. It wasn’t long before CJ had her own riding mule, a truck and trailer, a ranchette for keeping it all, and was deeply involved in the administration of BCHC. CJ served as Mid Valley Unit’s secretary for many years, helped put together the unit’s monthly newsletter, developed curriculum for teaching packing classes at Modesto Junior College, helped put on educational events, chaired the annual Columbia Christmas Parade for about 10 years, served on Rendezvous Committees for the events held in Turlock, and was elected the unit’s first woman president. CJ’s first elected position in state BCHC was as Alternate National Director to Back Country Horsemen of America for the year 2000. She never got to do anything, however, because neither of the Directors ever missed a meeting. In 2001, she was elected BCHC Secretary and served two terms under the leadership of BCHC Presidents Toby Horst and John Keyes. When the BCHC Newsletter Editor position became vacant, she moved to that job and served from 2005 through 2011. After a hiatus during which she edited Woodbridge LIFE, the monthly paper for the Woodbridge/Del Webb 55+ community in Manteca, as well as Renaissance, the monthly newsletter for the nonprofit Peer Recovery Art Project in Modesto, in September 2020, CJ again became BCHC’s Editor. In addition to editing the BCHC paper, she served on the Insurance Committee, is currently serving on the Bylaws Committee and Website Committee, and temporarily as BCHC’s Webmaster and Facebook Administrator. Carol Jo was born in Seattle, Washington, earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Washington and has worked in a variety of different jobs from insurance adjuster to reference librarian to supervisor and manager. In 1980, she moved to Modesto, California, where she began working for Stanislaus County. After 30 years, she retired from county employment in 2010. CJ married Larry Schneider in 2006. She has one son, Andrew, who lives in Surprise, Arizona, with his wife and their two sons. Larry has two sons, one in Stockton, California, and the other in Farmington, Missouri. CJ enjoys worldwide traveling, camping in their motor home (and little vintage trailer), boating and other water activities, reading and knitting. She is currently serving as President of her P.E.O. chapter, an international women’s philanthropic and educational organization, and participates in a local book club. Larry and CJ moved to Long Lake in Olympia, Washington, in October 2019, but that doesn’t stop her from being active in BCHC. She sincerely enjoys creating The Backcountry News every quarter where she learns something new and improves her editing and pagination skills with every edition.

Dan Chartier comes from a logging background. He worked in the woods of Humboldt County until the timber industry began shutting down, then went to work for CALFIRE. After 25 years with CALFIRE, Dan retired from his position as a Heavy Fire Equipment Operator. Dan and his wife of 40+ years joined the Shasta Trinity Unit more than 12 years ago. They rode as outriders for a few years and now have five horses and three mules and spend their summers packing, opening trails, and supporting trail crews with the USFS. Dan was the Lead Chainsaw Instructor and State Cadre Lead for CALFIRE’s Chainsaw Program from 2005 to 2019. He has also been part of BCHC’s Saw Program from its start some years back. Dan is a CALFIRE Certifier along with a USFS Chainsaw /Crosscut Evaluator.

Susie Patton is a California native and lifelong horse and mule owner. She comes from a rodeo background and traveled that circuit as a child with her parents and brother. Her father was a rodeo clown and bullfighter and later produced rodeos. She met her husband Troy as a kid, working around the rodeo. She worked as a rodeo secretary for 15 years. Susie later worked as a school secretary for 30 years and, upon their retirement, Troy and Susie moved to the Eastern Sierra. She continued her involvement with schools and served as president of her local school board. Troy and Susie have been married over 50 years and have one son, four granddaughters, two great-granddaughters, and two great-grandsons. Susie has served as a BCHC Eastern Sierra Unit Secretary, Treasurer and Public Lands Chair. At the State level she was Public Lands VP then State Secretary, and served on the Bylaws Committee, before taking on the new role of Rendezvous Secretary.

