Tonight, we will have ice form on the puddles in our driveway, under a cloudless night, the full moon shows through my window. Knowing that this is first sign of the onslaught of winter, my thoughts turn to this past summer. What a great summer it was, despite the number of cloudy and rainy days that we endured. Those weekends that are the most memorable were also the weekends that we saw the reality of summer and coincidently a full capacity at the Hole In the Wall Recreation Area.

The one big disappointment this summer, was that the Plumma never had the opportunity to complete his summer long ambition. Although, he must be given credit for inventing a new summer sport, that being dirt sledding with a tobaggan. An event that everyone had to try with various degrees of success including one of the youngest members, my five year old grandson "Butch" did conquered the hill. For those that have not seen the HITWRA, the campground is situated in a bowl with steep slopes surrounding the area of approximately 107.5 feet.

The Plumma wanted to rig a wire or rope from the top of the bluff, anchoring the other end inside the campground area. It was his intention to rig a pulley on the wire and ride it to the bottom of the hill. He estimated that he could gain a speed in excess of 63.7 mph on his decent into the campground from the high bluff. The one thing that kept him from accomplishing his dream, was developing a way to stop instantly from 63.7 mph to zero and survive. Although he had the wire rigged, he never had the opportunity to bring fame to the Wolf Clan by riding the wire.

It was not until all of the Clans had departed the area for the summer, before the wire was conquered by the Bear Clan, unfortunately I was the only one in attendance to witness the feat. However, the Bear Clan took a different approach, instead of running the wire downhill, Daddy Bear ran the wire from one side of the bluff, across the campground, anchoring the other end to the bluff on the opposite side. This placed the wire approximately 110 feet above the surface of the camping area. With the aid of a dirt bike and the oldest of the "Cub Bears", he accomplished something that will live in the folk lore of Clan History forever. I was able to capture the historic trip on film.