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high adventure

Once we were down from Snowmass, Craig and I had a day to clean up, rest up, and gear up for our next adventure with our college friends from back home. Monday morning, they pulled up in not one but two church vans and start spilling out into the streets of the small town of Dolores in southwestern Colorado.

I’ve shared some before about the significance of a week together in the mountains. And my friend Tyler spent some time describing what impacted him about this specific trip. But there were a couple things about this week that made it unique for me.

First, the group was huge. In fact so large that we had to divide our group in half to fulfill the wilderness area imposed restrictions. Craig took the college students who already had at least a year under their belt, and I had the group who had freshly graduated from high school plus a handful of adults.

Which brings me to the other thing that made this trip so special. It maybe should come as no surprise that I ended up with the class of 2012. These guys belong to me (well, me and Rob). For about three years now, we have had the privilege of being the small group leaders for the male half of this group. We have watched them (and at times helped them) navigate the challenges of adolescence. Week after week, they would show up in our homes and we would break bread together. Laugh together. Get upset with each other. Learn together. Pray together. Year after year, we would take them on various camps, retreats, and trips. We poured into them. And whether they realize it or not, they poured into us as well.

Of course, there is the actual mountain itself. We climbed Wilson Peak, which like Snowmass is another Class 3 mountain. That means it looks sort of scary, but it isn’t super dangerous. These guys and gals climbed like champs and through perseverance, team work, and the grace of God we made it to the top. The last pitch is especially intimidating, so it makes for a rewarding and emotional payoff on the summit. Of course, once you’re standing on top, you are really only half way there. The return trip, while not quite as strenuous, is no piece of cake either. While we got a little wet and were a lot exhausted, we did manage to all make it back to camp safe and sound. That evening we huddled underneath the “magic tarp” and delighted in the gift of being dry and warm. But mostly we enjoyed simply being together.

While our trip to the high-country brought this leg of our journey together to an end, it also marked the beginning of a new chapter in which they would discover just how high they can climb on their own.

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snowmass epiphany

Yesterday, I shared briefly about my climbing Snowmass Mountain. Not twelve hours later, I get a Facebook message (oh Facebook, how I love/hate you) from one of the guys I met up with along the way. He tells me that his friend, Joel, who was climbing with us made a short video of their experience on the mountain.

In a word… stunning.

Worth every second of your four minutes. Yours truly even makes a blink of an eye cameo appearance.

Snowmass Epiphany from Joel Pilger on Vimeo.

I don’t want to ruin it with too many words, but two quick observations. One, I had no idea that he was videoing all this. Granted, I was pretty busy with what I was doing, but come on. You think I would notice a dude whipping out his camera every few minutes. Two, you just have to appreciate the art of telling a story through video. Of course, not anyone can pull this off. Joel obviously knew what he was doing. Great angles. Great material. Great music. Even great words. But a four minute video tells a story that I couldn’t have even if I had all the paper and ink (or screen space and pixels) in the world.

 

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Snowmass Mountain

While we were all in camping heaven, our ever so enjoyable time at Crested Butte needed to come to an end. The Chino-lings attend a “year-round” school which meant that summer was being cut short for them. We loaded up and the family began the long drive home. The whole family minus one… or two. Craig and I would be staying to wait for the college folks from our church to show up for our annual backpacking/climbing trip. However, they weren’t due to arrive for another couple days. So what do you do when you have a little time to kill in Colorado?

Go climb a mountain, of course.

Our destination was Snowmass Mountain (not to be confused with the ski resort). I should say it was my destination. Craig has climbed all of them and didn’t necessarily feel the need to hold my hand up the mountain. So we loaded up our packs and hiked a couple miles up to a pretty typical (meaning gorgeous) mountain lake high in the Rockies.

We set up camp.

We feasted on a few trout that Craig caught and turned in early.

The next morning, I was up before the sun and began the climb. Snowmass is a pretty straightforward mountain. It is Class 3, which means it is on the challenging side. Route-finding is a little tricky, but not overly so. I met up with a team of three other climbers and was grateful to have some company on the mountain as well as a few more sets of eyes. We made it to the top around 10 or so. Snapped a few pics and headed back down.