Lucy Badenhoop fell in love with her grandpa’s plow horse as a pre-schooler, but never realized her childhood dream to own a trail horse until she retired. Since then, Lucy has enjoyed the many trails in her region and tried to make them better. The path to becoming a trails advocate was not planned, but many life choices gave her skills that help the cause. College degrees (a BS in Business Administration from Oregon State University and an MS in Accounting from California State University) provided the financial framework for managing her own and organizational funding. A divorce in 1975 forced a single mom of three to become an avid do-it-yourselfer, so all tools (like chain saws) became friends. The divorce also mandated a stable career, so Lucy became a civilian employee of the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC) at McClellan AFB in Sacramento, California. This included two years at the Pentagon (1988 and 1989). Like all military entities, AFLC is big on training the skills they need, so they made her a Project Manager for aircraft modification programs. When Lucy left for the Pentagon, she had just become an empty nester, so upon returning to Sacramento in 1990, she focused on her own interests. At that time, she was a recreational hiker and joined the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue Team (which had an equestrian component). When aging mobility issues limited hiking, Lucy switched to the mounted option. As retirement neared, Lucy purchased a 2-acre mini ranch (a house on bare land) and started preparing for equestrian living. At first it was mini horses for therapy visits to Shriner’s Hospital or senior homes. By 2008, she had the fencing, barn, and RV facilities for trail horse camping and found her trail horse Mohawk at a rescue sanctuary. Mohawk introduced Lucy to a new circle of equestrian friends at the Sacramento Horsemen’s Association (SHA), Backcountry Horsemen of California (BCHC as a Wilderness Rider), Mother Lode Unit (BCHC-MLU as Treasurer), Sacramento Valley Equestrian Patrol (SVEP member), and National Pony Express Association (NPEA member). This prompted becoming a sawyer and packer which led to horse camping. By 2016, all the elements (financial management, project management and trail skills) had joined together to start organizing trail projects and seek funding for them – which led to self-taught grant writing for BCHC-MLU trail projects. By 2020, Lucy was teaching others to write grants. In 2022, she became involved with grant writing for the BCHC Packing Intern Program. The USFS has the capability to train up to six packer interns every summer, but BCHC has struggled to fund one with donations. In 2023, a new 50/50 policy was adopted to seek half donations and half grants. At the same time, a more stable long-term funding program using an endowment type option was being investigated. Lucy chairs BCHC’s Intern Committee made up of representatives from the Center for Excellence and Eastern Sierra Conservation Corps.

Lloyd Erlandson has been a member of Mid Valley for over 25 years and has been on the unit’s Board of Directors almost as long. He has served as President of Mid Valley, as well as President of Backcountry Horsemen of California. He was Rendezvous General Chairman in 2024 and 2026. Lloyd has been flying and farming all his life. He started farming when he was old enough to turn the steering wheel on a tractor and flying since he was 16 years old. He is a graduate of Cal Poly SLO, spent seven years as a Navy pilot, crop dusted for 35 years and is still trying to farm. Lloyd loves the mountains and the high country by horseback with a mule string following behind him. Lloyd usually says he didn’t get very far in life because he is still living in the same house he moved into in Hilmar, California, when he was one year old. He’s been married to Susan for the last 54+ years and would not change that for anything.

As a lifelong lover of horses and intrepid explorer of our vast wilderness areas, when Cindy heard about Backcountry Horsemen she thought, this is a great fit for me. Unfortunately, her job made it almost impossible for her to join this organization. Within days of her retirement, however, Cindy became a member of the High Country Unit in northeastern California. Cindy volunteered to fill her unit’s Public Lands position thinking it was a good way for her to learn what Backcountry Horsemen was all about and, boy, did she get an education! Then she filled the position of 2nd Vice President of Service and Volunteer Hours Reporting. She relinquished that position on the state board and has been focusing on her local unit for two to three years. Cindy was asked if she would fill the 2nd Vice President position again and agreed that I could help out. In 2025, the State Board of Directors voted to change the 2nd VP position to the subsidiary position of Volunteer Hours Coordinator. If you have any questions about how to fill out your volunteer hours work sheets or any other questions, such as what you should be documenting, please contact Cindy. She will gladly help you in any way she can. Remember, your service counts and is important for preserving equestrian’s right to access our public lands. Happy trails and thank you for your service!