Some people say I am Unbearable.

Today I bear my soul to you, not all of it mind you but a bearable amount. Before I go any further bear in mind that though I look completely sane I can assure you that I hold onto my sanity by the bearest of margins. As my mind bearrels through all of the information that it holds I am reminded that a lot of my mind is a bearen wasteland and can bearly hold a thought. Though I do not want to be the bearer of bad news I wish to tell you that bearied deep inside my head is a part of me that is quite loony. As I try and catch my bearings A thought crosses my mind that ball bearings do look like life savers. Although I would love to continue bearating you with horrible puns I find that my mind has reached its limit of unbearable puns.

Toodles,
Keegan

I'm a bear! Put your head in my mouth!!!

Hello People of the warm east coast.

10 Minutes Later. Snowing!

Sunny!

It seems that the closer to the end of this trip we get, the harder the elements hit us. Yellowstone had the most indecisive weather I've ever seen. At one point in the morning there was sleet coming down on the top of our tent. Ten minutes later, there was bright sunshine heating our tent up like a microwave. It got to the point where I actually had to vacate the tent and brave the great outdoors. It was about 11, so I think it was about that time anyways. Yeah, that was the best morning ever. You never start to appreciate sleeping in like you should until you find yourself up at 7 or 8 every morning. I can safely say that due to the effort I had to put forth to actually keep myself asleep, that my sleep schedule has improved significantly from the past school year.
Back to the elements though. As soon as we woke up completely, the snow began to fall again. Time for breakfast and a bit of coffee to warm up the soul. We had pancakes... again. :) I like pancakes though, so it's not such a drag for me. I discovered that syrup and honey go quite well together. Whoever said too much of a good thing is bad obviously never had pancakes with syrup and honey.
After a bountiful banquet of baked batter, we set out on a drive to find all of God's creatures located in Yellowstone.

Our first destination was Lookout point, which offered a view of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Dan made the comment that this was the only place in Yellowstone where the stone was actually yellow. The water was too, which made me wary of any spigots located nearby. Years of hearing "don't eat the yellow snow" resounded in my mind. Snow... that's just cold water. So yellow snow melts... into yellow water. Urgh! Thankfully, my CamelBack seems to replenish it's water by itself as I've been drinking from it for about a week now, and have yet needed to refill it myself. And it's always COLD!
After Lookout we drove up farther to Inspiration Point, to be inspired. The point used to reach out 100 more feet than what we witnessed, but in the past a tremor had caused that extra length to tumble into the gorge. That brings to mind an interesting factoid that I learned from the sign posted there. The canyon is going to continue to grow larger because when the water from the waterfall hits the river below, it causes a cyclic motion in the water which pounds the base of the falls. As that rock base erodes, the upper part of the falls begins to fall down as well.
Then we headed up to Mammoth Hotsprings, but the boardwalk was out about halfway through so we didn't get to see the whole area. so that leads me to my favorite part of the day, and this post: ANIMALS!!!!

Our hunt led us all the way to the visitor's center about 3000 miles away. That's an exaggeration, but I don't remember the actual mileage. Traffic was terrible, but for a decent reason. There were bears on either side of the road. First we saw a small grizzly plodding along the hill on the left. It's amazing how much people freak out seeing something in it's natural habitat, and being calm and collected when they see it behind glass at the Asheboro Zoo. Perhaps it's the adrenaline rushing through your body when in the back of your mind you realize, "My gosh, that bear could just fire out and hit him right now... He would never expect it." Moving right along up the road another half mile, and we hit another traffic jam. This time, everyone was looking over to the right. Our natural inclination was to look to the right, just so we could remain inconspicuous. If there's bears around, I don't want to stick out. Thankfully, the traffic didn't completely stop moving, so we got
to catch the black bear lumbering through the trees in motion. Everyone disembarked the vehicle in motion to capture him on the camera. That camera is a five person job. One of us has to frame the picture. One of us has to click the picture. One of us has to review the picture. One of us has to deride the efforts of the previous three. And one of us had to remain in the vehicle to steer. You didn't really think we'd leave the vehicle unattended when it was rolling down the road. :)

We arrived at the visitor center, but I was feeling rebellious, so we took a detour behind it into a residential reserved for "Employees Only." I consider myself an employee, just not of the park. They never specified, so I see nothing wrong with my actions. Back on subject, however, we saw four female elk grazing and lounging in the yards of the houses. For us North Carolinians, that's an odd occurrence. So we took pictures.

After entering the visitor's center, and wondering around looking at the stuffed animals on display, we found out that Lamar Valley was closed due to a rock slide. It had happened that morning. This is why I said it was the best morning ever. Had we gotten up at our usual time and made way down into the valley, we might have been stranded behind the rock-slide. Thankfully, we got our fill of wildlife without going down into the valley. On the way back to camp, we filled up our quota with some coyotes, and a random bison walking down the road... amidst about 20 cars. That bison was so chill. When the ranger got there with his flashing lights and guided the bison off the road, traffic began to proceed again as usual, until he decided he liked the feel of asphalt on his hooves. He was all like "Whatever... I'm a bison. I do what I want."
Then we trudged back to the camp site to freeze for another night. But alas! Weather wasn't on our side it seemed, because there was supposed to be a large amount of snowfall that night. So we decided to head out last night for Grand Tetons, instead of waiting until morning. This turned out to be Providence, however. Seeing as yesterday was Saturday, that meant that today was Sunday. The Sabbath. And coincidentally, our good friend, the lovely Julia Monroe, was spending her summer working at the Jackson Lake lodge, which happened to operate the campground we were staying at. Something about seeing a friend from back home on the other side of the country just makes it more special. Her and some of her new friends had a Sunday service this morning, but I've just been informed by Stephen that I'm not allowed to write about it, because it happened today. Oh well. I guess that leaves me with the final event of the day: Setting up camp in the dark. It was our fastest construction of a campsite yet. But that's about all. Until next time, at which we will be on our way back to the Sunny side of the country, I wish you all a Happy Sunday!

