Trudging The Sawtooths….

I know…. nice, huh?

Well, we took a badly needed vacation in mid August to accomplish a few things; see family, especially my elderly dad in Montana, show Debra where I grew up in Helena and get some good hiking done at a location I have wanted to visit for years: The Sawtooth Mountain Wilderness near Stanley Idaho. The word Sawtooth does the mountain range Justice!

Stanley is a little 2 dot town at the north end of that mountain range where the sign says “Population 100” and the locals said that is only in the summer and the winter is more like 50. It is a tourist driven economy. Redfish Lake to the south is magnificent and the lodge there hosts thousands of people each year and is kid friendly. It was hard to get a booking for lodging anywhere in the area but God provided well right in town at the Stanley High Country Inn. I would highly recommend that place. It is nice and affordable considering the prices in the area. It was quiet as well.

The town is cut into half with Lower Stanley on the east side and Stanley proper against the Sawtooth Mountain Range. That town is about 5 blocks by 5 blocks. The dining there is marvelous depending on where you eat. We ate at the Kasino Klub in Stanley 2 nights and the Bridge Street Grill in Lower Stanley 1 night. The Kasino Klub should be a 5 star restaurant! The food is out of this world. Everything in that town is a rustic log cabin environment.

The peaks in that mountain range can be described as: “Oh my gosh!”, “You’ve gotta be kidding me”, “Totally ominous!” & “Absolutely some of God’s best wilderness!” You have to be crazy to climb many of the peaks in that range and most require technical gear to do so. When filling out the National Forest Permit Log on one of them at the trailhead, I saw the written comment by one past hiker who apparently did Thompson Peak that said: “Never Again!”

We did not attempt any of the jagged rock peaks but did 2 days of hiking on 2 trail systems. The flora is a lot like the Colorado high country but there were some definite differences.

We covered 16 miles in 2-8 mile hikes on August 12-13. The hikes through them are far too numerous to mention. After buying a trail guide map of the range and asking for advice, the lady at the trading post recommended the Sawtooth Lake / Alpine Lake hike and the Bench Lakes hike. Since we live in Denver altitude is not a factor. Up there the town sits at 6500’ and the peaks are no more than 11,500’. They look higher, partly because, unlike Denver you drive right up to them and go straight up rather than drive over several layers of “foothill ranges” to get to them.

The tallest peak in the state was not far from us, Borah Peak which is a mere 12,668’ but looks higher since the valleys sit so low. I did get a shot of that peak off in the distance from the Bench Lakes hike. You can see both hike photo sets on our picture website at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/howethru

The hike to Alpine Lake up the Sawtooth Lake trails system starts out without a hint of what you are in for and then suddenly……. You find yourself surrounded by jagged rock peaks as you hike into a bowl. They seemed to wrap around us like a blanket. It reminded me of:

“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 125:12)

We gained 1100’ in altitude in that climb but I found it easier at that lower elevation than here in Colorado. All along the way about every minute I would be saying “WOW”! I have seen many remarkable sights in the wilderness but this was one of the best!

Alpine Lake was a peaceful and quiet lake tucked below the summit of one of the peaks which was a good place for a snack and of course a shot of wildlife……. A chipmunk. ‘Munk’ of course was attracted to our food and not our company. He didn’t even get a nibble as that is not wise up there. We didn’t see any other wildlife other than some birds. I was surprised by that to a degree but the trails are busy ones.

The next day was the Bench Lakes trail above Redfish Lake. It was not quite as scenic until we traversed quite a bit and when we popped out higher up the views came into great view. That hike was an elevation gain of 2300’ but I didn’t feel worn out as much as I did the day before. Debra seemed to do better with it as well.

There are trail systems all over that range that will take you deep up there. Maybe some year we will take a run up there and try something new……

But for now we are glad to back in Colorado with plenty of the season still in front of us…….

Life’s Enrichments - Debra Howeth

Clear Creek Campout / Salida July 24-26, 2009

Have you ever tried to capture something after the fact? My guess is that if you have, then you have experienced what I am about to embark on. It can be extremely difficult to remember all of the sights, sounds, aromas and the emotions that were part of that and if it is something that is pleasant it is a joy to try to recapture that time.

