1/10-12/20 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Friday through Sunday.

The drive over the pass was slow going. I was in 4wd following snowplows most of the way. I stopped and visited with Earl and Patty for a while. They told me that it had snowed about 16 inches of very wet snow a few days ago. It was snowing again when I arrived.

I proceeded on to Camp Serendipity and arrived at 1:00. I was happy to find that the big snowfall had been plowed from my driveway which was now covered with 5 or 6 inches of new snow. I had no trouble parking, but it took me an hour to shovel off the steps and get up to the cabin.

After hoisting the flag, building a fire in the stove, and carrying my gear up to the cabin, I had my usual lunch and a nap. I didn't get much else done the rest of the day.

On Saturday, there was another five inches of new snow on the ground. I decided it was time to shovel the snow off the mixer and the privy because they were carrying dangerously heavy loads. I stomped out a trail to the privy, clearing the mixer on the way, and then came back and got the ladder. I set that up against the privy in the usual way and proceeded to shovel the snow off. The snow was stiff but I was able to cut through it with the aluminum scoop shovel.

After putting the ladder back, I shoveled the concrete steps off again and then shoveled the snow off the hood and windshield of the truck. I planned to leave early the next morning, so I wanted to keep the truck as ready to go as possible.

Next, I split a bunch of firewood until it was time for lunch and another nap. When I got up, I saw that it had warmed up enough so that all the snow I had left on top of the cab of the truck had slid down so that it was now on the windshield. So, I went back down and shoveled it off again.

Then I finally did some work on the loft rails. The last section of the railing butts up against the Grid E log wall, so I worked on cutting the notches in the logs to receive the top and bottom 2x4 rails. In the process I made the same stupid mistake I had made on 4/3/19. I dropped my chisel into the crack between the subfloor and the log wall. It went down between the logs and a joist and was completely out of reach. I tried fishing for it with duct tape like I had done before, but it was just too small of a crack. This time I will have to buy a replacement chisel. I felt extra foolish since I had done this before.

I finished fitting the lower 2x4 into its notch and I got a good start on cutting out the upper notch before I quit for the day. In the evening some time, the phone service went out and stayed out until after I left for home the next day.

On Sunday morning I needed to be home early for a family outing, so I packed up and left right after breakfast and after I had cleared another 6 inches of snow that had fallen overnight. The snow was light enough so that in 4wd I was able to drive out of the driveway and get onto the road. The road had a lot of snow on it that hadn't been plowed so I stayed in 4wd until I got well on the other side of the pass. I made it home in time for our event.