Pat Hollow Crash Site

For the past 20 years, the Allred side of the family has been going to a family cabin at Bear Lake. Needless to say, we've done just about everything Bear Lake Valley has to offer. Been there, done that. So it's been nice to add ATV's into the mix. We have new adventures to go on and it's been fun. Last Saturday we embarked on a 3-hour ride to see a crash site. In January, 1953, a military transport plane taking Korean War vets home went down, killing all 40 passengers on board. The plane was traveling from Seattle to a scheduled stop in Rock Springs, WY when it crashed in the mountains near Bear Lake. It's sad to think that these individuals survived a war, only to die on their way home. The crash site itself is in a beautiful wooded area. Some plaques have been placed there to tell the story and to honor those who had died there. We would have loved to have stayed longer and explored a little bit, but it was impossible. We had been there all of 3 minutes when Brynn started dancing around (which is very common for Brynn so I thought nothing of it). Then Hailey started, then Zach, and so on. When Brook started doing a jig, I knew we were in for trouble. I don't know who the lookout was, but an allied force of mosquitoes, gnats, and horseflies descended on us so quickly and thoroughly, that I knew that things were not going to turn out well. For those of you who have ever been attacked by gnats, you know how irritating it is. We fought back valiantly, swatting at whatever we could get our hands on until we were covered with smears of bug guts. But in the end, retreating was the only option. The swarm followed us for a short distance before it got bored and retreated. We returned home FILTHY dirty and hungry, but with another Bear Lake memory under our belt. Good times..... I think.