I have been back for about 5 days now, and have been trying to craft the perfect blog in my head. It just doesn't seem to be working so prepare for some diarrhea of the fingers as I explain the trip. General Description: IT WAS INCREDIBLE.
I flew separately from the rest of the group thanks to a donation from
this guy.My sister picked my up from the airport in her car, which used to be mine, and is now completely wrecked. The stereo was almost stolen, but what remains is still in the dash, and rattles at every bump. She now listens to music though some portable speakers attached to a portable CD player. GHETTO FABULOUS. It has also been hit multiple times, and consequently looks like it lost in qualifying for a demolition derby. That aside, we had a good visit, and enjoyed some buffalo burgers in the company of her friends.
The next morning I joined the rest of the crew in Ft. Collins, which is an excellent city. I recommend a visit if you have not been. One of my cousins lives in Loveland, which I conveniently forgot until I was on the plane on the way home. We bummed around a little bit, played some Frisbee-golf, went to the pool and jumped off the high-dive, ate at the all you can eat pizza buffet, played video games, wrestled with dogs.
We went white-water rafting. On the way up to the put-in site we saw a man who had ran his Porsche off the road into the Cache de Poudre river. I felt bad for him for about 3 minutes. The water was high due to snow run-off; it was extremely cold for the same reason. Of the group I came the closest to falling out with both legs above my head at one point. I am really not sure how I stayed in the boat.
After all the ancillary activities it was time to get down to the business we came for. We met our guides at Vedauwoo (pronounced vee-duh-voo) near Laramie, WY for a little rock climbing. I haven't done much of it, and it's clear why. You need to be strong, flexible, and crazy. I am only borderline on one of these and it's not strong or flexible. Nonetheless, it was fun.
For the backpacking portion we went down the road an hour to Medicine Bow National Forrest a place I had been 2 years earlier with Mike, Mark and Jesse. It was a good time then and remained so. Surprisingly, there was still snow on the ground. We spent approximately 92.4% of the time hiking on it. I've never hiked on snow before, and if I have my druthers I will probably try to avoid it in the future. Makes everything go slower, is cold to sleep on, and there is the constant threat of post-holing (in other words, taking a step and ending up knee, or thigh deep in snow). Although, it does mean a softer bed, a lack of bears, and mosquitoes and the opportunity to glissade.
Scary part (get a warm glass of milk): One of the students got altitude sickness. It's effects showed as he was unable to rationalize getting all the way into his sleeping bag on night one when the temperature must have been around 20-30 degrees. He also lost the majority of his short term memory. Ultimately, he very nearly went into shock. We stopped immediately, wrapped him in three sleeping bags and a tarp and put hot water bottles in the bag. His pulse was around 104 bpm for the better part of an hour, and he was unable to answer what his full name was, where he was, and the approximate time of day. We did eventually get him stabilized, and called in (via satellite Phone) for an evacuation team. It was tough to see Tom go, but we all knew it was for the best.
Best part: On the trail a portion of the time is spent sharing life stories, and Tom was able to share his before he left. He was very open and vulnerable and really set the table for the rest of us to follow suit. The Lord really used what was potentially a devastating event to shape the remainder of the trip for good.
We had a fantastic time hiking, doing a peak, eating some darn good food, rapping, crossing rivers, talking entirely too much about bodily functions, sharing our possessions and our lives, getting off track, finding a trail, laughing, laughing, laughing, seeing God's handiwork, crying, growing stronger, showing weakness, learning, watching, listening, loving.
I'd do it again next week.
I told you I was going to ramble.