-David

"Let everything that has breath Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."
-Psalm 150:6

Yellowstone through the Eyes of the Sleep Deprived

This morning began, for me, exactly when morning technically starts - at midnight. Finally back on the Interstate after the endless expanse of Oregon on two lane roads, I began driving through Idaho at 12:30am. After a very uneventful 2 hours, Keegan took the wheel at 2:30 at a rest area in the exact middle of nowhere (or maybe it was the centroid of nowhere). The next time I became conscious again, we were driving through eastern Idaho near Yellowstone. It was a land that appeared completely frozen, with all of the trees covered in a layer of snow. It looked almost dreamlike and glassy in the predawn light. By a mistake in navigation, we ended up taking a rather circuitous route to the Western Entrance of Yellowstone, though the incredible scenery made this a somewhat happy mistake. We drove through snow covered mountains and around a frigid lake, all made beautiful by the first light of dawn tinting the sky. Finally, we arrived at Yellowstone around 7 a.m. on road covered in a layer of snow and ice. Fortunately, the slippery covering did nothing to stop Rastro, and we had little trouble reaching Madison Campground, located about 15 miles from the west entrance. We even saw some elk along the way. Since we had driven through the night and the campground office was not open yet (in fact there was absolutely no one around), we decided it would be wonderfully expedient to nap for a while in front of the office. We woke up to find things beginning to thaw out and the campground beginning to come alive. We got our site and set up camp like usual on top of the couple remaining inches of snow, prepared breakfast (oatmeal), and feasted. After we were satisfactorily settled in, we decided to do a little exploring.        Our plan for the day had been to visit Old Faithful and the other geysers around it (fortunately the roads were open for us to get there), so we drove out to Old Faithful and arrived just in time for it to give us a good show. After that we decided to check out the Old Faithful Inn, which turned out to be awesome. The Inn is quite old and almost completely made from logs, not to mention it has a tree house built in the rafters which makes it pretty much the coolest Inn on earth. It was so cool, in fact, that our quick little exploration turned into a couple hours long, including lunch at the Inn's dining room. After so many days of camp cooking with a little fast food thrown in, sitting down at a restaurant to eat was like an incredible luxury. The food was quite good and not that expensive, and soon we were all quite satisfied and ready to take a good long nap. To Keegan's dismay, however, we couldn't really nap in the Inn's lobby. So, before we could go back to camp and nap, we had to see more geysers, as we were in the area with the largest concentration of hydrothermal features on Earth. We braved the snow and cold wind to walk a loop that led us through quite a few geysers of various shapes, sizes, and eruption behaviors, along with several hot springs. Besides water violently shooting up in the air - which is obviously the coolest thing that hydrothermal features do - the next coolest thing is the coloration that the hot water produces around the hot springs, from bright blues to vibrant oranges and yellows. Along the way, we also got to see two marmots tussling. As every tourist does when they see wildlife, we immediately pulled out our camera and attached the fancy telephoto zoom lens. At least, we thought it was fancy, until the guy next to us pulled out his massive 2 foot long fifty million X zoom lens. Afterwards, we headed back to camp - with a stop to see the very entertaining mud pots - and, being the exciting folk that we are, we all went to sleep for a good long well needed nap. Upon waking, we made dinner - or at least we attempted to make  beef stew in our dutch oven. Unfortunately, our charcoal didn't seem to produce heat long enough to make our potatoes soften up, so in the end we just put the dutch oven on the stove and simmered it for a while, eventually ending up with some pretty good stew.       During the evening we also made friends with the group next to us (a group of 15 Indians who had never camped before) as it started to snow and they needed the shelter of our Easy-up. At last, being extremely tired from the previous night with little sleep, we got into our tent and wonderfully warm sleeping bags and slept - for a LONG time. It was the most glorious thing we did all day. Finally feeling rested,

Dan (and Keegan)

Driving Through the Oregon Fairyland

Today was a fairy tale. No joke. We began by leaving Redwood National Park, only to find that Oregon was the most interesting place we had yet traveled through, filled with wondrous creatures and adventures. Even before we had left the redwood forest, we had a rare encounter with the shepherds of the trees, otherwise known as ents. They rarely wander very close to anywhere people live, and so they were quite surprised to see anything moving so quickly through their forest. Thinking us to be a threat, one picked up the entire van, giving us quite a jolt. However, seeing that we were humankind (a race which is included in the old rhymes of the ents) and obviously harmless with our small knives and dearth of axes, we were soon set back down and permitted to continue on our way.

Soon after entering Oregon, we began following the Rogue River up toward the higher elevations of the Cascade Mountains. Little did we know that this was a river that was aptly named, as bands of elusive warriors inhabit the nearby woods and occasionally come out to waylay the innocent travelers along Oregon’s Scenic Byway. As you might expect would happen to such hardy adventurers as ourselves, we soon found our way blocked by a fair sized raiding party in the bottom of the rocky canyon which provided no easy means of escape. Now of course we began the encounter by pretending to be the poor, innocent college students that most assume us to be, though all the while we were formulating a plan to rout the villains and escape unscathed. Surrounded by rogues, we sprang into action, each attacking with a weapon cleverly concealed under his clothing. Despite the nearly two to one ratio of the rogues to ourselves, we soon won the day with our expert hand-to-hand combat skills. Keegan, with his magically carved staff, took on five of them at a time, though he laid several low from a distance with a toxic gas spell even before engaging.