Bill has always done the blog for us previously and so when he asked if I wanted to do it for this outing I said sure. If I would have realized the timing and the stretch of time that would be in-between the outing and then having time to write I might have declined. However there are enough things that made me really want to capture the outing and not blow it off.

First of all it was Bill’s birthday weekend. We were not celebrating per se over the weekend since his birthday was the Monday coming up but if you know Bill you know that being out and hiking and on this occasion camping you know that is celebrating in itself. We had wanted to campout and we were looking forward to it. The NewLife Men’s Retreat had just gone out a couple of weeks before to the same spot and Bill wanted to go back.

We headed out early Friday morning and got to the spot about mid day southwest of Buena Vista. We have only camped once before together and that was just after our “revelation” from friends to dating. I had considered not going that time, that was in 2007 but we decided to go anyway and had a very nice time. It was in September so it had already gotten cold and the spot we had planned on had been blocked off for the winter and we had to make other arrangements. We had intended to pack in; everything in the camp site would have been on our backs and hauled in several miles.

Well this time and that time both we have ended up with the car close by so it has been luxurious in that you have access to your “stuff”. In 2007 we packed light. In 2009 we had everything but the kitchen sink. At one point this trip we even emptied the Jeep so we could go fill it up with all the firewood we would need for the night & next morning. Enough was left for the next three campers when we left!

One of the luxury’s that were part of the trip was lighter fluid. I saw a part of Bill that was new to me. He really, really likes fires…… I would not recommend him for a Firefighting position. :-) The fires were wonderful to have, it sprinkled early evening that Friday night so the fire not only provided the buffer from the evening chill it provided my first “smores” experience. Decadence at its best no doubt, and with some friendly advice from the previous groups outing we had multiple options for our smores.

It rained through the night but we were already in the tent and conked out for the night. I did get up around midnight for a nature break and by then the weather had cleared. The sight at that time is one that is easy to capture in my mind because of the magnificence of the stars out that you see when you get away from the city. We could see the Milky Way and a gazillion other stars. It was truly breath taking. Even thinking about that now it is almost as you could reach out and touch them.

The next day we got up and of course Bill had to use up every bit of lighter fluid to get the fire going for the morning……..well ok, had to or chose to…. Due to several factors we determined that was not the day for my first 14’er so we took our time and broke down camp and ended up having a casual day of making our way to Salida Colorado close to where my father A.K.A. Papa grew up.

One of Papa’s sisters still lives there in the town of Howard just 11 miles east of Salida. This Aunt has always been special to me and I have a deep love for her. When you drive up to her house she declares with signage in her yard exactly where her heart is; “Jesus is Lord”. One of the things that I love most is that when we get together it is a “Love Fest”. We cannot share enough about how much we love the Lord and what He is doing in our lives. We never tire of doing what Hebrew’s 10:25 asks us to do: “Encourage one another, and all the more as the Day approaches”!

We were blessed with a visit with her family including praise worthy note of a cousin that has completed treatment for breast cancer and is doing incredibly well and her sister I had not seen for 30+ years we also visited with. My Uncle had just returned from the Flaming Gorge and we had not expected him to be there so praises and good times sent with them and of course Bill will go on forever about her cooking! We tried to head back to Salida that night but due to an accident on highway 50 the road closed for about 5 hours so we went back and stayed until about 2:00AM then headed back into town.

We also joined my Aunt for service the next morning at the church she attends; Living Waters. If you are in the area and want to hit a church for service it is just east of Salida and got two thumbs up from both Bill & I. I thought the young pastor was the “youth pastor” but no, the youth pastor looks like he is still in high school :-). However as noted, a blessed service with the nail on the head about Water Baptism and its significance in claiming Christ in your life.

So here we are about two and a half weeks after that and it seems to be months! It is a blessing for me to go back and capture that weekend for so many reasons… First taking Friday off and getting on the road with the hubby for a “break away” weekend, pseudo birthday celebrations, the real ones came on Monday, camping & camp fires, my first smores, the magnificence of the stars that Friday night, the views, the rain & aroma’s, the time spent catching up with my Aunt & her family and the honey & I on the road. All of this makes life rich.

The pictures for this outing can be found on our picture website at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/howethru

Chief Mountain

July 18, 2009
Chief Mountain

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10b)

Okay, now this is where I usually warm up before a 14’er. With Debra and I having not gotten on a 14’er we are behind in warming up. Life tends to get in the way but we will hit one before the summer is out. (NOTE: We plan and God laughs….)

