High Adventure

June 26 - July 4, 2015

For months and months, Ryan had been helping the young men with their High Adventure planning. There were a lot of great ideas, ambitions, and differing of opinions, but Ryan was very helpful with looking into everything and finding out what was actually possible. It was a lot of work for him, but he wanted to help make sure their big trip wasn't a bust. Those last few days of planning were a little hectic for him and some of the other leaders, but I think everyone was looking forward to finally going. The night before, Ryan took a couple of the young men shopping to buy all the food, which they then stored in our kitchen for the night.

The first day, Ryan was able to leave a bit early from work in order to get home in time to load up the food, his gear, and get over to the church to help. Everyone was for the most part on time, except the second vehicle. (They took one 15-passenger van and one truck.) So that slowed things down, but they successfully made it to their first destination for the night, Meridian State Park, near Waco, TX.

The next day they drove about 10 hours and made it to Sugarite State Park, near Raton, New Mexico.

On Sunday, after church services, they went to see the Capulin Volcano.

On Monday, on the way through Colorado, they went to see the Great Sand Dunes before making it all the way to their main destination, Lakeview Campground near Leadville, CO.

Ryan sliding down the dune :)

On Tuesday, the most strenuous day, they climbed Mt. Elbert. Ryan sent us a picture with his phone and gave us a call while he was at the top to tell us that he made it! It was funny to show the boys the picture. With his sunglasses, hat, beard, and dish cloth on, they didn't realize it was him 'til I told them. They woke up at 4 am that day and the last climbers from their group didn't return to the car until about 4:30 pm. Ryan and a few of the boys tagged along with a couple ... experienced hikers (73 and 68 yrs. old) - they were a great source of advice and pacing for them.

On Wednesday they hiked from Lakeview Campground to the Halfmoon West Campground, which was about 7.5 miles. Several of the boys hiked with just about all of their gear in their backpacks. Ryan was the leader in the back of the group, so he got to spend time with the boys that were most exhausted and sore. His pack kept growing throughout the hike. They had lunch on the trail with PB&J tortillas, with Nutella and chips to go along (and a surprise set of crackers and spray cheese). When they arrived at the campground they setup and and then went down to the nearby river to play. It was very cold water, but they had a lot of fun.

On Thursday they started traveling back towards Houston, by heading to Colorado Springs, where Garden of Gods was. The night before Ryan had called me to ask me to look up a bunch of questions he had, online, and then also to make them a reservation near Garden of the Gods for that next night (Thursday). I wasn't able to get them anything 'til that morning, but with what I found they were able to stay at a place that was very near the national park, and that also had swimming pools. That made them pretty happy. They were all in the habit of giving each other high adventure nicknames, so they gave me the name "Mother Brain" because of all the phone help I'd been giving them. I thought that was pretty funny. I was also able to donate my Book of Mormon for the trip. Ryan had taken it with him, because it was smaller than his scriptures. Before leaving for Colorado Springs, Ryan and Al talked with the park ranger and left him with the Book of Mormon to read in his free time. The ranger was apparently a lot like Al's uncle. Also, while they were in Colorado Springs, they met a small family and talked to them about the church.

Forget-me-nots.

Ryan got the nickname of Grumpy-Bacon-Saver. The thing was Ryan was always saving their bacon whenever they weren't prepared with something, whether it was because they didn't own it or had just forgotten it. Ryan was very prepared and always sharing. They grumpy part is because his common threat was that if they didn't do such and such a thing then he would be grumpy, which was half comical and half serious.

On Friday and Saturday, they continued their way home, stopping at Caprock State Park, near Childress, TX, which houses a 100 head herd of bison, and on Saturday they stopped at Golden Corral here in Houston to finish off their trip, before heading to the church to unpack and head home. Despite some drama, I think Ryan had a great experience and made some great friendships with some of the leaders and boys. We were so happy to see him and have him home again!!