Having escaped the villainy of the Rogue River rogues, we made our way further into the Cascades, a mountain range fraught with danger if ever there was one. We found ourselves surrounded by a hardy coniferous forest, and then snow began to appear on either side, growing deeper and deeper. Soon it was falling from the sky as well, rapidly developing into a blizzard which left the road impassable, despite the best efforts of our mage Keegan to clear our way with fire spells. Conveniently, however, there appeared to our east a gaping black maw – a tunnel just large enough for our van to pass through, leading straight under Crater Lake. We quietly made our way through without arousing the suspicion of any enemies for most of the way, but then of course David had to go and start throwing rocks into the underground lake, waking up the fabled Crater Lake Fire Demon who had been buried under the lake for thousands of years. In a final harrowing flight, we fled out the other end of the tunnel, yet to our horror Keegan exhausted the last of his power in order to keep the Demon from being loosed upon the world, falling into the great bottomless pit in the process. We left the tunnel in deep sorrow, yet we had no choice but to press on or risk being overrun by goblins.

Finally having crossed the mountains, the climate turned much drier and we found ourselves in a vast land of plains and rolling hills, with few other inhabitants in sight in any direction. A few brave farmers worked their fields where water could be found and suitable defenses had been constructed against the frequent raids by orcs and wargs. We were able to have a much needed respite from adventure for a few hours as we traversed the monotonous landscape. So monotonous was the scenery that the fairytale feeling soon began to wear off. It was a vast expanse to cross, and our supplies of food and clean water soon ran short, and in spite of our best efforts Stephen contracted dysentery incredibly fast and died.

Though nearly immobilized by grief, we forced ourselves to continue onward. Our quest led us to Yellowstone, and nothing would stop our getting there. We had to carry the evil and abominable Spork of Death and cast it back into the boiling hot geyser where it was forged, or else risk the spread of a great evil (sporks!) across the world. Sporks work as well as neither forks nor spoons! How could anyone let such an abomination exist upon this planet?

Our final adventure of the day in Oregon involved an old abandoned mine shaft that we (by this time only Josh, David, and myself) happened to notice as we drove by. Our curiosity – and perhaps a will even stronger that was not our own – led us into the dark opening. As we continued down the shaft, the temperature oddly did not decrease. Instead, it increased to become nearly unbearable, and suddenly we found ourselves in the presence of an unfortunately very alert red dragon and his massive treasure hoard. We had quite a time convincing him that we were just curious travelers (he came very close to eating Josh), but fortunately we are incredibly cunning and thus were able to escape with our lives and one golden spatula. Then, to add to our joy Keegan returned to us (wearing a white robe for some reason), having defeated the demon and resurrected Stephen on the way back to us. Needless to say the return of both our companions thought lost quite improved our outlook for the rest of the trip.

After this we soon crossed into Idaho – back out of the Oregon Fairyland and into the mundane modern world. We nearly lost two of our number, but we are still journeying nonetheless. We can only hope no more ridiculous adventures will cross our path before we reach the mystical land of Yellowstone and the end of our quest.

Now, of course, in all this adventure, we were far too engaged to take any pictures of our assailants and surroundings, so of course we’ll just have to leave the visuals to your imagination.

With adventurous vigor,

Dan

P.S. Nothing actually happened today. We just drove. A lot. Oregon is really a quite boring place.

Confessions of an Aspiring Lounge Singer

Hello from glorious, though slightly/extremely rainy, Northern California.  As I just finished telling my brothers, I believe that today was one of my favorite days from the trip so far.  We awoke this morning with a choice that has been denied to us for 11 days.  Did we want to shower? Just five simple words, but behind them lies a lot of meaning.  “What was this meaning?” you ask.  It means that currently we’re living the life of luxury.  We’re at a private campground that has unheard of amenities like free showers and washing machines.  But that’s not all folks.  There is a rec-room with video games and pool tables, there is a playground and electrical hookups.  Hold on to your britches… there is even a tether-ball court on which the greatest tether-ball showdown the west coast has ever seen was played yesterday.  This campground is a breath of fresh air after a lineup of National Park campgrounds.  I would recommend that anyone looking to follow in our footsteps with an epic trip of their own, throw in a few stays at private campgrounds or KOA’s and treat yourselves to some much appreciated creature comforts.

A snazzy campground wasn’t the only thing that made this day amazing though.  This also had much to do with the location of the day, Redwood National Park.  Redwood is located on a strip of pacific coast in Northern California pretty close to the Oregon border.  I think I appreciate Redwood as much as I do because it reminds me of where I live on the border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Both areas are temperate rainforests and the feeling of the two forests is much the same.  To relate it to Lord of The Rings, Redwood feels like Fangorn.  Its dark and dense without feeling gloomy and its full of moss and ferns and towering trees.  To me it comes out in a feeling of extreme age, which is appropriate when you realize that some of the trees we walked through today were alive when Jesus Christ ministered on Earth.  It has become something of a running joke with us that every location we visit reminds David of Jurassic Park.  Today though, walking through the redwoods, I felt it too.