All in all, it was a great climb. People always ask me how many “fourteeners” I’ve climbed and I never really remember. I tallied them up when I got home and Snowmass was #28. Or 26. Or 29. All depending on which ones count.

Back at base camp, Craig had caught and prepared another fresh trout feast which I swallowed in two or three bites. We quickly packed up and headed out. We were eager to get some rest for our next big adventure with our friends from back home!

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Crested Butte

During our stay in Moab, we mustered the troops for a visit to Canyonlands National Park. I had always heard great things about it, and so we made the short drive to go take a look. I can’t tell you what a great decision that was. Truly amazing. I’ll let Alison tell you THE REST.

I should mention that while we were in Moab we were joined by another longtime Seattle friend, Jermaine. These days, she lives in Turkey where she is pursing her doctorate, so a visit with her – no matter how brief – was a real gift.

So with Jermaine in tow, we woke up one morning, said our goodbyes to the Peterson’s and headed back across the border to Colorado to meet up with Alison’s parents. But we weren’t just returning to Colorado. In route, we figured out that due to circumstances outside our control, we were going to be headed back to Crested Butte. This news was met with joyful ‘whoops’ by every Chino, because you see, Crested Butte is our very favorite. I anticipate that Alison will do more of the sharing here as well, but I leave you with just a couple photos.

This is taken from the Oh-Be-Joyful Campground and over the years I have had the pleasure of staring up this valley repeatedly. Coming to Crested Butte in many ways feels like coming home. We camp. We hike. We bike. We visit town. We go to Camp 4 Coffee. We go to The Alpineer. We go to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (yes, another one). We go to Teocalli Tamale. We go to the park. We ride the “bus that costs no money.” It always very familiar, very good, and we never get tired of going back – again and again.Who knows? Maybe sometime we could show you around.

 

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vacation in Aspen for less than $50 per day

The recap of Chino summer adventures continues. Since Alison has already shared some about our time there, I’m going to try to come at this from a different angle.

There is so much that I appreciate about camping vacations. The cool clean mountain air. Drinking in the beauty of our surroundings. Being outside. Time with people I care about. Fires (when they haven’t been banned). Quiet. Good food. Hiking. Morning coffee. But there is a benefit to camping that sometimes doesn’t get near the recognition it should…

It’s cheap.

Aspen is possibly the most pretentious (and expensive) resort town in Colorado. If you need to be reminded of this, let me recommend seeing the time-honored classic, Dumb and Dumber. Most of Aspen’s vacationers are burning money in the streets and are proud of it. I haven’t a clue what four days of room and board for six people in Aspen would cost, but my guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000.

Contrast that with the $21 a night scenic campground located 6 miles outside of town. It was far enough from town to make you feel like you were really away from it all, but close enough for daily forays into town to shop for groceries, use the internet, play on the playground, visit the library, and people watch. And did I mention… it was $21 a night.

Likewise on the food. Saving so much money on accommodations easily could have justified eating a couple meals in town, but  we didn’t.  And we really didn’t have much desire to. We were usually on the go around lunchtime and so picnic fare just seemed to make sense. Plus, our breakfasts and dinners back at camp were meals fit for royalty. I can’t imagine that food cost us more than $15-20 per day for our family.

While there are any number of places to part with your hard earned dollars in Aspen, there are only three establishments that will repeatedly suck us in.

1) Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory // This isn’t true only in Aspen. Any mountain town that has one (and they all seem to have one) is sure to get another $10-15 from us. Worth every penny.

2) Ute Mountaineer // This particular store caters to an addiction of mine that I am neither proud of – nor ashamed of.

3) The Thrift Shop of Aspen // The name itself seems like a oxymoron. And yet, there truly are bargains to be had in this funny little store.

So there it is. A four day stay in Aspen that ends up costing a couple Benjamins. Hard to believe… but true.

Next stop – Moab, Utah.

 

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Four for Friday (fast forward)

And just like that a month goes by.

It has been a full one. They are all full ones. So by way of update, I thought I’d throw together four random things.

