Well, another week has gone by and it gets faster and faster as the summer wears on.  This week went especially fast as I was out backpacking from Monday until Thursday.  It was great.  I guess the only downfall to going was not being able to spend the entire week with the students that were here from Colorado, but I’ll get to them later.  The backpacking trip was a scouting trip for a camp that Frontier does later in August called Heli-backpacking.  The camp will fly the participants and staff up to Michelle Lakes at about 2500 meters and drop them off.  From their they will go over mountain passes, through dense forest, and around beautiful alpine lakes.  Mine and Alan’s (the guide for the trip) goal was to try to find the trails over the passes and good places for the group to make camp and eat.  However, we did not get the luxury of being flown to the top.  So, our journey started on Monday from the roal at about 1300 meters.  We followed a canyon and then valley up through what was forest, but in the past month had succumbed to a prescribed burn from the forestry department.  That is all fine except for the fact that many places were still either smoldering or flaming and much of the trail was covered in fallen timber which made it difficult to navigate and weave through with a 40 lb pack.  However, we made it to tree line at about 3 pm (we started at 9).  Then we had to continue going up until we dropped over the first day’s pass and down into Michelle Lakes (the starting point for the group).  Here we made camp (about 6:30), but it was not comfortable.  The lakes were frozen and all around us were fields of snow that was beginning to melt, causing the ground to be soft and wet.  Everywhere you stepped your footprint immediately filled with water from the ground and being above tree line there was no firewood.  So, the first night was cold and wet and occasionally filled with the nearby boom of an avalanche, but we survived. 

The second day of our hike was easier, but still no cake walk.  We began by breaking camp and then immediately we were faced with a long wet stream crossing.  Seeing as my boots are not waterproof after submersion, I decided to put on my camp sandals and wade across.  It was only about anke deep, but the water was probably snow just a few days or hours before, so it wasn’t pleasant.  After that we booted up and ascended our second day’s pass.  This was even higher than the first and required a little bit more technical decision making.  But after topping out we had a great view, mountains as far as your could see and waterfalls coming off cliffs in every direction with the snow laying between the trees in the valley.  We quickly descended into tree line to meet a lot of snow.  Waist deep snow.  But we eventually found the trail that led us to our second camp site, halfway up the next day’s pass.

The next day was probably the most uncomfortable I have ever been backpacking.  The pass before us consisted of a huge snow field with many streams running underneath.  It made it quite nerve wrecking walking on top of the snow and wondering when you would post hole up to your waist.  Then, when that happened many times your foot struck snow melt streams and was instantly cold.  In fact, there were some streams the snow was so shallow over top and the streams were so wide that we had to cross on our hands and knees so we wouldn’t fall through.  It was one of the sketchiest things I have ever done.  But once we got past the snow fields we moved quickly over the pass and into the valley where we met a trail that took us to Pinto Lake.  At the lake we had one last obstacle.  A river crossing coming out of Pinto where the water was about knee to waist deep.  Once again, we took off our boots and had to wade across, finishing on the other side of the bone numbing water we made camp for our last night.

The last day was probably the easiest.  We had to climb a few hundred meters out of the valley and into the boundary for Banff National Park.  The only real obstacle on the trail was one section of snow cliffs.  Here the snow was steep.  Steep enough to call a scramble if on rocks.  So we lowered our trekking poles and had to kick steps into the snow.  After that it was smooth sailing into the park and down to the parkway finding our car on the other side.  It was quite the adventure and some of the most challenging yet rewarding terrains I have ever seen, and now know intimately.

But as I said, while we were gone, there was a group from Colorado here.  And when we returned on Thursday we got to spend some time with them.  They were awesome!  Every night they did a camp fire and three students would share their testimony and then after that all the other students would give them encouragement either about their testimony or about the courage they displayed in the week’s activities.  It was a really cool time to see students so passionate about God and each other.  It really excited me about the impact we are having and the impact that I will get to have soon being a youth pastor. 

So, there is another week down.  It was the last week of the spring retreat season and next week starts summer staff training.  It will be a low key week with one day on the river and one day doing an overnight somewhere in the area with the other staff.  Other than that it should be restful so the staff will be restored for the senior high camp that starts the next week.  After that it’s in high gear for the remainder of the summer.  So please pray that I and the other staff will be restored during the next week so we can maintain the demanding schedule that will come after training.  Also pray for Megan and the family back home that they will know God’s comfort while I am gone.  Thanks in advance for the prayers.

To Christ within,

Craig

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