Where Redwood differs completely from home is that the rolling forested mountains border directly the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean.  You don’t have anything like the nice Piedmont and Coastal Plain that North Carolina is so known for.  During a break in the weather we went in search of some pretty ocean views and came across one of the coolest stretches of beach I have ever been to.  Now let’s all pause and reflect on the fact that I have been to some cool beaches.  I have visited beaches from Boston to Florida in this country.  I’ve been to beaches on two different Bahamian Islands.  I’ve even relaxed at beaches on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of Costa Rica, so it is no small thing for me to say that the beach we visited today was one of the best I have ever seen.  It was a black sand beach located right where the Klamath River emptied into the ocean.  It was strewn with driftwood and beautiful multicolored stones and large obelisks of rock that intrepid explorers like ourselves could climb.  It was like a giant natural playground and we took our time trying out all the different ways we could have fun.  We climbed the boulders, we expanded our rock collections, we found chunks of driftwood to have sword battles with, we ran from an ocean that was determined to soak our clothes, and we rounded it all out by tossing giant logs on our backs and carrying them around for no other reason than that we could.

It was a great day, one of the best I’ve had.  I don’t really have the words, or the patience to search for them, to really do Redwood justice.  All I know is that the Lord blessed us with a beautiful day, a beautiful park, and the ability to be out experiencing it all, and for that I thank him.

-Josh

Redwood and Conspiracy

Once again I find myself writing a blog post when we are approaching large trees: first the Sequoias, and now the Redwoods. We didn’t actually go to the Redwoods today, so I am actually not going to talk about them, except to say that we passed them on the way to the campsite.

My topic this evening is driving. We do a lot of it after all, and today was another day spent doing it. However, it was not as hopelessly boring as it may seem. It was not our usual flavor of interesting, today we did battle with… The Man. Or I should say that I did. Respectfully. Briefly. Without serious repercussions.

Ahem, now that the disclaimers are out of the way, I will explain. Most of California is farms, not a super totally awesome surfing and mountain climbing paradise filled with attractive people, bears, and Arnold the Governator. Farms are boring. So, we were cruising through the farms, entertaining ourselves with music, and editing photos. We came to a four way stop, and passed through along with several other vehicles, including the fateful police vehicle. Through my rear view mirror, I watched as the policeman pulled onto the side of the road at the intersection, and proceeded to follow us. I realized I hadn’t seen a speed limit sign in about 30 miles, and I became nervous. 55 mph, that should be alright on a country highway, I thought.

The lights went on. I pulled over. I was calm. Ready, mind working on what I might have been doing wrong. My license came out, and the police man walked up to the vehicle.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?” A ritual question of the native cop population of America, my studies had prepared me for this. He did not give me time to answer.

“You weaved three times onto the side of the road, about two feet each time.” It all made sense. Our van actually veers to the right, we noticed that 2000 miles ago. We hadn’t been pulled for our slightly erratic driving before this though, I feel that there were several factors involved. Explanations later.

“Oh,” I replied. He rushed ahead.

“Where are you all coming from?” I thought it was obvious, and replied North Carolina. After some finagling we determined that the correct answer was Yosemite, where we departed from this morning. What time did we get up? 6:45. Then the question:

“Have you had anything to drink?” Was my driving really that bad? No. That was my answer. I’ve never had an alcoholic beverage in my life. So it was no. His finger went up, and I followed it with my eyes. Satisfied I was not intoxicated, he returned my license, muttered something about a warning (for what I don’t know) and pealed out from behind us. My mind continued to work. Surely my drifting couldn’t have been that noticeable, I hadn’t noticed it more than usual. Here are the solutions I thought of: 1.) It was a small country highway, therefore the smaller lanes made the weaving noticeable. 2.) I was distracted, and therefore at fault. 3.) he saw the North Carolina tag on the front of our vehicle, and decided to pursue the strange foreigners. My favorite is the last, as it reeks of conspiracy. Why else would he turn around and follow us at the four way stop sign, including a slightly risky maneuver turning around another car currently stopped at the sign, and passing the car behind me to get to our vehicle. I believe that he may have been a terminator. Just saying, our state of un-cleanliness threw him off of our tracks, and probably saved our lives.

Our next challenge occurred when we hit mountains again. The roads were curvy, very curvy. And we discovered something. People in the mountains of north California don’t need gas. Or they produce their own in the comfort of their homes. Either way, there was nary a gas station for many moons. There was construction, and as the roads were thin and as previously stated curvy, they decided to use flag men to guide traffic away from disaster. Now, what qualifies as construction worthy of flag men differs in California from the good country of N.C. In N.C. it may be a rock-slide, or major surgery on the arteries of our nation known as the highway system. In California, it is a lawnmower. Perhaps it was not really mowing the grass on the side of the road, maybe it was searching for landmines. We’ll never know.

What we do know is by the fourth flagman, and no gas, we were getting a little twitchy. However, we did eventually find gasoline, in a surprisingly nice gas station/coffee shop/minimart in the middle of a trashy little town bordering on the latest iteration of roadway construction. A kindly old man with a huge beard also informed us that one of our bungees was loose. It was remedied and we went on our way.

Finally we made it to the west coast. The ocean popped into view unexpectedly, visible from between the normal trees, redwoods, and ferns that make up the temperate rainforest that is the northwest coast of our country. Lush greens and gray trunks rose around us, and we paid them almost no heed. They were there, and we would see them tomorrow. We were tired, and wanted to get to the campsite, where showers awaited our eager bodies, and beds beckoned to our weary backs.