Debra and I plan to go up to the Collegiate Peaks area again where we had the men’s retreat next weekend and may try Huron, but no guarantee. At any rate we did a good warm up at Chief Mountain. It is a moderate 3 mile hike and summits a 11,700’ peak which is a good altitude warmer. After last weekend I had no trouble at all getting up it this year and Debra did well. It was a good lung stretcher.

The weather was clear that day. The temps were warm but at the top a good stiff breeze had a descent chill. As is always the case there, we saw a large number of people on the trail as well as on the summit, including a little 4 year old girl whose parents said walked the whole thing up….. Man am I getting old…..

This peak is perfect as it is high enough where you have a panoramic view all the way around. To the north you can see Long’s Peak and as you scan west a host of 13’ers and 14’ers come into view. To the west Bierstadt, Gray’s and Torrey’s Peaks and to the south, Pike’s Peak. It is an amazing family outing you can take and the rewards at the top are tremendous.

To get there take I-70 to Evergreen Parkway and then drive about 2 miles to Squaw Pass Road and head west towards Mt Evans 12.2 miles and park on the right side. The trail head is on the other side of the road. It is a great warm up.

The picture set is great and can be found on our picture link at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/howethru

Enjoy…..

Huron Peak & Area

"THE 3 APOSTLES"

July 10, 2009
The Saturday Night Live Climb- Huron Peak

That name has meaning in the mountain climbing world. It means a party attempts to summit a 14’er and doesn’t make it. The name of the group that does the above mentioned group that plays on that show are called “The Not Quite Ready For Prime Time Players.” That would have described me and possibly the rest of the group, Tony & Josh on July 10th. We were on a men’s retreat for my church and we had acclimated for a night at 10,700’ at our camp a short distance away. We were located 2 miles west of the ghost town of Winfield.

Unfortunately it was enough time for me. Having not made a 14’er this year yet I shot for a target too big. Usually I warm up with Chief Mountain, a nice almost 12’er and possibly a 13’er to break in the body for altitude. When I wake up in the morning before a 14’er ascent I have a sense right away if I am up to it that day and knew I wasn’t. My other 2 partners had never summitted a 14’er so it was a good chance for them.

Huron Peak, located in the middle of the Collegiate Peaks area which contains a large cluster of 14’ers, is not the hardest nor easiest of the 14’ers in the state but it is certainly moderate. Even the easiest 14’er is not really easy. At 13,500’ you always take 5 steps and stop to catch wind. I had done Huron from the east trailhead in 2007. If nothing else it was a nice warm up for an ascent later on. Little did I know but I had picked up someone’s cold as well and had just not quite felt the symptoms. That came the night after the attempt with a 102 fever. So I am sure that played a factor as well. Making the summit is a plus but it is having fun that counts and we certainly did.

As one of my climbing partners said later that day: “I now have a new respect for altitude!” The picture set was awesome and can be found on our picture link at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/howethru

There are some other pictures of the other scenic areas tucked back where we were there as well.

“It was a delightful spring day…….. In July?!”

Independence Day 2009 seemed more like a spring day than summer. In years’ past it has always been much hotter and dryer in the high country by this time; even on years that Colorado didn’t have a drought. This year we can’t seem to get “sunny days“ to coincide with “hiking days” very often. With temperatures in the low to mid 60’s in the high country and only occasional sun peeking in through darkening clouds, we took our best shot and headed up into the Mt Evans Wilderness.

While a 4X4 is not required to reach the trail heads up there you sure don’t want to use your “Father’s Oldsmobile” unless you are crawling. The Mt Evans Wilderness provides very scenic, and remote hikes that rank in the moderately difficult range. Most of the people up there are at the camp sites and not on the trails themselves. All of the trails are tied to a very large trail network that spans a large area. The trails will take you up to the various alpine lakes that reside below the summits of Mt Evans and other peaks surrounding it on the eastern slope.

We hit 2 different trails that reside up at the end of Upper Bear Creek Road: The Lost Creek Trail & the Beaver Meadow Trail. Both offer lots of photo opportunities. Since the weather wasn’t the best pictures of the mountains were not as prevalent as catching the close in stuff. My wife has observed that I am more about the views and large picture and she is more about the granular and smaller stuff. We will normally bring both of our cameras but left with only mine.

