Two Weeks to Wander Begins

Smello there friends and family. So, after that last group we were planning on heading to the Tetons to backpack for two weeks with just Robbie, Dave, and I and do some discipleship training. And of course, that didn't happen because of a number of things. The first being snow. Way too much snow to spend more than a few days up there. Also, because the Big Horns are snowed out for the next little bit we have to hunt for some places to take the next group or two why the snow melts off.

So, that brings me to where I am now. Billings, Montana. After the group left on Sat, we spend time cleaning stuff up and simply relaxing. It was quite a challenging week. We took off from Sheridan Sunday afternoon and headed south to find dry land. Arriving in Lander, we pull up to a ranger station who directs us to NOLS. (National Outdoor Leadership School- don't be surprised if I work there one day. It is quite the place!) They help us out by saying that everywhere they are leading trips they need snow shoes but have run out so that are post holing it. Great....


So we head out that night to get a jump start on traveling back up North. Finally arrive in Casper at another famous KOA. (such a life savor this summer) Wake up bright and early and continue North East to where we started the summer off in WY at a pit stop for lunch off I-90, in Sundance, WY.

We know for certain that the Black Hills up there are dry so we had to map out a route to take. After linking a few trails together, we decided to do it ourselves in a day and a half. We start about 8am and by noon have already traveled nearly 8 miles. Packs and everything. We have our tents, food, and warm cloths. Turns out we needed water and food only. We decided that we have a feel for the terrain and could map out a decent 5 night hike, so we hunker down and crack out the rest of the hike before 8pm. Yup, that's right! We killed 20 miles in 12 hours! Not to mention we had all the dumb unnecessary stuff in our packs. But hey, no one can complain when we drop a few extra pounds in a day!








(Pictures to come)



Yesterday morning we woke up at our KOA in Sundance and headed straight to see Devil's Tower. Pretty cool if you ask me. I was itching to climb it though. I am definitely starting to miss my climbing gear, slack line, and soccer ball more and more as we move forward. Then we headed straight up to Billings through an Indian Resorvation. Along the road were about 30 or 40 natives riding their horses. The front leaders had big head dressings and flag/staff things they were holding in their saddles. Pretty cool. It is a shame what the US has done to these people, I think they have every right to be mad!

So, brings me to this morning. We are scooping out some stuff to hike up here. Beautiful country up here. Our motive is to discover another place to take groups. We know Sundance area and want to use it as a back up because yes it is pretty, but it reminded me of Spruce Mnt for all you Monument people. It is more of a day hike area that we are linking stuff to make it longer. Not ideal...


Anyway. God is doing some cool stuff. Definitely reveal how the body of Christ is meant to operate and how we are to utilize the community and our brothers and sisters to help us. We can't do things on our own and I feel as though that is how I have lived much of my life. I considered myself independent and may have said I rely on God for everything, but in reality still tried to deal with a few things all on my own. God wants to help, He wants to be there through the joys and the pains. I am shifting my mentality of what an independent person looks like. I am now independent from this world and dependent on God.

John 15:4