As a youngster growing up on a little ranch in Colorado, my father always had several corral full of horses. A big portion of these horses came to us unbroken. Fortunately for myself, I was the youngest of the boys so I escaped those horses that had never been ridden. This right was reserved for my oldest brother, Tad, who was a very good hand around horses and got a lot of experience in riding broncs. Once he had them where you could ride without getting buck off, the horse would then be turned over to my other two brothers, Larry and Don, who would then finish breaking them. Once they were neck reining good, they were then turned over to me where it was my responsibility to ride each horse every evening after school just to keep them smoothed out. It should not come as a surprise, but occasionally a "sleeper" would be slipped to me and I would find myself on a horse that Tad had not quite finished breaking so I learned at a young age, how hard a horse can buck and what the alternative is if he or she is successful in dumping you on your head or worse your butt.
As a side note, I am now 61 years of age and have never ridden a bicycle, motorcycle, three wheeler or a four wheeler. You might ask yourself, how can anyone escape this long without enjoying these modes of transportation? I am very smart! However, yesterday, my record ended and at the same time, after riding all those green broke horses, I think I can now qualify for the National Rodeo Finals in December for the bare back or saddle bronc event. I let Papa Bear talk me into riding one of his four wheelers into his cabin. It bucked, snorted, and my butt cleared the saddle more times than I care to remember, but I rode her into the ground without getting buck off.
Golden Granny and myself had never been to Shane's cabin, being that it was a sunny day and he was on vacation from work, we decided that we would experience the trip to see his cabin.
Reaching the end of the road and after unloading the four wheelers, Shane took the time to explain how to start and ride the machine, the indoctrination period lasted all of two minutes. He must have thought I was a quick learner, because we saddled up and rode off into the bush with Golden Granny riding doubles with me. Dutch and Ginger ran alongside with Shane leading the way. I kept looking for a trail, all I could see was muddy tracks, mud holes and swamp but Shane knew the way. Things were going well, at least for the first one hundred yards when I bogged my trusty steed down to the axles and was stuck in a bog. With a little winch help using Shane's machine for a deadman, we were once again underway. Oh, there is another bog hole, just a hundred yards away from my first sinking. Once we got pulled out of this one, Golden Granny quickly determined that riding doubles with Shane was a lot safer than with me. From that point, things went very smoothly as I started getting the hang of going into the holes slow, hitting the gas and popping out the other side. It was after the trip that Shane just happened to mention that you go in slow, move through the bad spots slow and out the other side. My technique worked most of the time, I only got stuck two additional times going in. Now this trip normally takes Shane forty five minutes or less, today we spent a leisurely two hours winding through the bogs and muddy trails but the end of the trip was well worth the effort to get there.



This is the Bear Den, a remote cabin on a high ridge overlooking Caribou Lake. You have to give the Bear Clan a lot of credit on this feat. They transported all of the building materials into the site by snow machine and four wheelers and completed all of the construction. It is situated at the peak of the ridge with a panoramic view of the area. The inside is very nice, all the comforts of home with sleeping capacity of at least a dozen people including the master bedroom suite. They definitely took advantage of the best location to build.



Finally, Mother Eagle got to be in a picture of herself and Papa Bear standing on the deck of the Bear Den, note the running water system which is located behind them, fresh, cold running water as long as it rains. There has been no problem in keeping up with he water demand this season.
Dutch had a great time, although the run across country and trying to keep up with a one year old yellow lab was a little tough on him, especially on the return trip. Following the four wheelers and running circles around them, he was coated with mud, but loved the jaunt and a good swim in the Anchor River upon our return to clean himself off.



After a picnic lunch and with the rain clouds looming on the other ridges, it was decided that it was time to return to civilization. It was then we discovered that the Bear knew of yet another trail, a little further but somewhat easier to travel. Had no mishaps, until the Bear decided to cut across country to get to the good trail faster - anytime Bear or Moose talks about a short cut - beware! The shortcut went well, at least until I high centered my steed a top of a small tree stump - who would have ever thought that there was a stump anywhere close to that dead tree on the ground! After winching a couple of times, we were once again moving to the good trail! Surprise, the trail was a board walk eight feet wide across all the swamps. The remainder of the trail stayed on the high ground, wide enough and smooth enough that I am sure that I could get my Ford F-150 within two miles of the cabin. This route was a little further, but once we cleared the short cut, my butt never left the saddle. Keeping up pace with Dutch, we came in a little behind the Bear and Mama Eagle, in fact they had their machine loaded on the trailer when we finally completed the trip. It was a great trip and we had a good time, but I cannot not picture Blonde Bear or Mama Bear wheeling through Papa Bear's favorite trail! He should have the machine that I was riding repaired and ready to go for the Labor Day Weekend outing that they have planned.
While wandering around the den site, I did discover two things. One is that they built their den a top of one of the largest gravel disposits on the Kenai Peninsula. Being very adapt at living off the land and knowing what is edible and those things to stay away from, I did discover something that most people do not know exists in Alaska. You have no doubt heard of the world famous Kona Coffee Bean, they grown on the slopes of the volcano in rocky terrain and one of the finest beans available on the market. At the altitude of the Bear Den and the rocky soil, there are several very large plants of wild Coffee Beans growing on the south slopes of the ridge. They are not quite ripe enough to harvest, although I did gather a few and used rocks to grind them up so we enjoyed a fresh cup of Bear Ridge Coffee before we left the quietness of the wilderness.