Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Walkabout: day 4

Day 4 was the first full day spent at the lake.  Instead of just relaxing, we all decided to take advantage of the opportunity to summit a peak [relatively] close by.  Our campground was situated at about 9,600 feet in elevation and the peak was 11,000 feet in elevation.  Not too hard of a climb, but just enough to get our heart rates going  :)

The climb actually was not bad at all and the view was...INCREDIBLE.  I'm not sure that I've ever seen anything more breathtaking than the view from the top.  Standing on the peak, we could see a 360 degree view of nothing but mountains and undisturbed wilderness.  It was God's creation in all it's glory.  No cars, no sidewalks, no buildings, not even an airplane engine could interrupt my thoughts.  It was simply glorious.

We found some snow on the way up!

...which can be a very exciting thing for Southern Californians  ;)
Making our way to the peak.

And when we got to the top...

 This is what we saw...

Taking it all in.

The team.

Album cover.


A small little alpine pond that the boys decided to take a dip in.


In the top left of this picture, you can vaguely make out Joe Crane Lake.





Jon surprised us with homemade bread that he had packed in for us.


Amazed.

Quiet time.  Nothing better.

This is the granite bowl that Joe Crane Lake sits in.


So happy  :)







The Minnerets.


Holy cow.



J-dub.

Isn't it just amazing?  It's really hard to come up with words that adequately describe the handiwork of our God.

It's times like this that a picture really is worth a thousand words.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Walkabout: day 3

I'm just on a blogging role!  haha.  Now that all my pictures are edited, I'm much more inclined to sit at my computer and blog.  Thank the Lord for technology  :)

This post will cover the last stretch of our hike to Joe Crane Lake.  We spent half of day 3 hiking to our destination and it was one of the most challenging things I've ever done.  We climbed about 2,000 feet in elevation in one day.  That was a LOT for my body to take in.  Needless to say, we all made it and much enjoyed the view at the top...
This sign was at the bottom of an ENORMOUS hill that we had to climb before we arrived.
(And by "ENORMOUS," I mean like a mile up...)

umm....hello, gorgeous.









panoramic view.








Joe Crane Lake is situated in the middle of a HUGE granite bowl.  All those mountains that you can see are pure granite.  We hiked around (more to come on that later) and it was crazy to think that we were standing on billions of dollars worth of natural granite.  

I'm sure you can imagine that all of the hiking and physical work prior to this sight was all worth it once we saw the destination God had for us.  I was so blessed to spend 5 days taking in this beauty around me.  It's simply astounding.

"For you, O LORD have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy."
-Psalm 92:4

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Walkabout: Days 2 & 3

I just got done editing a total of 582 photos from Walkabout, so be expecting some picture updates in the next few days  :)  It took me forever, but slowly and surely I'm DONEZO.  Thank the Lord!!!

Today, I'll just share some pictures from our hike to Joe Crane Lake (our final destination).  I had lots of favorites on this trip, but one of my favorite things about Walkabout was just the hiking part of it.  Here are some things I loved about hiking:
1. I got to talk to different people over the course of our hike.  We never hiked in a specific order, so after each stop/water break, I would usually be by someone new and we would swap funny stories, learn about each others' families and just have fun.
2. When we got to a really hard part of the trail, everyone would just start encouraging one another.  There were constant shouts of "Great job!", "Keep it up!", "You can do it!!!", "We're almost there!".  It was so great to be on a team of encouragers.  It made the tough parts so much easier.
3. The SCENERY was absolutely stunning.  I'm kinda bummed because we had to keep so focused on our footing on the trail that I think we missed a lot of beauty around us!  But, when we did get a chance to stop and look around, the creativity of our God just stunned us.
4. We saw 2 bears.  End. Of. Story.
5. There is something that feels so good about carrying a really heavy pack around for miles and miles in the wilderness.  At the end of each day, there was such a sense of accomplishment.

And now for some hiking pictures!

All of our packs loaded into the van!

 Ready for adventure  :)





A beautiful pit stop along the way.

See that handy dandy walking stick of mine?
My wonderful grandpa made it for me!!!  Isn't that awesome?!

That jagged region of mountains is called the Minnerets.  They're amazing!





Do you see what I see????







I adore this group of people.

Who wouldn't want to hike through this?!

Ahhhh.  This makes me want to go back!

"For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and his divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." 
~Romans 1:20