ps - yes I did give him a hair cut. It was hard to see the long curly locks go, but he's still pretty cute :-)
Sunday, August 30, 2009
fun with the hose
ps - yes I did give him a hair cut. It was hard to see the long curly locks go, but he's still pretty cute :-)
Ry and Em's 10 year friendship
This time of year 10 years ago, a young lady named Ryin and another young lady named Emily meet each other in Nelson Hall at Bethel College. They ended up being roommates all through college.
Today they celebrated their 10 year anniversary by going to back to Bethel and visiting their old rooms and seeing what was new at Bethel.
We praise God for bring Ryin into our life! We love you RyRy!
24 hours of afton
At 5:00 pm on Friday I started a race that didn't end until 5:00 pm Saturday. It's an annual race held at Afton Alps called the Salsa 24 Fest. It's a 24 hour mountain bike race that zig-zags up and down the mountain.
I was on a four person team. You could only have one rider from your team on the trail at a time. The loop is about 8.5 miles, and takes the average rider about 1 hour to complete (the really fast guys do it in about 40-45 minutes!) I made a personal goal to get in 6 laps, and I did it!
Because I was the last person on my team to hit the trail, I didn't take my first lap until 9:30, so my first lap on a new trail was in the dark. I did have my high powered head light, but even still, it was a bit crazy at times whizzing past trees and over rocks and ledges.
I finished my first lap and then went out again at 2 am and rode a double lap (I was tired and hungry after that one). After some food and sleep, I took to the hills again at 10, 12, and 1:45. I contemplated doing a seventh, but my neck and back were really sore.
My friend Terry and I have already started talking about doing it solo next year, which means we would see how many laps we could each get in personally in 24 hours. I can see how people get into racing, it's a real rush!
This was the view of the start/finish from the chalet.
This was the start. The riders stage their bikes a ways away from the start line, then run to their bikes at the sound of the gun. This helps spread the riders out and avoids painful pile-ups on the trail.
This is my tent, and where I took some glorious, well-need sleep.
This was our "pit" and these were my teammates.
I was on a four person team. You could only have one rider from your team on the trail at a time. The loop is about 8.5 miles, and takes the average rider about 1 hour to complete (the really fast guys do it in about 40-45 minutes!) I made a personal goal to get in 6 laps, and I did it!
Because I was the last person on my team to hit the trail, I didn't take my first lap until 9:30, so my first lap on a new trail was in the dark. I did have my high powered head light, but even still, it was a bit crazy at times whizzing past trees and over rocks and ledges.
I finished my first lap and then went out again at 2 am and rode a double lap (I was tired and hungry after that one). After some food and sleep, I took to the hills again at 10, 12, and 1:45. I contemplated doing a seventh, but my neck and back were really sore.
My friend Terry and I have already started talking about doing it solo next year, which means we would see how many laps we could each get in personally in 24 hours. I can see how people get into racing, it's a real rush!
This was the view of the start/finish from the chalet.
This was the start. The riders stage their bikes a ways away from the start line, then run to their bikes at the sound of the gun. This helps spread the riders out and avoids painful pile-ups on the trail.
This is my tent, and where I took some glorious, well-need sleep.
This was our "pit" and these were my teammates.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Sunday, August 9, 2009
camping with Scott
Last weekend Scott and I did some hiking on the Superior Hiking trail, always excellent! Here is the tail of our adventure.
We put in and the mouth of the Kadunce about midday on Friday. We started south toward Grand Marais, our eventual destination. The weather was as perfect as one could expect, bright, fresh, cool, and slight breeze. Having only reached where the trail leaves the Kadunce we were already satisfied and could have been done with the hike. It's amazing how fulfilling it is to be in the Lord's creation - it/He satisfies the soul!
After a brief pause to take it all in, we keep on. We were looking for a spot to camp for the night. Neither of us had hiked this section before so we didn't know what the terrain or campsites were like. Shortly after we left the Kadunce, we came to Crow Creek, simply amazing! This small powerful stream cut deep banks into the earth. At places the creek was only eight feet across, but eighty feet down with solid rock walls.
We hiked until we crossed Cook Co Rd 14 and found Kimball Creek campsite. It was very beautiful. We decided to stay there for the night since we didn't know if we would find another campsite this beautiful anywhere ahead. Later I read in my guide book that the bridge over Kimball Creek is considered one of the most picturesque parts of the SHT.
That night, it rained cats and dogs. I was very happy with my new tent from the REI scratch and dent sale. We didn't see a drop of water in the tent. The next morning after a nice egg omelet with sauteed onions, peppers, and mushrooms, piled high with cheese and garnished with a little of last nights peperoni, we left for GM at about 10:00. At this point we were still undecided if we were going to hike all the way to GM, or camp another night.
The weather was a little more bleak on Saturday. On and off a light rain kept us in constant fear. Scott was battling blisters. Twice we stopped to deal with bandages, and it wasn't until we stopped for lunch at the Woods Creek campsite on CO Rd 58 some 7 miles later he decided to finish the rest of the hike in his Crocks!
After a delicious lunch of maple-brown sugar oatmeal, hot chocolate, peanut butter bagels and apples we decided to keep heading to GM. We really wanted to spend the evening with the Gambles and Emily and Corban.
All in all that day we hiked 14 miles and traveled through various habitats. At one point, we saw VERY fresh bear tracks. It was obvious a bear was rummaging through the undergrowth for berries. We didn't know if we were going to run into smoky the bear around the next corner. We made a good deal of noise and prayed some prayers. Thankfully we never saw said bear.