I did some shooting but she had the camera most of the time. These 2 picture sets are filled with the “Debra Eye View” and there are some spectacular shots she got, especially close ups. I took some of the close ups but am not as well versed in detail as she is. If you look at the picture set on Lost Creek you can see I spent a lot of time with women all day; My lovely wife as well as a “gazillion” (my wife’s term) lady bugs. They were in huge abundance blanketing the leaves; entire colonies! The wet weather has produced a large amount of them this year.

As always you can find the photos of these trails at our picture website:

http://picasaweb.google.com/howethru

With the weather patterns as they have been this year “green & wet” would describe the high country well. Life is abundant up there! The amount of new growth is enormous. The columbines are in full bloom now.

“I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.” (John 10:9-11)

I am reminded that Jesus is the Living Water for us; His way is the way to abundant life. The storms we face in life are meant to stretch and grow us, not harm us. As we weather the storms and those storms pass, when the sun does reappear our lives reflect the growth we went through.

Despite all of my pleading (whining) to God about nice hiking days and less rain, His work up there in the mountains this year has been phenomenal!

June 6, 2009

‘Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.’ (Genesis 1:11-12)

….. and what an earth He created! We hope you take some moments to disconnect from the busyness of life and indulge in a moment of calm and beauty. Springtime in Colorado is filled with many cloudy and rainy days when there isn’t a drought. This is certainly one of those years as is evident in the pictures from our trek into the wilderness on Saturday June 6th. To see this incredible photo set go to our picture website at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/howethru

Look under "Reynold's Park." There you can browse and download. This photo shoot is the best we have ever done with both of our perspectives mixed in from behind the lens.

This day was special as it was the first Saturday in many weeks where it was sunny and gorgeous out. You see, I was having some quarrels with the Lord (useless) and had whined that He needed to shift the storm cycle so that the nice days would fall on the weekends! They had been falling during the week every time curbing my efforts to get us out. My loving wife of a year & 2 weeks (Yes, flies by quick!) and I had to celebrate our 1st anniversary spread out over 3 weekends due to weather. Saturday was the day to celebrate the outdoor part. After all our long friendship took its turn into courtship and marriage while hiking and rock climbing.

After looking over some new areas and doing research for some closer places, utilizing the power of the internet & Google Earth I ran into Reynolds Park, part of the Jefferson County Parks. Their website is:

http://co.jefferson.co.us/openspace/openspace_T56_R18.htm

It is tucked in an out of the way place near the almost ghost town of Foxton, southwest of Conifer, population 2, Halleluiah! It is close to Pine Junction. We love this place! It is a remote hiker only system of trails. We took a 3.7 mile loop according to my Garmin GPS that started down near South Foxton Road and winds up heavily wooded trails with thick undergrowth. It is an “easy” to “moderately” difficult hike gaining about 800 feet all told; again according to my Garmin.

All along the lower trail we crossed many streams. With the density of the vegetation and multiple coursing brooks running down the draws we stopped many times to get photos. We took 260 pictures and I have filtered out 127 of them. We tend to take multiple shots slightly adjusting the Canon Power Shot S3-IS to vary lighting and focus. Debra has a gifted knack for taking close ups blurring either the close in or the farther out while focusing the image elsewhere. I have picked up a lot of those traits but she is the Jedi Master! I tend to do best with the wide open landscape shots. I am getting the message that I need to invest in a telephoto lens for more flexibility.

The wildflowers up there were numerous and deeply colored. With all the rain and runoff everything else falls into multiple shades of deep green. The views at the climax of the climb were absolutely some of the best on a lower altitude hike I have seen. More about that later.

Pictures 104 & 105 we had to team up on. We caught a small purple-blue butterfly fluttering about. But when he / she would land its wings went straight up together and no color could be seen; probably a defense mechanism. Checking a website devoted to butterflies and moths (yes, they have such a thing) the closest thing I could find for the area was a “Hops Azure” and who knows what that name means. If you are curious the website is:

http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/

Being the persistent person I am, the only way to get a shot of it was for one to take the shot and the other to move to get it to start to fly! We didn’t think we captured it but when I downloaded the photos there it was! Debra got the critter focused and I did the “moving” and the signal to snap and she caught him in flight with his shadow on the ground. Check it out!

