A Squirrel with a Serious Case of the Munchies

While tripping gaily through Highland Forest last weekend we stumbled upon the following:

Huh?  Here's a close-up:

That is a massive pile of 100% pine cone scales and denuded pine cones.  And if you look closely, you can see that the whole pile is riddled with holes as though someone is living in it:

The neighboring pine trees?  Not a scale nor cone under a one of them.  Take, for example, this tree immediately adjacent:

Two of the possible conclusions I can draw from this are that 1) there is one enormous squirrel with a steroid problem who favors that tree, or 2) someone's been growing marijuana at Highland Forest and this squirrel has the munchies.

Practically speaking, would a squirrel burrow in the pine cone detritus?  I wouldn't really think so - but I have a hard time believing this is all from a chipmunk.  A whole family of squirrels or chipmunks lives up that tree and only ever eats while in its branches?  What else eats pine cones?

Seriously - this one has me a bit baffled.  Anybody ever seen the likes before??