Summit Day

Summit day on Trek starts very early. Of course you don't know exactly how early because your wristwatch and all timekeeping devices have been confiscated before you left base camp. You mostly know that it's early because when they wake you for the day, there is absolutely no sign of the sun whatsoever. The other sign is that to wake us our guides 'sang' us awake and they felt it necessary to do so at the top of their lungs. The theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey will, in my mind, never be same. (Dave? What are you doing, Dave?)

The good thing about this day is that you don't have to carry all of you belongings, only your food for the day, clothes to keep you warm at an unnatural hour and maybe a camera to show what a goofy group you belong to. Yea Ian!

On normal hikes, you start out the day with a few extra layers and shed down to shorts and t-shirt by midday. On this hike, I found myself having to layer back up almost at the end of every stop. I also found that Andrew liked to explore while most of us were taking a rest. Come on already, Andrew. At least act tired!

Here's Emily wishing she had more of those Vienna Sausages. Should have let me know. I would have sneaked some in YOUR day pack!

The hike yields one fantastic scene after another. At one point, these mule deer paused perfectly atop this ridge and watched as we made our way their direction. Once they tired of witnessing our sluggish accent, they turned and descended the mountain face as though it were flat ground.

I took this picture of Jessy a few minutes later at just about the same spot where the deer had been.

The great thing is we all made it: the boys and their toys, the girls and their signs, the adults and their dignity (except for Rachael and that Dragon shirt! Boo!)


On the way down we had a bit of fun with a group that was about to summit the same peak we had just come down from. We got to see their ridge dance and then did the wave from our ridge.

After we made it all the way back to high camp, everyone was ready to relax. We had a great devo around the fire. The aspen trees here were magnificent.

Solo Day

Solo day is a time to recuperate from the hike up, acclimate to the altitude and rest for summit day. It gets it's name from the time you spend on your own and in spiritual reflection.

I spent most of my solo time sitting on a bed of pine cones that had built up next to the stream over years and years. It appeared to be at least a couple of feet deep and was very comfortable to sit on. I sat here for over an hour reading the story of David and Goliath and contemplating David's quest for 5 stones in a brook by thier camp.

After an hour in the shade and next to water that not long ago was snow, I needed to sit in the sun. Unfortunatly, reading the story of David includes details of his defeating lions and bears. This was no comfort while sitting in an open field in bear country.

Hiking Day

I don't know about most people, but for me the second night sleeping on the ground is always the worst: the excitement of being back in nature is still very fresh, you haven't really worked hard enough to be very tired and the aches and pains of the first night have yet to heal. Needless to say, I've slept better.Very quickly after waking up, eating a bit of food and packing everything away it was back on the trail with everything on your back. This day is all about reaching high camp. There is very little time for rest until then. The problem is you really don't know how much farther you have left to go. The most difficult part of the journey are the low water crossings on logs that have been placed over the streams.

The hike up is where Ian got his nickname 'The Mountain Goat'. It's also where the implications of being assinged to carry the condiments bag become all too clear. One of the jobs of the crew leader is to assign each team member something to carry that will benefit the whole crew. I was assigned to carry two different meals as well as the condiments bag which includes povisions for cleaning up after meals and some additional items that don't go with any particular meal. Our crew had two large containers to add flavor to drinks. Neither of these got any lighter during the whole week. Unfortunately, I was also assigned the 'Hike Lunch'. The bad thing about this meal is that not very many hikers are a fan of the main course, vienna sausages. At the end of the meal, uneaten portions go back in the bag they came from. Unoppened portions then get added to the condiments bag. Here's where I realize that the condiment's bag gets heavier and heavier as the week progresses and that I will have to carry uneaten vienna sausages until we reach base camp four days from now. Ewww. (What happend to kids who ate everything on their plates?)

Before we knew it we were at hight camp, which was beautifuly framed on three sides by aspen trees and to the south by a little stream.