After a left at the end of the road, we came upon the little private campsite at which we had made our reservation. A very nice man with a dorsal fin of hair greeted us at the gate in his gas powered golf cart, and we followed him into the site, around a barn, and onto any one of around 100 available sites. Then there was showering, free internet in a barn converted into a recreation center, and bed in a tent that keeps us safe from the elements which rage around us in the night. Seriously, the wind and rain are currently quite exciting. Farewell for now,

~Stephen Minervino.

Cleverly Relevant Title

            I woke up sore and cold. However, knowing that the worst was behind me, waking up came a little easier. After that grueling, yet satisfying hike the day before, the only thing I wanted to do was hang out in a hammock all day.

            We had planned to have a down day at Yosemite, and it was much needed. Everyone was pretty tired, and none of us complained when it took us until after lunch to actually leave the campsite. Breakfast was an amalgam of breakfast foods held together with a glue of egg. You may call it an omelet if you prefer. This was probably the best breakfast we have had so far. And man, was it good.

            After eating breakfast, we just hung out around the campsite for a while. While some of us waited for the water to heat up to wash the dishes, we threw around the Frisbee. Thankfully the
campsite was empty, or our pride would have been gravely damaged. Also, it was so QUIET! I loved it. It almost made me sad to pack up the camp this morning after having such a relaxing morning yesterday.

Wish Granted

            Once the dishes were done, and after one unfortunate skillet had its finish almost rubbed off, more lounging ensued. I got to play some Pokémon for the first time since halfway through the semester, which was nice. Yeah, some of us will never grow up. Eventually, however, that pesky wonderlust perked up again.

            Yesterday’s hike was a luxury, short and sweet. We started out our adventure at Climbing Camp 4, which happens to be the birthplace of modern rock-climbing. Many famous climbers have passed through that campsite. Sadly, either through our ignorant eyes or from it not being climbing season, we didn’t see anyone famous. That didn’t dampen our spirits, because this day was the day that Keegan and I could finally don our Vibram FiveFingers and give the Upper Yosemite Falls trail a good run for its money. I mean run in the most literal sense of the word. After hiking up a few switchbacks (OH JOY!), I got a little bored, and took off at a jog. Once Keegan joined up, we kicked it into high gear. There is nothing cooler than sprinting past people who are wheezing and sucking air on their way up a mountain. There is only one compound word to describe how we felt… Bad-Ash!

            And then… it happened. Lower atmospheric pressure and a decreasing oxygen content took its toll, and we were both reduced to those heaving, wheezing masses that we had previously scorned. Brain signals were sent to no avail. I can’t remember another time in my life that my body has been so non-responsive. Just flexing my calf, even a day later, still sends a pain shooting up my leg. But, alas, we had made it to the overlook. Thankfully, the two of us had put a decent gap between us and the other three guys, so we could rest. And man, what a view.

            Once the crew was reunited, pictures were taken, water was ingested, and spirits were renewed. We set off again to the next highest point of the trail. Along the way, we received quite a few comments and question about our curious foot attire. One lady even told us that she had seen someone coming down the trail barefoot. Challenge Accepted random elderly lady.

            After reaching the top of the trail, with random spurts of running in between longer walks along the way, we laid eyes on the Yosemite falls from the closest vantage point yet. It was glorious. The mist blowing off the falls was a blessing from God, cooling us off from a strenuous hike. Stephen even overcame his fear of heights, though I think he didn’t realize it at the time, to take an amazing picture from the cliffs. My heart began to beat faster when I saw how precarious his chosen perch was. But well done, Stephen!

            Soon, we began to get a bit chilly, and the time to descend the trail had arrived. I mentioned earlier a challenge inadvertently set forth by the elderly woman. My feet began to feel a bit too enclosed, so I removed them and continued down the trail. I loved knowing that as soon as I passed people, they began to comment to each other in different languages about “that barefoot guy.” Also, as a side note: Keegan eats… all… the… time! Dan surprised him with a bag of chips that he had brought up with him on the highly predictable chance that Keegan would be hungry. They proceeded to chow down, while Stephen and I continued our trek down the trail. The descent seemed to go by much faster than the ascent, even though I had been running for the latter. I think this came from having to concentrate so much on where I set my feet down. Stephen and I made quick progress down the mountain without much happening. When we arrived at the bottom, we waited for the other three, and then set off back to camp.

Like a Champ. A very special champ.

            After a meal of chicken fajitas, we realized we had cooked way too much rice. Here’s a lesson kids: Always follow the instructions on the bag. ALWAYS! We all ate way more than we wanted to, because when you’re in a camp you can’t just leave stuff out, or put it in the refrigerator for later. We were amply rewarded though, by a much better batch of cookies. I fell asleep early the day before, so this was actually my first batch of cookies. Then we all gathered around our surprisingly well-built fire. I say surprisingly because we did so with nothing but a few branches of pine and pine needles. Credit for that goes to Stephen and Keegan, with a little lighter fluid from Dan.

            Thankfully, we had that fire to warm us up for part of the night, because for the rest of the night, it was freezing! In my opinion, it was the coldest night we had at Yosemite. And also, the last, because this morning we packed up the camp and headed out for Redwood. I’m excited because the camp we’re staying at is a privately owned campsite, which means showers and laundry. =D

-Davey J

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
- Hebrews 12:1-3

About a mile, About a hour, About this |--| far on a map.

Today was the day of our longest hike yet, we arose early(ish), ate our breakfast of oatmeal, and packed lunch. We drove about 30 minutes away to Hetch Hetchy, a man made lake that serves as the reservoir for San Francisco. During the drive we listened to a sermon by Pastor Tyler from Vintage 21, in which he spoke on the most important commandment, "Love your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength". It was a awesome way to start the day and I didn't really realize how much I missed getting teachings from someone way wiser than me. It was a breath of fresh air and really rejuvenating for me.