As far as the views go from the top, see pictures 65-90. You climb the trail and suddenly come out of the woods and there it is! Pike’s Peak & the Rampart Range to the south & west and to the east a tiny slice of the plains. There was hardly a cloud in the sky but it was rather windy making it feel a bit chilly. We spent some time on “Eagle’s View” as they call it and you can see why they named it that.

The view wraps 180 degrees. If you want a hike that is fairly easy, a great workout with both lush vegetation as well as the reward of a fantastic view this is one of the best I have been on. The maximum altitude you hit on this falls in at about 8500’ so it isn’t a lung buster.

We took the “Oxen Draw Trail” up until it joined the “Raven’s Roost” & “Eagle’s View” trails and then went up the “Eagle’s View” and I would recommend that unless you want a steeper climb. When we circled the top and came back around the loop we took the “Raven’s Roost” Trail and it was a much steeper trail down. Could be a bit hard on the knees but trekking poles took the pain of that away.

It is ironic that you use the trekking poles coming down the way you would your snow ski poles. I am an ace at that but if I snow ski people die!

Many of the pictures that Debra took were along the theme of life and death. She had been thinking about how spring shows both the new life blooming as well as the dead things of the wild and how that correlates into us as people who are dead without the saving grace of Christ but when we accept Him we have new life.

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:4)

Well, weather permitting we should be hitting the mountains a lot more as summer quickly approaches. We are still shooting for the 1st 14’er of the year by the end of June but we know the saying: “We plan and God laughs.” Stay tuned……

April 29, 2009

The first outing of 2009! Okay, so we had hoped that we would get out throughout the winter months and get some good snowshoeing in and get some blogging done with photo shoots depicting me, Bill getting taken out by avalanches. So you can guess either Debra decided the words “Bill” & “Snow” should not be used in the same sentence or we just didn’t get the chance to go.

Well actually we didn’t want to join the ski crowds driving up I-70 getting stuck in traffic to reach an area that actually had snow where we could get away from it all. Fact was we had a winter where the snow really did stay in the high country and the lower mountain elevations had snow that lasted as long as it does in Denver. Maybe next year. Instead we opted for spending our first married winter together doing the holidays and opening up our home that God has blessed us with for entertaining and sending our guests home waddling after we stuff them! We certainly have no regrets doing that!

I have been “jonesing” to get out and hike, rock climb and get the year started. As soon as the last big snow fell in April our lawn suddenly exploded in lush green colors and I figured since I had already fired the lawnmower up once it was high time to go. Trouble is that every weekend for about 4 weeks it would get rainy and snowy and during the week it would get nice and warm. So to fool the weatherman we did a novel thing: we took a day off in the middle of the week! And a perfect spring day it was.

We decided to stay close and warm up at 3 Sisters near Evergreen, a place we go frequently for a quick fix getting away from the noise and bustle of the city. The therapeutic value of enjoying God’s Country is enormous spiritually, physically, mentally and emotionally. We experienced that in spades.

A little rock climbing to work out the “shoes” and some brisk hiking stretches out the lungs and reminds you how much you have missed it and also reminds you just what all the Christmas cookies and the plethora of food did during the “hibernation” months. We all spend those winter months bulking up a bit and packing our bloodstreams with sugar and other wonderful non-nutrients that it takes some good sweating just to clear out the system and prep it for another year of endurance.

You also get the opportunity to see a new phase of life emerging after the cold of winter. We had the pleasure of eating our lunch of “healthy” food at the top of the Brother’s Overlook and being invaded by none other than:

‘Super Munk’

This little critter is like so many I have encountered who try and make you believe that they never get fed. Obviously this little guy makes his home in the rocks to protect himself from predators but he also had other motives. Since this is a site that many people climb to I am sure he knows he may just get a handout or 2.

With the green freshness of spring and the snow capped Continental Divide as a back drop we got some great photos to share with you. Just go to our picture website at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/howethru

There you can browse and download.

This year we will be getting out a lot and I will have Debra on her first 14’er in June if my plans stay on track. We need to do some altitude building and get the physical cobwebs flushed out from a dormant winter before that. I am making a list of new locations to hit this year so we should have pictures coming your way all through this year of 2009!

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)