The hike down and back up from the Devil Track river is glorious, but very strenuous. The Devil Track is a mighty river. It was the last placed we stopped to filter water and rest a bit before we made the assent out of the gorge toward Pincushion Mountain. Once we passed Pincushion we were nearly there.
We made it to the trail head were we found somebody with a cell phone. I was able to get a hold of Emily, and she was able to pick us up so we wouldn't have to hike three more miles down the Gunflint Trail to downtown.
After Emily and Corban picked us up we went out for ice cream (nice little treat) then made our way home for some glorious Gamble cooking. Garry and Renee made us burgers and sweet potatoe fries, a nice alternative to the Ramen noodles and potatoes we were planning on having on the trail.
We praise the Lord for such a sweet trip!
The friends...
The site...
The gear...
The beauty...
We put in and the mouth of the Kadunce about midday on Friday. We started south toward Grand Marais, our eventual destination. The weather was as perfect as one could expect, bright, fresh, cool, and slight breeze. Having only reached where the trail leaves the Kadunce we were already satisfied and could have been done with the hike. It's amazing how fulfilling it is to be in the Lord's creation - it/He satisfies the soul!
After a brief pause to take it all in, we keep on. We were looking for a spot to camp for the night. Neither of us had hiked this section before so we didn't know what the terrain or campsites were like. Shortly after we left the Kadunce, we came to Crow Creek, simply amazing! This small powerful stream cut deep banks into the earth. At places the creek was only eight feet across, but eighty feet down with solid rock walls.
We hiked until we crossed Cook Co Rd 14 and found Kimball Creek campsite. It was very beautiful. We decided to stay there for the night since we didn't know if we would find another campsite this beautiful anywhere ahead. Later I read in my guide book that the bridge over Kimball Creek is considered one of the most picturesque parts of the SHT.
That night, it rained cats and dogs. I was very happy with my new tent from the REI scratch and dent sale. We didn't see a drop of water in the tent. The next morning after a nice egg omelet with sauteed onions, peppers, and mushrooms, piled high with cheese and garnished with a little of last nights peperoni, we left for GM at about 10:00. At this point we were still undecided if we were going to hike all the way to GM, or camp another night.
The weather was a little more bleak on Saturday. On and off a light rain kept us in constant fear. Scott was battling blisters. Twice we stopped to deal with bandages, and it wasn't until we stopped for lunch at the Woods Creek campsite on CO Rd 58 some 7 miles later he decided to finish the rest of the hike in his Crocks!
After a delicious lunch of maple-brown sugar oatmeal, hot chocolate, peanut butter bagels and apples we decided to keep heading to GM. We really wanted to spend the evening with the Gambles and Emily and Corban.
All in all that day we hiked 14 miles and traveled through various habitats. At one point, we saw VERY fresh bear tracks. It was obvious a bear was rummaging through the undergrowth for berries. We didn't know if we were going to run into smoky the bear around the next corner. We made a good deal of noise and prayed some prayers. Thankfully we never saw said bear.
The hike down and back up from the Devil Track river is glorious, but very strenuous. The Devil Track is a mighty river. It was the last placed we stopped to filter water and rest a bit before we made the assent out of the gorge toward Pincushion Mountain. Once we passed Pincushion we were nearly there.
We made it to the trail head were we found somebody with a cell phone. I was able to get a hold of Emily, and she was able to pick us up so we wouldn't have to hike three more miles down the Gunflint Trail to downtown.
After Emily and Corban picked us up we went out for ice cream (nice little treat) then made our way home for some glorious Gamble cooking. Garry and Renee made us burgers and sweet potatoe fries, a nice alternative to the Ramen noodles and potatoes we were planning on having on the trail.
We praise the Lord for such a sweet trip!
The friends...
The site...
The gear...
The beauty...
our adventerous son
Last weekend we were in Grand Marais enjoying the Lord and his creation, not the least of which are Emily's wonderful parents.
Corban has really taken to the adventure sports like kayaking and rock climbing. Man, you leave the country for two weeks and your son goes and grows up on ya!
Corban has really taken to the adventure sports like kayaking and rock climbing. Man, you leave the country for two weeks and your son goes and grows up on ya!
head knowledge alone is insufficient
Just read this in a book I started reading and was really struck by it. The book is "the Return of the Prodigal Son" by Henri Nouwen.
"I had never before given much attention to people with a mental handicap. Much to the contrary, I had focused increasingly on university students and their problems. I learned how to give lectures and write books, how to explain things systematically, how to make titles and subtitles, how to argue and how to analyze. So I had little idea as to how to communicate with men and women who hardly speak and, if they do speak, are not interested in logical arguments or well-reasoned opinions. I knew even less about announcing the Gospel of Jesus to people who listened more with their hearts than with their minds and who were far more sensitive to what I lived that to what I said."
"I had never before given much attention to people with a mental handicap. Much to the contrary, I had focused increasingly on university students and their problems. I learned how to give lectures and write books, how to explain things systematically, how to make titles and subtitles, how to argue and how to analyze. So I had little idea as to how to communicate with men and women who hardly speak and, if they do speak, are not interested in logical arguments or well-reasoned opinions. I knew even less about announcing the Gospel of Jesus to people who listened more with their hearts than with their minds and who were far more sensitive to what I lived that to what I said."
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