Back from the Wilderness

I am home from my 'business trip' into the wilderness. I really had a wonderful time. Before I left I was extremely nervous because I ended up on this VIP trip and I am nothing like a VIP. Izzy had quite a time calming me down, and I am really thankful that he was around to remind me that I have no reason to be nervous. I am blessed to have someone in my life who can remind me of what really matters when I forget (which happend often).

The trip was a lot of fun. The purpose was to observe trail crews that spend six months working in the wilderness and to showcase the program for the media, the legislature, and other influential people. We rode in up a pretty treacherous trail on horseback in the rain. When we got to camp, we had to set up our tents and store our gear in the rain, then we waited for the crew to show up (we had passed them working on the trail on the way in).

The camp was seriously the Hilton of backcountry trail camps. They said it took several strings of mules to bring everything in, and the camp is resupplied by mules every week. Even still, everything had to be kept immaculate in order to discourage bears from coming into camp. Everything is stored in bear boxes and all the trash is either cleaned (before being put in a recycle bag) or burnt. The crew works hard all day and returns to camp to do quite a bit more work.

I was really impressed by the people on the crew and their supervisors. I had encountered several of the crewmembers in the course of my work before they entered the program, and I am amazed by the changes the program has made in their lives in such a short time. The main theme of the trip was how important it is to develop the whole person in a program like my department's.

It was so interesting and challenging for me to spend several days nonstop with people who are completely dedicated to serving and developing others, but without Jesus. Everyone kept talking about the need for the participants to have values taught to them and purpose in life, but the things they were basing all of this on are so fleeting.

We rode/climbed to the top of a peak called Cloud's Rest and were looking down on Half Dome and the Yosemite valley and everyone was talking about how amazing it was that the glaciers carved such amazing features into the rocks. But it took a lot more than the glaciers to create all of that.

Incidentally, I don't know why people bother climbing Half Dome anymore. I know everyone likes to talk about scaling this crazy rock, but walking along behind a line of hundreds of other people who are also climbing the rock at the same time doesn't appeal to me. Especially when you can stand alone on top of a higher peak (9,926 feet to Half Dome's 8,836) and have an even more spectacular view. The people climbing Half Dome look like a stream of ants through binoculars. I don't think I like the idea of doing something with a herd, even if it is a challenge.

Yosemite

I am going to Yosemite tomorrow...and I'm being paid for it!

I get to ride a horse around Yosemite for my job - so much better than sitting in my cube for the next three days. Since the state doesn't have a budget yet, I don't know when I will have another opportunity to escape cubicleland. I am very thankful.

Now I just have to rearrage my workload and my life to accomodate the last-minute change in schedule.

Update

Two weeks ago, Katie and I went backpacking. It was a nice time to rest from work and doing ten thousand things at once and get some exercise. The Tahoe fire got in the way of our plans to spend some time in the Desloation Wilderness, so we went south to the Mokelumne Wilderness instead. This wilderness has a lot more vegetation than the Deslolation and was full of wildflowers and lots of green grass.

We spent our first night in the most windy place on earth. Between a mishap with our stove, and the fact that the wind kept us awake all night, we had an interesting beginning to our weekend. We moved to a place called Fourth of July Lake, which was thankfully out of the wind. (I had a hilarious "Who's on First" type of conversation with a ranger over the phone trying to explain that I wanted to camp at Fourth of July Lake, our second destination, until July first.)

We spent the night in a meadow next to the lake on a landing on the way farther into the canyon. Since we didn't have to hide from the wind, we were able to enjoy the freakishly bright full moon and the warm weather. It was a peaceful time, followed by a crazy hike (straight) up out of the wilderness. We kept trying to take pictures that would illustrate how steep the trail was, but I don't think we succeeded in doing so. I'll have to see her pictures.

Izzy and I spent the Fourth of July with my family. We went to the Folsom rodeo with my parents and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. I was disappointed because Izzy has the best facial expressions ever when he is enjoying himself. Watching him was more fun than watching the fireworks.

After the rodeo, we spent the night at my parents' house. I was particularly thankful for this because hundred and ten degree heat and my apartment that has no air conditioning are not a good combination. We spent the fourth enjoying the mountains, and Rahime and 'Chung and some neighbors came over for dinner.

Last weekend we did nothing and it was wonderful. Now it is almost time for another busy weekend.