|
Photo courtesy of Neil Riley
|
 |
We woke up at six, excited for out last day of hiking. We had breakfast (finishing off most of the 90 pounds of food), and quickly packed our camp. The hike was easy, but long, dusty, and mostly downhill.
We did four silent meditations on the last four verses of Matthew's Gospel, including commissioning each other to go out into the world and do Christ's service. We knew we were getting close to the end of the trail when we began passing day hikers. Once we reached the trailhead, we kept our packs on for a few group photos, then took them off for the last time.
Climbing into the SUV felt wierd--but very comfortable--and it was very smelly. When we checked into the Ranger Station, we asked about the lake that we discovered, and learned that it was unknown! We put in a bid to name the lake, and will be contacted once the lake is verified. We then picked up our extra bags at Beezie Crawford's house, and then went out to lunch for big, juicy burgers--YUM!!
Today was a day of pure joy and heavenly surprizes. We awoke refreshed from a long, deep sleep, had pancakes for breakfast, packed up, and embarked on a scramble up a near escarpment to discover the source of Harlett waterfall & creek. When we reached the top of the falls, we were amazed by discovering an unmapped lake!
We hiked around the lake, had snowball fights, and John tried to build a land bridge to an island, which Mary Kate and Hannah simply walked across to the other side (John recovered with great speed and diplomacy). Once on the island, the choice was clear for Mary Kate and Hannah: they gracefully dove, in-synch, into the glacial waters. The three men, not to be outdone, splashed in with primeval screams.
Much refreshed, though not any cleaner, we looked over the vista at the top of the waterfall, and left our newly-named Lake Magnanimous. We strolled back down to camp, then had a short and uneventful hike to our next campsite. We gorged on peanut butter and hummus for lunch, set up a nice camp, and had solo time after discussing the feeding of the 5000.
Free time consisted of an unsuccessful fly-fishing trip and a short run. We had a pirate-themed dinner, complete with eyepatches, bandanas, and sword fights. We then celebrated eucharist and went to bed.
Our day began before dawn with a quick, cold breakfast and a mad dash to pack and get on the trail. Ahead of us lay our longest and most grueling climb. We went from 10250 feet to 12353 at Ptarmigan Point and back down--No wonder it can take people 7 hours to get there! The hike was filled with beautiful views and steep inclines.
There was wildlife in abundance: we saw marmots, a herd of over 150 elk, deer, wildflowers, waterfalls & spectacular views down ezch side of the Continental Divide. Upon reaching our new campsite, we were greeted by a downpour and hail. We had lunch and tea. The most beautiful things that we saw today were the three elk that came right up to our campsite--they were about 50 feet away, feeding and ignoring us.
While it was a long and tiring hike, we all made it, and helped one another along the way! We look forward to an even easier day tomorrow, with the possibility of a sleep-in until 6:30!
We woke more leisurely today, and had another breakfast of oatmeal and grits. We then packed camp and started up to Hynach Lake. About halfway up, we lost the trail, but luckily, we knew where we were going. Finally, we found the lake and everyone but Neil, Greevey, and Amelia had a quick plunge in the freezing-cold water.
We saw a storm coming in, circling around us. Luckily, we only got a few sprinkles. We had a quick lunch and hurried down to miss the storm. On the way down, we found the real trail. We saw a six-point buck in one meadow that we passed!
When we finally got back to camp, it started raining. We had a good dinner and after that we had a good bible discussion about the Beatitudes and Jesus' teaching.
We are going to be early this evening, and are looking forward to a very difficult day tomorrow--hiking an elevation change of 2000 feet! We all got many bites fishing, fortunately we caught a super-large fish ==unfortunately, the rest of the message was lost due to a poor connection==
Yesterday we went fishing, but didn't catch anything. Hannah and Mary Kate went on a brief run.
We all went to bed by 10pm. The surroundings were quiet, and we were just about to fall asleep when we heard a loud crash that sounded like a tree falling down! We woke up the next morning, and the weather was cold and windy. We had a nice breakfast of oatmeal, grits, lots of hot chocolate, trail mix, and tea.
When we got on the trial, we saw three moose, possibly the same ones that we saw yesterday. We gained over 1200 feet on our climb. For lunch, we stopped at Granite Falls, where we had a wonderful photo opportunity, and most of us dunked our heads in the refreshing water.
We completely set up camp and took a little bath in the stream, and then almost got whallopped by a continental divide thunderstorm. Then we made dinner and went to be early. We are looking forward to our day hike to the lakes tomorrow.
Today, our scripture study was about Jesus' healing, which we discussed in group and then thought about in our solo time.
Thank you!
Our tour began yesterday on a humorous note when the Big Green Mountain Machine Van broke down going over Berthoud Pass. We stacked backpacks on top of the Suburban.
We spent the night in Grand Lake at the home of Beezie Crawford, a member of St. Aidan's Church. We greatly appreciated her hospitality and company.
We woke up bright and early, packed, had breakfast, and made a quick detour to buy Melia's new hiking boots.
We were excited to finally get on the trailhead for the four and a half mile hike to the big meadow campsite. The hike was tiring but enjoyable. It is a perfectly located campsite--it's gorgeous!
We had a refreshing camp-in and discussed about Jesus, Moses, and Jesus' calling of his first disciple. Then we ate a delicious dinner on the dirt.
We look forward to tomorrow's hike and elevation again.
Thank you!
|
|