I was really hungry.

Once we got there we all put on sunscreen (see moms, we are responsible) and got ready to walk our legs off. The beginning of this 13(ish) mile hike started on the O'Shaughnessy Dam, which was quite cool to the 4 engineer's on the trip (the scenery was cool to Stephen). Now before we go any further I
have to give you some back story. I (Keegan) weigh around 150 lbs and stand at 5'10" and am the fattest guy on trip. If any of you have seen 101 Dalmatians, I am the one in the corner of the frame always saying "Mama, I'm hungry". That being said, as soon as we got out of the van to start our hike I was getting hungry and starting to regret only packing 2 sandwiches. As we continued up the hike, my stomach began complaining to me about being malnourished and underfed even though we had ate 1 and a half hours ago. About a mile later it started. It began as a quiet and half-hearted comment about eating lunch in a beautiful place we were passing. Slowly, it became more and more of a hurricane of remarks about food, lunch, and a certain person being hungry. All this being said, most of the group just ignored me and we kept trekking over rock and under stone.

Getting back to more important matters, this hike was my favorite. It might have been really long and a
good portion of it was uphill, but there were rocks, streams, and waterfalls everywhere. We jumped, skipped, hopped, and slipped our way up the peaks and valleys, finally getting to our destination of a bigger, closer waterfall and LUNCH. Oh glorious, glorious lunch! I had a PB&J, Ham and cheese sandwiches, … and lots of other food. Needless to say, it was quite satisfying.

After eating lunch (yum), we went exploring up part of the rock, but there was only one problem. We all went, so no pictures of that part. I then did a little exploring by myself, as most everyone else took a nap. For the sake of all parents reading this, during our whole time exploring we were completely safe and danger free the whole time **cough cough**.

See that little tiny dam over there? That's where we started.

After napping and exploring we headed back down with the longest and most extensive game of the name game yet. We spent the next 2 hours down spewing out names and thinking hard about names of famous people that started with 'Y' and 'W', as those seemed to be the hardest. We finished and drove back, all very much tired but feeling satisfied and accomplished. We got back and started up dinner, and sat around for a while waiting for dinner to be ready. After eating we got out books and started making cookies which just so happened to take FOREVER. So after about a hour and a half, the cookies were finally done (and by done, I mean we were too tired of waiting and just ate them, all doughy and uncooked). After talking with a ranger for a little bit, we all headed to bed, ending another eventful and interesting day.


Inspired Author: Keegan

Location: Yosemite Park.

The Onset of the Yosemite Traffic Jam Insanity Calamity (5/21/11)

We all knew the risks. We knew in the wide world we would be faced with dangers we had never even dreamed of in our days at home in North Carolina. Some of you, in your superior experience, warned us of such things. But we left your remarks unheeded, choosing to continue our journey…and I never knew it could be so terrifying. I am speaking, of course, of the Yosemite Traffic Jam Insanity Calamity, a mental disease which sets in when 5 male specimens have experienced each other (and few others) for 8 days, have been tired out by a hike that was longer than expected, and have experienced a traffic jam leaving the parking lot in Yosemite Valley. The effects are compounded by at least 75 miles of driving on very windy roads with a driver (me) who may or may not have much sympathy for the unintended consequences of veritably flying around curves in the road. If the victims happen to be females, this syndrome might take on the simple, yet fearsome title of “The Giggles.” However, in males the ailment manifests itself with symptoms including, but not limited to: unnecessarily loud speech, extraneous laughter, terrible jokes (such as puns), slightly impulsive behavior (we didn’t really need 3 hot dogs each along with 3 boxes of macaroni and cheese…), and a tendency to annoy the other campers in the campground. As this disease has yet to be researched with any depth, I am still uncertain as to the permanence of this condition, though I hope for all our sakes that the duration is little more than the course of an evening. 

As others before me have informed you, in the past days since the last time I blogged we have had the privilege of exploring 4 different parks, all of which were awesome in their own unique ways. Now, when I use the word “awesome,” I am refer not to the overused adjective “awesome” which is used to say such things as, “This kumquat pudding is awesome!” No, when I say “awesome” I really mean it – there was some real awe involved. Standing at the bottom of a canyon looking up walls that are two or three thousand feet high inspires some awe. Standing at the bottom of the largest tree on earth – which happens to be more than 100 times my age – that brings some awe. As others have said already, there is no way for anyone to do these things and not first experience a feeling of smallness, and rightly so! I stood in a place and felt the hugeness of it, and yet was not that huge canyon part of a huge mountain range, which was but a section of a huge country, which was honestly a small area of a huger world and an infinitely more massive solar system…galaxy…universe! And I spend most of my time pretending I’m the center of it all?! The concept of self absorption suddenly seems laughable.

El Capitan in Yosemite Valley. It'll make anyone feel small.

Today’s journey into Yosemite did nothing but reinforce my feeling of smallness and hold me in awe yet again. I have been to this park before, but it has been several years since my last visit and I think I can better appreciate and enjoy this amazing place than I did before. Our journey to Yosemite began with packing up our snowy marsh of a campsite and descending several thousand feet back to the floor of California’s central valley. We stopped off for a quick grocery search in Fresno in order to add to our still very significant traveling pantry. Not that most of the food lasted long – of the four loaves of French bread that we bought, three and a half we gone by the end of the afternoon. Anyway, after Fresno we headed north, found a rare gas station with gas less than $4 per gallon, and made our way to the entrance of Yosemite National Park…only to be stopped by a line of cars waiting to get in – our first encounter with the throngs of people who apparently like Yosemite enough to come on a Saturday in late May.