Repelling and Low Camp

It's Monday and that means two things: first you repel and then you get a crash course introduction over several miles to the equivalent of having a small person on your back. It's also your first day after sleeping on the ground all night. Luckily, I had invested in a Therm-a-rest pad and not just the thin one but the 1-1/2" thick old man version. Here's a pic of Randall, my tent mate for the week, and his wife Rachael who bunked with the three girls. I took this picture as we climbed up the back side of the rock we were about to repel down.

We waited quite a while for our turn and all the kids were very patient. James here works on the Bible lesson for the day. Just as Emily was getting ready to repel I rushed back to my pack to get my camera. When I got back to take the picture, she was gone.



Oh well. I was ready though to document the beginning of Shelley's decent. She had gotten on Hope's line and a portion of the wall where you back over a precarious edge. Once you repel half way on this line, you free fall without touching the wall. All of our crew went down without a hitch.



Our crew leaders were Becca and Andrew and they did a great job at the bottom of the ropes not only communicating with the top of the rock but encouraging the repellers as they made their way down the rock face. This is Becca getting psyched up for her enormous responsibilities. Little did she know that she would soon be at the end of her rope.

After a short drive south on US 285, we headed west on CO 114 to a long dusty dirt road that took us to the trail head. This is where the work began. For the next two days, everything we were going to need for our stay was going to have to be hiked not only in several miles but up several hundred feet.

Thank goodness the first day is only a short sample of the main hike. Getting to 'Low Camp' wasn't too bad. This is our group dropping our packs in the pack area and getting ready for the night. Just after this came the rains. It probably rained for two hours. We had already set up our tents as well as the tarps over the crew areas where you cook. By the time is we were ready to 'hit the sack', the rain had stopped and we didn't have to deal with water seeping in the tent during the night.

Arriving in Salida

The second day of Trek we arrive in Salida, Colorado. I had never seen Salida's historic downtown even though we'd visited this town several times. We circled downtown avoiding the areas roped off for a bicycle race while a heated discussion coursed through the van: "It's an 'S'!".... "It's a '5'!"... I sided with the letter group while the number group proceeded to sulk till they got food. We spent a bit more time at the pizza place than necessary but everyone left full and ready to eat like squirrels for five days.

At 2:00, we showed up at the Riverside Lodge. This is when you meet your guides. These are the 'kids' in whose capable hands you place your entire well-being for the next week. We feel we drew the long straw in this deal. Our guides were great.

First, we got assigned Daniel Anderson. He was a 2008 graduate the same high school as a couple of the teens in our youth group. This was his first summer as a guide and really seemed to enjoy the work. His dad John came as well and spiced up the trip with countless humorous moments.

Our female guide was Hope Miller. A four year veteran of Trek, she was a natural at both the mountain side and the spiritual aspects. I seemed to be more impressed by her ancestry than her younger sister, Heidi. To be Jule Miller's granddaughter should be a badge of honor.

Wilderness Trek 2008

This was the year I finally signed up to join the teens in their annual quest to summit a mountain in Colorado. I knew this would be difficult on an old guy like me and I had every intention of working out and showing Cameron that his dad is still pretty tough guy. But a couple of things got in the way. The first being either my schedule at work or my uncontrollable laziness. There's something about getting home late in the evening from 12 hours at the office and looking at that treadmill that causes all gladness to leave me. The other thing that got in the way was a small child's foot. Let me explain... Cameron's summer job requires him to supervise children and lead them in various activities. Two days before we left for Colorado, this entailed a game of soccer. To avoid stepping on small feet with his shoes, Cameron decided to play soccer barefoot. Fourteen years of rec., competitive and High School soccer were no preparation to avoid rolling his ankle and causing him to miss out on this years trip. The ER doctor said it was broken but two weeks later, we still wouldn't know the actual damage due to the fast paced world of Workman's Comp. The good thing out of all this was that I could spend more quality time with Emily and she could easily show me how it's done.

