The Rocky Mountain National Park portion of our journey is completed. The above photo was taken in the meadow at the campground where the Solid Rock members stayed during the annual gathering. At the right, you'll see a man of much experience, Dallas. He carries his boy scout bandana that he got in 1952 around with him (as we later found out). We are standing front and center. Yeah, the patch job on the panaramic could use some work, but hey- we're on the road. The fancy photoshop stuff comes later.
Let's see, where to start. I guess I'll start by mentioning that these pages are just highlights of the trip, and I (andy) will come up with a big ol' trip report when I'm back home and suffering from Post-Trip-Depression.
We pulled into RMNP around 3pm (local) on Thursday. At the campground, we met Aaron and Dallas, both pretty cool guys, with whom we ended up climbing the next day at Lumpy Ridge in the "Left Book" area.
Here's a picture of Rad and Aaron hiking there.
Let me explain something about Dallas. He was the oldest guy in this group, there's really no hiding that fact. But Dallas would haul tail to the crag as fast as any of us. Here's a shot of him making tracks and leaving us in his dust.
Of course, we hiked and hiked, and had to pull out the guidebook a number of times. I snagged a few pictures of us not knowing where we're going.
Each morning, we would have some worship time led by a dude named John. Sara(h) joined in once she arrived. They played lots of songs, and between the two of them, the campground was rockin' at 8:30am. That's pretty early if you're askin' me.
After a few songs, We would have a little disciple-type training with Calvin Landrus, Solid Rock's Director and leader, fearless and bold. Looks like Tim (blue shirt) thinks 8:30 is early too.
On Saturday, most of us got involved during the day of outreach and helped clean the trail to McGregor Slab. Here is a picture of Rick and his daughter working together to chop a log. Logs are used to build stairs and help minimize erosion caused by foot traffic. I have a couple other pictures of me working, and maybe I'll fit them into the final trip report later on.
Unfortunately, that little working endeavor got rained out. As we started hiking out, conceding defeat to the weather, the sky cleared up, leaving us with spare time. Some people went climbing at Jurassic Park, but Rad and I found this park to do some Journaling (so we can remember what we've been doing when it comes time to compose the final BIG TR). I brought my guitar.
By the time Saturday night rolled around, we were pretty much all one big family. Mostly the Dean family, but they were all pretty cool so it was alright. The three kids in this picture are all siblings. Jake is sitting on Rusty's lap at left, Emma is celebrating Grover's awesomeness and eating my zipper pull, and Hudson is busy rocking out a wicked riff on my guitar.
Let me preface the next description by saying that there were a bunch of people attending this gathering, and remembering names was a struggle. That said, here's a little girl whose name I don't remember. I don't even remember who her parents are. But it follows the campfire theme, and she was a little cutie, so here it is. Not exactly camera shy. (to the parents: I can send you the full size picture via email after the trip if you drop me a line.)
I'll toss this one in too- There was lots of wild life around the park. I was actually rinsing off in a river when a deer came up and starting lapping water directly across from me, not 15 feet away. Pretty cool. So here's a picture of some deer that we saw.
That's all the pictures I have to show right now. There are a bunch more, and I can send pics to anyone who wants them. I'll post the bulk of them on some free web photo server later on, but for now, this is what you get.
Also worthy of Mention: as I write this, it is nearly midnight, and Rad and I have been up since 5am. We had hiked in to Sky Lake last night to get a good alpine start on the Petit Grepon. (Does anyone know what Grepon means??) We climbed it in about 8 pitches, and had a little snag in the rappel, but otherwise it was knocked out with diligence and efficiency. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of this climb on my camera. We rushed to catch the shuttle that took us to the trail head, and in the scurry I forgot to pack it. But Dallas and Chris (a guy we met that day, who has inspired me to become a bus driver) had theirs, and should be sending me pictures. When I get those, I'll post them up and show them around. The Petit Grepon is a fabulous climb, and is listed as one of the US's top 50 classic climbs.
Otherwise, thanks for following us and our travels. And, Perhaps more so, thank you for your continued prayers and support as we begin the "real" missionary part of our trip. On Tuesday morning, Rad will be flying home for some necessary business and coming back on Thursday. During that time, I'll be climbing and hanging around El Dorado Canyon, I believe. Be sure to look for pictures of that after we boogie on out of the Boulder area.