The famous "Tunnel View" of Yosemite Valley

From there we drove many more windy miles all the way to the heart of the park – Yosemite Valley. (Unfortunately, Glacier Point Road was still closed because of snow, depriving us of some magnificent views and hiking trails – but there was still plenty to see and do). Once on the valley floor, we were again faced with the crowds which flock to this popular park, taking up most of the parking spots and picnic areas. Fortunately, we were still able to squeeze into a picnic area called Cathedral Beach and eat lunch. From there, we embarked on what was meant to be a short and leisurely stroll down the valley floor to Bridalveil Falls. As it turned out, however, it was actually about 4 mile hike round trip, not including the mischief we got into along the way. This involved attempting to climb several boulders and a very slippery mound of snowpack at the bottom of the valley’s cliff walls (our “adventurous” detour for the day). The falls themselves were spectacular, as all of the waterfalls are fed this time of year by ample snowmelt. As the holder of the expensive camera at the time, I couldn’t even get close to the viewpoint at the bottom of the falls because of the heavy spray, and everyone else returned looking as if they’d weathered a particularly fierce summer downpour. 

After the hike we drove further west to go to the Valley Visitor Center, where we learned more about the park and got some help in planning our next two days here. We didn’t realize, though, how ill-advised the timing of this trip to the other side of the valley was until we attempted to leave the parking lot and had to wait about 45 minutes in order to do so. After light crowds in the other parks (including basically no one in Kings Canyon or Sequoia), this was like suddenly being back in civilized places. It was rather akin to trying to leave Carter-Finley Stadium after an NC State home football game. It made me realize that although I think most people in this country should appreciate our incredibly beautiful surroundings much more than they do, it’s really kind of nice – at least for us – that everyone does not. Because if they did, it would be impossible to preserve these areas and keep them in the condition they’re in, not to mention that it would be a real hassle for everyone trying to enjoy these parks. These parts of creation are beautiful, and I think everyone should experience and appreciate them, but maybe it’s a good thing that some people get much more out of doing other things.

After finally getting out of Yosemite Valley and driving once again on many miles of curving roads, we arrived at our campground, where we happened to have reserved the one campsite which is on the side of a hill, sloping down everywhere so that there was no good location for setting up a tent. This may have been the last straw which pushed everyone over into the Insanity Calamity, as giddy laughter soon began to reverberate off of the nearby trees. As crazy as it was, though, we made do, and are now settled fairly comfortably in. Tomorrow we will embark on our longest hike yet, visiting the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and hiking to Rancheria Falls – a total of 13 miles. We’ll get to see a part of Yosemite that the crowds rarely think to visit, one which will again be different from anywhere we have yet experienced. It will be awesome – really awesome – I’m sure. Just pray the Insanity does not creep up again!

Feeling accurately miniscule,

Dan

God is not far from any one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17:27-28

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:7-10

Shower the people

                SEQUOIA, it was a frozen, hostile wasteland, and there was much work to be done to survive the elements.  After boring a hole through the ice to set up our tent… If you know what that reference is to, then I salute you.  But seriously, I have been camping for as long as I know, ever since I was just a wee lad, but last night was the first time I have ever had to shovel a foot of snow out of the way just to pitch a tent.  It was the first time I’ve had to break a trail through the snow to get to the bathroom as well, and in my socks and sandals no less.  Let’s just leave it at this; setting up camp wasn’t very easy. Once done we all felt pretty accomplished though, and after a quick dinner of fried spam and ritz, we hit the sack tuckered out from our polar toils. 

                I woke this morning with Dan already having heated water so all I had to do was gather some instant oatmeal packets and I had a quick, awesome breakfast.  Having seen the sequoias the day before we all piled into the van and hit up the Grant Grove Visitor Center to try and put together a plan for the day’s activities in Kings Canyon.  On the recommendation of a friendly park employee we decided to make a 9 mile loop out of the Hotel Creek Trail and the Lewis Creek Trail.

                We made our way to the trailhead near the Cedar Grove Market and parked close to the showers that awaited us at the end of our hike.  Seeing as most of us haven’t showered for a solid seven days now we didn’t want any obstacles between us and the steaming torrent of hot water that would wash away the grime of a week of adventuring.  Before showers, however, we had a mountain to climb.

          This was no simple walk in the woods either.  I would be tempted to say that this mountain didn’t even want to be climbed.  We have probably climbed more switchbacks in the past seven days than I have climbed in the whole rest of my life put together.  We agreed that it feels like each hike seems to get harder and harder.  For obvious reasons we are hoping that this trend does not continue for the entire duration of our trip.  Despite this hardship I’d be willing to say, now that I am comfortably reclining in my sleeping bag, that the view we enjoyed at the Cedar Grove Overlook was worth the trouble of climbing a few thousand feet.  Just when I thought that I couldn’t climb any more, I didn’t have to and I was greeted with a sprawling vista of Kings Canyon and the surrounding snow-capped peaks.

                Kings Canyon is a park that often escapes people’s notice.  We were discussing this today and we came to the conclusion that it is probably because it simply doesn’t have anything really unique about it.  It’s surrounded by parks that all offer something different and I think guests often skip Kings Canyon in favor of Sequoia and Yosemite.  Regardless of this, though, Kings Canyon is stunningly beautiful.  The canyon is full of cedars and alpine meadows, and is ringed by tall granite mountains.  A beautiful blue green mountain stream rushes right through the middle of it and all of these parts come together to create a landscape that reminded all of us of something out of Lord Of The Rings.  The hike to see it all was difficult, but I think worth it.  With this in mind I hope these words will help remedy Kings Canyon’s previous anonymity.