We left for Trek early on a Saturday morning. I had rigged the church van just like the ski trip to have a monitor on which we could play movies or display my laptop's GPS mapping software. This year I added speakers to the front of the passenger area. This way we didn't have to crank the speakers in the back of the van just so the front van passengers could hear. Unfortunately, I took everything down before taking a picture. I did however snap this photo of several happy Trekkers. Note the enthusiasm. We'll see how they look after a week of no showers or toilets and having to carry the equivalent of a small person on their backs for several miles and up and down several hundred feet of altitude.

This trip we made sure all of the adults were on the church insurance. This way we could split the driving up a bit. Rachel grew up in Amarillo so her driving leg was like driving home.

Once we arrived in Raton, NM, we made our way to the KOA campground where we'd rest for the night. The sponsors and girls got the cabins while the boys were relegated to Marcus' 8 man tent. The rain during the night would prepare them slightly for parts of the hike up the mountain. A little football before bed for those with the energy

Traveling Home

Well, all good things must come to an end as did this wonderful experience in the Spanish Virgin Islands. The first ferry off the island was at 6:30am. We wanted to have as much time as possible to visit Old San Juan and we wanted a good parking place to leave the Suzuki so we were there just before 6 o'clock. The ride back to the big island was much smoother and thankfully, nobody got sick.

Once in Fajardo, we had a short wait for a car to pick us up. The place was a mad-house with hundreds of Puerto Ricans headed to a long weekend on either Culebra or Vieques so the show was quite enough to entertain. Once we were on our own, we headed straight for food. I had seen a Duncan Donuts a few miles back so we headed there and finished off a dozen donuts in no time. I only add this mundane detail because while there, we ran into soccer friends from back home. Isn't it a small world.

The drive to Old San Juan from Fajardo was easy. I didn't even break out the GPS. I had spent most of the evening beforehand, looking into the layout of the town so I was able to drive straight to parking which I had heard was a problem.

Our parking place put us at the start of the Paseo de la Princesa. This picture was taken looking north along the wall toward El Morro. One of the famous garitos is in the background. It was definitely a hot day in Old San Juan. We wanted to explore it but time didn't permit. We caught a quick lunch at Cafe Mallorca, a restaurant famous for sprinkling powdered sugar on just about everything, including the burgers we had.

Getting through customs at SJU was an experience. Everything in this area moves at a slow pace. Then, Miami, probably the ugliest, worst laid-out airport ever, was way backed up due to weather and we sat on a taxiway for an hour and a half. Unfortunately, our connecting flight was delayed and we didn't reduce our 2 and 1/2 hour layover in MIA. Did I mention it's the nastiest major airport I've seen? The delays also meant we got home over an hour later than planned. Thanks again to Katie who went by the house, picked up the van and met us at the airport.

Last Day in Culebra

For our last day, the kids decided to go back to Flamenco Beach. The waves didn't seem to be as large but it wasn't high tide either. Cameron and I walked all the way to the east end of the beach to the remains of some military shark tanks. From there we snorkeled out and to the reef up the right side of the coast. Seemed to be a decent reef. The most spectacular thing we saw was a huge school of blue fish. Lisa got a picture of the girls playing in the sand.

For dinner, it was time for Mamacitas. We showed up early since it's only open from 6pm to 9pm. The rain was coming down and a local art vendor was telling us this was the most they've seen since February. As we entered the restaurant, there was the yellow Thing, seats dripping, and there were we, thinking how great that had worked out. We had the waitress take a family picture but that turned out blurry so I'm relegated to posting a picture of me and Lisa. But then again, if you read the whole blog, you can see that she looks good with or without a tan.

We had wanted to visit Melones Beach for our last sundown on the island but as I blogged several times, things on Culebra just go at a different pace. By the time we got finished with dinner, the folks on the east end of the big island were enjoying the setting sun. We were in total darkness.