The summer residents that left their abodes at the Hole In the Wall Recreation Area can thank their neighbor, Papa Bear for his unselfish efforts in protecting their property. On Saturday, light rains begin to fall over the area. With the mixture of the heavy snow loads with a little added moisture then a good freeze, the extra weight of ice may have been to much for the roof tops to survive.
PaPa Bear brought out his snow machine to get access into the area. This was an added benefit because we now have a pack down sledding hill and on the level a great oval ring for cross country skiing. He cleared the snow pack off the Bear Den and then went to work on the Wolf Lair. He did see the big snow drift between the two camps, not one to let the opportunity pass, he decided to go over the drift. The only problem was that the drift was in actuality the stack of firewood that had been raised off the ground in order to keep it dry. The attempt at the make believe snow drift resulted in getting stuck. We will have to wait to see if the dunnage under the wood pile supported the extra load of the snow and snow machine, I think not.
I watched him as he cleared the roof on the Wolf Lair, I had missed my estimation on the depth of the snow, as he cut it back from the edges, it was a good three feet deep. Completing this task, he once again mounted his machine and headed for the Moose Wallow, again a snow drift challenged his senses as a snow machiner. He would have made it over this drift, except it was the picnic table and his skis went between the table top and the side benches, stuck once again. Getting the machine and the table disengaged took a little more time than the "camouflaged wood pile".
After clearing the roof on the Moose Wallow , he rode his machine up to the Eagle Nest for a short visit and return the shovel he had borrowed after breaking his. He did not need to clear the roof on the "Duck House", whoever built that building designed it to shed snow with enough support to take care of any amount of snow load, rock slides or mud slides.
Today, the elders of the Bear Clan are headed to LA, where they intend to spend the night and have a doctors (new doctor) appointment on Monday morning and return to the "Little Hamlet on Beluga Slough" on Monday afternoon. In preparation for next winter, in the fall we may want to place markers on all low level objects that could become obstacles in the winter. Someone must have stole the "fire pit", PaPa Bear said he could see no indication that the fire pit ever existed. How about a "Golden Shovel" Award for his efforts.