1) A couple of weeks ago, I went to a Blind Pilot show at Sticky Fingerz. As I expected, it was great. But real treat was that the opener, Dan Mangan, who was unknown to me ended up being a pleasant surprise. Here’s one of several songs I’ve enjoyed off his latest album, Oh Fortune.

Dan Mangan – How Darwinian

2) A while back, I shared the trailer for a book and video called Bloodlines. I had the chance to watch the full-length video with the rest of the church staff this week. It is worth seventeen minutes of your time.

3) Tomorrow evening, I’ll be going to my first Waterdeep show. It is right here in town. In fact, it is at my church. If you came, then we would both be there.

4) And finally, I crossed a milestone birthday last month. Yep. I’m old. Anyway, to celebrate the occasion, my family (minus one… or two?) slipped away to Banff. This little town in the heart of the Canadian Rockies is an outdoor lover’s paradise. We hiked every day. Over the course of the week, we probably covered somewhere close to 40 miles. Even little Si was up for some of the longer treks. Alison has a few posts and several photos on her blog. We loved every minute!

Dan Mangan – Leaves, Trees, Forests

Later.

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Four (Weeks) for Friday

It has been a month to the day since my last post. Just over four weeks. And since it is Friday… well you’ve read the title. Here is what’s been up with me over the last four weeks.

Week 1 // KAA – Fortunately, my pardner in crime has done a pretty extensive write-up of the week. So, I’ll leave you with a song and a picture.

Tedashii – Dum Dum (feat. Lecrae)

That’s Lauren Foster (one of our 9th grade students) about to launch herself from the top of a thirty-foot telephone pole. This photograph is a snap-shot of what the whole week was about… risk, facing fears, trust, and leaps of faith.

Week 2 // The family loads up and heads west. It is no secret that I love the mountains and that they regularly provide the backdrop for our family’s adventures. Alison has shared some here.

Josh Garrels – Pilot Me

Week 3 // We are joined by more family and friends and bikes… and games. There was easily a game of Settlers a day. Many days, more than one.

Leagues – Mind Games

Hiking to Judd Falls

Taking “5”

One of the “floats” at the 4th Parade

Week 4 // The infamous Senior Backpacking Trip.

Mumford & Sons – Home (possible title live)

This one started off this way…

and ended like this…

It has been a very good four weeks.

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More Mountains

Like most summers, the Rocky Mountains will provide the backdrop for various adventures in the coming weeks.

I’m taking my family (and an assortment of others) for a two-week camping trip. This annual event is sure to be both epic and rejuvenating at the same time.

I’ll also help lead a pack of graduating seniors as they take a week to pause and think clearly about the next chapter of their lives.

In between those two trips, I’m hoping for a couple days to do some climbing in southwest region of the state.

And then, later in the summer, I’m looking to take a group of guys (18 year old plus) for a long weekend of the perfect combination of mountain-leisure and mountain-rigor. I never exactly know who is game for this sort of thing, nor am I the kind of person that wants to make it an exclusive affair. So, if you are male, have August 3-9 more or less free, and desire this kind of mountain adventure, let me know. I’m going to be there. And I’m thinking about a dozen others will be joining me.

May all your summertime plans bear good fruit… no matter where you find yourself.

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Mountain Meetings

A few weeks ago, Bob asked “one big question” that maybe was two.

“Where is your favorite spot, what is your favorite activity to seek God?”

I’m ready to answer the “activity” half of the question.

Drum roll.

And, here it is…

Being in the mountains.

Shocking, I know.

I am also aware that I’m cheating a little. Mountains are the spot. Reading is the activity. It is probably all just a matter of semantics, but here’s the way I see it. When I’m in the mountains, I am active. When I’m reading, I’m sitting in a spot. Ok, as always, I don’t need to justify myself. My blog. I do what I want.

I’m not entirely sure what it is about the mountains that draws me to them, but they have so often been the setting for seeking after God.

Maybe it is their sheer beauty.

Or the way the mountain air clears the mind.

Or the lessons learned about fear and trust.

But it is most certainly about the people with whom I find myself in the mountains, and in life, again and again. The people with whom I seek God… together.


More to come…