Every summer there is a steady stream of cars driving north past the house headed to Sagehen Reservoir. And every summer I have driven the other direction as I’m not one to [car] camp near other folks (unless they are a few miles out from the trailhead in the middle of the wilderness, then I will talk to them all day long – as my brother found out this summer).
This year however we decided to join a co-worker, his family and some of their friends for a few days camping at Sagehen.
As it turned out, all four families (ours included) were adoptive families – three of which were also foster care families. This common bond opened up a plethora of interesting and insightful conversations.
Continue reading Sagehen Reservoir
Last weekend was a breath of fresh air.
It was a time of relaxation and friendship as my wife and I had the opportunity to get away and spend a weekend together without our son (Thanks Dad and Mom for babysitting!!) – or any of the stress of being a pastor or homeowner (amazingly enough the later is actually harder!).
The first evening was spent camping next to Philips Lake about twenty miles west of Baker City, Oregon. The next morning we got up lazily and wondered into town to visit the really cool Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.
It was amazing standing in the wagon ruts of the 170 year old Oregon trail thinking about the thousands of people who walked before us headed to a new life.
Continue reading Historic Baker City
While on the trail, I came up with lots of cool sounding titles for this post… most of which were not that good seeing that I was in a lot of pain (my knee decided to go on vacation halfway through the loop) and that the names “Hells Canyon” and “Seven Devils” make unpolite words polite.
- “Fighting Seven Devils In Hell”
- “Going Through Hells (Canyon)”
- “Trying to Find Heaven in Hells” – this only works if know that ‘Horse Heaven’ is the name of the half way point on the loop…
- “Overcoming the Devils”
- (did I mention I was in pain?)
yeah… it was brutal 30 miles….
Tons of deadfalls (i.e. large dead trees laying on top of the trail making one either climb over, under or around – not easy when you are on a narrow cliff side trail), creeks running through the trail, rocks (lots and lots of rocks!!! I mean, it was the HELLS Canyon Wilderness after all), snow drifts (more on that later) and, well, everything else you would think to find in the middle of the wilderness.
It a nutshell (hmm…how many megabits could you fit into an acorn shell?) we should have given ourselves four to five days to complete the Seven Devils loop instead of just three days (note to self, 10 mile a day walks with a 40-lb backpack is NOT a good idea!).
But, on the good side, I got some great pictures! (238 of them in fact..) 
Continue reading Backpacking the Seven Devils
Courtesy of Wikipedia
I finally decided on a trail for next weekend’s backpacking trip: Seven Devils Loop.
It is a 26.7 mile trail around the Seven Devils Mountain near Hells Canyon (west central Idaho). At 9,393 feet, He Devil Mountain is the highest point in the area….only thing is that the mountain plunges [...]
I officiated my fourth wedding Sunday – and, I must say, it was one of the most relaxed weddings I have ever attended.
The wedding was held on Dry Buck Mountain (20 to 30 minutes north of Sweet) at a campsite where the couple and some of their family/friends spent the night. The ceremony [...]
Last year a widow lady in the community gave me her husbands fishing tackle box as well as some of his old poles. Unfortunately, things conspired against me and I was never able to make it out to the water…
This year is different… this year I have discovered that I need the peacefulness [...]
Floating Squaw Creek with dad
One of the struggles of being a bi-vocational pastor is the lack of ‘down’ time – I spend all week in front of a computer working only to get up early Saturday morning to study and type out a sermon.
Today I decided to do something different – I decided to go fishing with my father.
And wow, was it refreshing to the soul! There is just something powerfully healing about relaxing amidst the beauty of God’s creation….
We didn’t catch anything…but like I mentioned before, the purpose wasn’t really to catch any fish.
The main purpose was to get out of the house, out of the office, and to allow my soul to be strengthened through contact with God’s land.
Now to prepare for Sunday….
Preparing to cast...
Continue reading Soul Care via a Fishin’ Rod
Not one to sit still too long, I'm off to the Frank Church Wilderness for a three day 22-mile loop through the Solider, Cut-Troat and Helldiver Lakes (all of which should have lots of trout…we shall if I catch any…)
If we are lucky, we might even have time to hike to the top [...]
One of the coolest parts about hiking through the Wilderness is the wildlife one sees.
There are mule deeres and mountain squirrel:
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The small rock mice.
And, of course, there are the occasional black bears:
(same bear – just a different picture.)
Note [...]
Not one to give up too easy, I tried my hand a fishing the South Fork of the Payette River Wednesday morning near Grandjean. This was after the 20 mile hike – so I was pretty tired, but since I was having a hard time sleeping, I decided to try my luck.
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