                After our hike it was time to treat ourselves to ice-cream and a much anticipated shower.  Suffice it to say, it was glorious.  We soon made our way back to camp enjoying the sultry tunes of a Mr. James Taylor and cooked up a mean spaghetti dinner.  Now we’re all laying in the tent hiding from the cold and enjoying a plethora of good books.  Tomorrow it’s on to Yosemite and for the description of that adventure I’ll have to leave you in the capable hands of the talented Dan Snyder.  Have a wonderful day!

Josh

A Dream Fulfilled

Alrighty, long post today. There's a lot for me to speak on. So hang in there.

Today we embarked on the long drive to the Kings Canyon and Sequoia national parks. Leaving our beautiful campsite at Zion, we drove under cover of cloud through the mountainous terrain and out onto the plains and valleys that encompasses the rest of Utah.
Onward we rolled, into Nevada, where there are two things of note: long stretches of desert terrain, and Vegas. The former was nothing entirely new to us, but it is still strange to think that I was in the lush landscape of Zion national park only a few hours ago.
Vegas. That colorful city where people lose fortunes. And I guess they supposedly make them there too. At least the Casino owners make fortunes. As the buildings crested out of the desert, suddenly rearing their multi-hued windows, palm trees, and billboards from what is otherwise a landscape no sensible person would settle, I was struck with something. The city is tiny. Now perhaps this is only because we drove through it on the highway, rather than the famous strip, or perhaps it is because we arrived there in the day, but I attribute it to where we had previously been. We had just climbed towering cliffs over a hundred stories high, and stood in the wind which whipped over the precipice. And still, standing there on top of that peak, there were rocky climbs that stood above us. And even before that, we had stood beneath imposing hoodoos, who's stacked orange sides dwarfed us. You could even attribute Vegas' tiny nature to where we were headed, to some of the largest trees in the world, the Sequoias. Whatever way you turn it, Vegas was underwhelming. The wonder work of man in the desert, the bustling metropolis, pictured so full of energy and good times, the golden tower of the ever wealthy Trump, all seemed so temporary, fleeting, miniscule. Dust in the wind. Or it could just be part of my disdain for Vegas. Never liked the place.
Now, on to the rest of my tale for the day. We didn't spend much time in Nevada, or at least much that I remember, other than what I have already mentioned above. We soon entered the west coast state of California. Close after the border change, there was a terrain change. Orange and lemon orchards began to crop up, alongside vineyard after vineyard of grapes. I'll spare you details on the farmlands that we passed through, and the California traffic that swarmed the towns and cities.
Therefore we skip the rest of the drive until just a few miles before the park. It was my turn to drive, but focusing on the road wasn't easy with the rolling hills of grass that rose slowly all around us, driving between two of these hills, we came upon a emerald green lake. Lake Kawean. Just a tiny spot of blue on our atlas, it spread out before us, shimmering amongst the grassy tan rises that surrounded it. Boats were moored at a dock on one end, specks of color in the landscape. Clusters of rock pierced the sand colored hills, their covering rippling softly in the slow wind. Here I was struck again. With a sense of perfect. It was quiet, It was beautiful, it was lush. And it wasn't within the bounds of the Park… I would gladly move there, build a house on top of one of those hills, and live there for a good long time.
Alright then, we've made it to the park. I'll let you in on something. When I was but a lad, I had just taken up the pencil as one of my favorite forms of entertainment, alongside romping, eating, and legos. But I had a problem. I couldn't draw trees. Watching Bob Ross paint his happy trees filled me with envy and determination. I scraped together what little I could earn, and alongside the monetary contributions of my ever patient parents, I purchased a book on how to draw the floral giants. As I was ever over confident in my abilities, I immediately flipped to the back of the book, where I was sure the coolest and hardest things resided. There I found instructions on how to draw the mighty Sequoia. I became fascinated with them, their width, their height, everything. It became a dream of mine to see the big trees.

Which leads us to me, standing beneath the largest living tree on the planet. General Sherman, the greatest Sequoia in the park. The sign beneath him describes the difference in height as comparable to an ant looking up at a six foot human. It reached up from the snow and mist, its spongey red bark climbing into obscurity. The tree is over 2000 years old. The fact that the tree was old before Christ was born was just about as awe inspiring as its height and girth. We continued walking, taking pictures and having a good time in the snow, sliding in and out of holes cut in the big trees by fire and time. Mist blanketed the floor of the forest, adding a blue-white to the greens and dark reds of the sequoia forest.
Now our time with the sequoias was done, and we piled back into the van, and started the drive over to the campsite. At an elevation of around 6000 feet, the fog mixed with the sharp dropoffs and slanting sun of the evening to create flashing pictures of incredible beauty. Threads of sun woven and laced between trees, black against the brightness of the light. Blue on white on black on red, the forest spun by as we climbed the mountain. We of course tried to snap pictures, but the conditions were elusive, and I doubt we could have captured them with a camera. The mountain rose on, and we rose with it.

I was still in awe when we reached our campsite. From the disappointing Vegas to the fulfilled dream of the Sequoias to the incredible mountain drive just to get to our campsite, it had been a full day. I was ready to eat and sleep. Right then folks, that's what I'm going to do.

~Stephen Minervino