If I was not currently raising small primates and attempting to manage a home, I would want to do this type of work full time (or at least part time). This is why I went to college! Where should I start the story of my fun-filled bear crew reunion weekend? Well, I'll start by saying I haven't been denning in the Book Cliffs with this much snow for many years. I met up with Hal (major prof), Janene, Josh (along with his dad and brothers) in Mapleton early Saturday morning. Wade and son Gavin joined us in Green River.
Here is a shot of the view from the truck window after we turned off the interstate and headed toward Westwater/Hay Canyon from the south end. It was snowing pretty hard for several hours of our drive. The main adventures of denning trips consist of the difficulty in getting to the bear dens, that's where all the good stories come from.
I failed to photograph Wade's truck stuck in the borrow pit and Hal pulling it out with another truck. After Josh got the snowmobile trailer stuck near the Elmgren's Bed & Breakfast, this massive plow drove around a loop clearing the snow in that one area. We later learned that each of those tire chains weigh 400 lbs! We all wondered how one goes about getting chains on a tractor that large to begin with. Unfortunately for us, the driver wasn't hired to plow the road all the way to the top of Hay Canyon.
As a result, we unloaded the 2 snowmobiles, and others drove them from this point while the rest of us piled into just one truck to make the journey. It was about 12 miles to the bottom of Hay.
Hal and Gavin snacking on Pringles
The scenery was as beautiful as ever, and with the exception of our noisy vehicles, it was peaceful.
Even with chains the truck could only make it about 3/4 of the way up to the ridge road, so we decided to send Josh, his 2 brothers, and Wade on the snowmobiles to go work the bear since it was so late in the afternoon by this point in time. The remainder of us hung out on the road at the truck, snacking on homemade brownies and cookies and talking. Gavin played games on Janene's cell phone.
An hour and a half later (4:30 p.m.), the boys returned saying they had had difficulty finding the correct road due to all the snow. By the time they located the spot, it was too late to allow enough time to hike to the den and work the bear, so they decided to leave it for the following day. Josh's family had to get back to Provo that evening, so we headed back down the canyon and they took one of the trucks and left.
Originally we were going to stay at the Pine Springs Hilton, but since we couldn't get on top of the ridge road to access it, we returned to the Elmgren's Bed & Breakfast at the bottom of Hay Canyon. I had never stayed there before, but the crew has used it for several other denning trips in the past years. 
This place was LUXURY! It was a 3-bedroom house, complete with kitchen, living room, and 2 bathrooms! Did I mention it had electricity and running water too?
Not quite the same as the outhouse at Pine Springs!
Hal cooked us a dinner of scrambled eggs and sausage.
Later Wade, Gavin, Janene, and I played Scum (another crew tradition).
The following morning we got an early start. We drove the truck to the bottom of the hill, rode the snowmobiles to the hiking start, then snowshoed to the den. Hooray for snowshoes! Without them we would have sunk waist deep. Did I mentioned there was a lot of snow this year?
Hey, look! It's me and Janene on our way to a bear den!
At Heidi's den
Heidi's den was a T-shape with the nest at the junction. Heidi had retreated up the left side and her yearling was between her and the opening. Josh decided to just tranquilize the yearling (since the goal of this trip was to tag and collar it) and not bother Heidi unless she got upset and tried to come out too.
It was pretty cold standing and waiting at the den, so Wade built a small fire.
Emma, the yearling, was asleep within 20 minutes, and we pulled her out to work her.
Wade helped fit the break-away collar on the yearling. It is programmed to fall off 15 months from now in case we can't get back to her next year. Notice Josh's boots on the right in the photo below--he stayed inside the den to keep an eye on momma bear. She had her back turned toward him the entire time. I was surprised she really didn't seem to care that we were messing with her baby.
Emma was so small that Wade had to cut off part of the collar, so it took a few fittings to get it just right. I tried to be useful and help too.
See how cute bears are!
Hal is always so photogenic.
He is proud of his awesome camo clothing.
Back at the snowmobiles we posed for group photos.
Pronghorn
Removing chains after we got to paved roads again
I haven't had this much fun in months!
It was such a relaxing break and so nice to catch up
with friends again.
P.S. For those of you wondering, it was very difficult for me to leave Dallin overnight for the first time in his life. Sadly he came down with a fever on the second day, but he was doing much better by the time we were reunited.
