Moving On

Trails: Partial Cascade Canyon Trail - 3 miles, Fairy Falls Trail – 5 miles, Artist Paint Pot – 1 mile, Mt. Washburn Trail – 6 miles, Electric Peak – 20 miles, Mystic Falls Trail – 3 miles.

Total Trail Mileage: 93 miles

There’s been a lot that has happened. I hope I can remember it all.
P.S. – This blog was written on July 30 no matter what the blog title says.

We’ve traveled the Grand Tetons a little, crossed the Jenny Lake and did some scrambling on some rocks off trail, sang some hymns in a rock fall cave, and had great fellowship in the outdoors.

I did some catching up with ole Lauren Tidwell on a trip to the Fairy Falls with a failed attempt to view Grand Prismatic due to some rain. However, after lunch I managed to go back and get a quick minute-long glimpse of the vivid, multi-colored thermal pond before it started raining once again. I then chased the storm into the Beartooth wilderness, which the road takes you to ‘the top of the world’ or at about 11,000 feet. Watched the sunset at 11,000 feet. And let me just claim it, sunset over Beartooth is the most gorgeous scenery I have ever witnessed. The sad thing is that the glory that is seen is easily forgotten once away. But, nonetheless, I still remember being in absolute awe of the beauty that is of God and is created by God.

Electric Peak is a beast. It’s a 20 mile long journey there and back, peaking at 10,969 feet. Basically all of the elevation gain is done within 4 miles, starting at the base of the mountain and heading up nearly 3400 feet. It was exhausting and incredible. In order to reach the true peak, there was a little bit of scrambling and climbing involved, but the danger is worth the reward (disclaimer: danger is not always worth the reward). The view from the top was absolutely incredible and made all other peaks look pretty tiny. We took it all in, exhausted, excited, resting, and in awe at the landscape 3500 feet below. It’s moments like these that you’ll remember for the rest of your life. God is more creative than we give him credit for.

In three weeks from today, I will be finished with work. In three weeks and one day, we will hold our last Sunday service in the park. In three weeks and two days, I will be headed back home via about six different national parks and monuments.

It’s been going fast but it’s been going good. I’ve really fallen in love with God’s creation in Yellowstone and with my ministry team here. There’s been a lot learned, done, seen, and experienced here that I hope to never forget. Although, I have noticed that some things that I want to hold to memory to keep, like scenery, just remains pretty vague and thin, despite trying to retain them. I have pictures to look back on, but some things are temporary. Some things are to be experienced for the time you have them, some things are to be learned as you experience them, and then those experiences are to be let go of. It keeps us doing the things we need to be doing, going to the places we need to be going, and experiencing the things we need to experience. We are called to where God wants us to go, and those callings are not always permanent. I would argue that most callings are temporary. “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We have things to do. We have places to go. We have experiences to be had and shared. But don’t let the want of reliving previous experiences hold us back to do what will become experiences that we will also cherish.


Grand Tetons



Grand Prismatic Edge

Near sunset in Beartooth

Sunset in Beartooth

Electric Peak

Daily Adventure

Trails: Partial Canyon Rim and Uncle Tom’s Trail – 3 miles, Osprey Falls Trail – 8 miles, Bunsen Peak Trail – 4 miles, Sepulcher Peak Trail– 10 miles, Elephant Back Trail – 4 miles
Total Trail Mileage: 55 miles

It’s already been a over month and I haven’t even scratched the surface of Yellowstone, it feels like. Of course, that’s bound to happen with its 2.2 million acres. But I’m gonna try to do as much as possible. Two Saturdays ago a friend and I took a trip up to Canyon to hike around a little bit, and we were able to do just a little bit seeing as how I had to be back at work that afternoon. So we drove to an overlook of Upper Falls, hiked along the river, crossed the river, and hiked down a good ways for a view of Lower Falls. Another trip is in the making to see more vantage points of Lower Falls. It’s gorgeous. On Sunday night, several of the ACMNP crew plus some friends camped out, chopped down some trees, made a fire, enjoyed the fire and fellowship, and then slept in the cold. The following day, even more of the park-wide ACMNP crew joined together to hike Osprey Falls. I had done this before and planned on going back to take some pictures since the time before the water was way too high and so the waterfall was way too misty. This time it was worse, or should I say better. There was a lot more water coming down. We did manage to do some climbing in order to get as close as possible to the falls. It took some teamwork, but we managed to get several people up and back down safely. Bunsen Peak I hiked sometime during last week before work. It’s a short two mile hike but fairly steep. The views on the way up were gorgeous. You could see the Gallatin Range clearly as well as Mammoth Hot Springs and Gardiner, and some other peaks that I’m not sure of their names. Once on the top, it was an interesting experience. It was extremely windy. On top of the mountain there was a wind coming from a direction in which there was nothing to hinder its movement. It was a completely unobjected wind. I would guess it was a steady wind of 35 mph. And so of course, I explored the top of the mountain playing in the wind. I did Sepulcher Peak on the 4th which was a gorgeous hike through meadows and flats for the first couple of miles then the trail started meandering up Sepulcher Mountain. The view of the peak was mostly always in view and so I saw where I was going, but I also saw where I wasn’t getting to. However, I did make it to the top, and the top was pretty interesting because it was very rocky and had some neat rock formations, some resembling sepulchers, hence the name. And afterwards in celebration of the 4th, some of the park-wide ACMNP crew got together in Bozeman, the nearest city with a Walmart, which is an hour and a half away, to hang out for the rest of the day and watch some fireworks. Yesterday I visited Lake Yellowstone for the first time. I hiked a nearby trail which led up to a point overlooking the lake and its surrounding mountains. Pictures cannot do this lake any justice. It’s just gorgeous.

I’ve been slowly realizing that I’m not sure what the next step is. The Appalachian Trail is coming next spring, but after that, everything seems to be up in the air. For now, I’m okay with that. I think there’s something to living daily. Actually I think there’s everything to living daily. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot make any plans, but that what you think of as a certainty can change fairly quickly. We’ve been taught to pray a daily prayer and so daily we should recognize God, daily we should ask for provision, daily we should ask for forgiveness, and daily we should ask for guidance. And the more I go along, the more I realize how much adventure is in living for God. He’s a very adventurous God. He’s exciting. And we should be excited. Look at Moses, at Joshua, at David, at Peter, at Paul, at any Biblical character and you will see that in their walk with God there was adventure and there was excitement.


Thermal vents at night during full moon



Yellowstone Lake



Lower Yellowstone Falls

Canyon area at sunrise

Lower Falls from Uncle Tom's Trail

View of Electric Peak from Bunsen Peak Trail

Bunsen Peak Trail