As had become our habit, we opened up in early May again this year.  Nobody was happier to get out of the truck after our 6 1/2 hour drive than the dogs.  Big difference from being cooped up in our Edmonton backyard all winter.

  
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First order of business was to make more permanent arrangements with an outhouse.  Last fall we had hired a local contractor to build us a roadway from the county gravel road to our camping site.  He had roughed it in alongside our east boundary before the snow fell in October and finished up the grading in May and June.  Because it was so expensive hauling gravel in from Fairview, we could only could afford a couple of loads which we spread very thinly in the softest patches on the road.

The equipment the contractor had on site included a backhoe so we had the operator dig us a latrine hole.  He managed to get down 14' which we thought was deep enough.  Don't think we'll fill that hole in our lifetimes.

To close up the hole and provide a platform for an outhouse, I built and anchored a frame out of treated 4" x 6" beams.  Satisfied with the integrity of the frame I used 2" x 6" treated deck boards for the deck.  Because it was there and more or less functional, we anchored the old outhouse on top with the intention of building a new one when we could.  But for now, we had an adequate facility.

   
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Abundant game again this year.  We had a black bear with triplets in the south quarter and our grizzly showed up again.

    
    
    
    
    
    
   
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