Wilderness 2018 Carson Backwards

On the way to Wilderness

I want to remember:

• Finally arriving to the Utte Bluff Lodge and getting out of the bus after 26 hours
• Spaghetti Feast for dinner
• Hopes and fears in a circle with our trip group
• Hiking up behind the Lodge and really feeling that altitude
• Not being able to pay for the hotel rooms and trusting that Balmat would be able to take care of it on Monday

Day 1- Around the Lake

I want to remember:
Guides: Lauren Duncan and Katie Smelko
Route: Carson Backwards

• Packing station behind the bus at Papoose-- getting our equipment and filling up our packs with community gear and meals, "None of you brought rain pants right?" every girl holds up their rain pants
• Fears and expectations circle-- I want to not be consumed by worrying about Justin and the house when I have no control over it. I want to soak up exponential time with these girls and live in joy. 
• Club at Wilderness Ranch with Katie Evans and Allie Wier and Smelko
• Leader lunch on the stoop with Haleigh, Lauren and Smelko-- What does it look like to pursue Beauty and Goodness this week?
• Peaking into Wilderness Pits "We're big Pits girls"

• Jumping in the truck and van to head to the Trailhead and the girls got lost with Claire but she shared her Coke with them
• Hiking around the Continental Reservoir (rocks, sand and grasslands)
• "Maddie, go ahead and cry for our campsite" Maddie and Elyse started crying out of joy

• Setting up the kitchen, tents, digging a biff, water pump filters that barely worked
• The struggle-- no can opener, barely any spices, not enough butter, how will we get water all week, piecing together a map, no more pepperoni, missing a glove
• Chicken Dinner, spice rolls, ramen, monster cookies
• Maddie crying, "I bought my rain pants a year ago because I was so excited for Wilderness"
• Lauren's life story
• Haleigh and I got to sleep under the Noah's Tarp with Smelko and Lauren
• Praying for water and the map and the missing glove

Two Cups: Me Smooney, Meric Darby, Haleigh Kyle/Bass, Mack Newt, Wash Charlie, Maddie Cass, Line Claire, Elyse Mope, Sophie Meep, Caroline Chuck, Silvana Rusty, Olivia Ben, Gidget MalPal, JP Ollie, Smelko Ally Reid, Lauren Finn

Quiet Time 1

"We have heard of your faith in Jesus Christ and of the love you have for all God's people-- the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven." Colossians 1:3-14

"We ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives so that you may live a life worth of the Lord and please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might that you may have great endurance and patience giving joyful thanks to the Father."

"We learn about what has already been done for us."

Day 2- Up Ruby Creek to Ruby Lake

I want to remember:

• Waking up and all our prayers were answered-- found the right map, found the glove, water in the Platypus and boiled water
• "EVERYONE GETS A FRIENDSHIP BRACELET!"
• Bagels with jelly and honey, hot chocolate 
• Crossing the creek as soon as we started hiking

• Hiking Queens-- big hiking day, mostly uphill, hard to breath, girls encouraging one another
• Bean burrito lunch and life stories from Gidget and Mack

• Lauren found the skeleton of an animal
• Line cried over flowers
• Climbing up to the top of the ridge and finding Ruby Lake, Smelko and Lauren telling us all to jump in and go swimming
• Olivia's life story while we dried in the sun in our Crazy Creeks

• Setting up camp right away, Haleigh and I started pumping water
• Sent girls out on Quiet Time while Smelko and Lauren made spaghetti dinner and Haleigh and I failed at putting up the Noah's Tarp
• Maddie and Haleigh's life stories
• Lauren cut Sophie's hair
• Oreo Cheesecake with sprinkles for Mack's birthday
• Running down to see the sunset, rapid fire kid pics with all four leaders, cuddle puddle
• Candle and essential oils before bed
• The tarp blew off of us in the night and both Smelko and I separately woke up to fix it and it was still off in the morning
• "I'm so glad that I quit my sport. Now I'll be able to walk when I'm 25."
• "I'm so much more excited for quiet time than hiking."

Madeline

Wash

Meric

Elyse

JP

Mack

Sophie

Line

Olivia

Gidget

Silvana

Caroline

Quiet Time 2
 
"Do not store for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth don't destroy and thieves don't steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

"I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved. They will go in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." John 10:7-18

"Where you invest your love, you invest your life."

"Everything on earth is temporary. If we put our value in that, we're left with nothing. If we invest in Jesus we will have everything. The Lord cares for me, knows me by name and laid down his life for me."

Beauty and goodness: encouraging on the trail, struggling together, mountains & lakes & rivers, so many kinds of flowers, beauty in brokenness of life stories, beauty on the kids faces after coming so far, simpleness of what we're doing, so much time together, ease of laughter, beauty of imperfection, the community of these 16 people

"This is all for His glory and freedom. This simpleness is more like how God intended life to be. Life is like the trail and the trail is like life. Awareness of beauty and goodness that comes from the Lord for our lives."

"Hear that your soul may live."

Day 3- Zero Day at Ruby Lake

I want to remember:

• Waking up looking at the sky
• Sleeping bag coffee before Smelko and Lauren woke up the girls with a harmonica and by banging on a pot
• Caroline found a cigar in the bottom of her sleeping bag
• Cookies from last night and oatmeal with cooked apples and raisins
• Silvana's life story
• "Let's pray for our campsite," a 3 second pause and then everyone screamed when they realized we weren't hiking and Gidget cried

• Put on boots to go on a hike over the ridge-- climbing across giant rocks and finding two more lakes. "True beauty doesn't seek attention."
• "God is like the streams, living water. He doesn't want us to drink from muddy puddles when there is something so much better for us."
• Line's life story up on the rocks-- group hug and dancing like Line
• "I love myself. I love every little thing. From the color of my hair. To my soul energy. I do my dance like, I do my dance like, I do my do my do my do my do my dance like."
• Elyse's hair cut
• Wash's life story and praying with her afterward
• Sent out the girls on 1 on 1s with each other while we cooked pizza bagels for lunch and pumped water and made more coffee
• Elyse's life story
• Cleaning up camp in anticipation of the rain
• "I bet Lauren McAllister and our dogs are waiting for us up on the peak."

• Mountain Yoga on our crazy creek maps and a massage circle
• "Yeah. In Texas they have to take a class in Texas trivia."
• Cuddle puddle under the tent for Meric's life story then just staying and taking a nap, Jolly Ranchers and essential oils
• Smelko reading about Eustese in Chronicles of Narnia, "It would be nice to say he was a different boy, but to be strictly accurate he was becoming a different boy."
• Playing the question game in our sleeping bags and laughing so much together
• Sophie's life story
• Mashpot, brownies and ramen for dinner
• Smelko pulled out the tiny hand and I immediately started crying because it made me think of Diggy and I miss her so much

•  Gidget found a mountain pineapple up by the biff during her quiet time
• Packing up camp to hike early in the morning and changing into our 2nd outfit of the week

Quiet Time 3

"Therefore do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

"I'm going to allure her and lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards and will make the valley a door of hope." Hosea 2:14-15

Day 4- Peak Day, Mt. Coney 13, 334 ft

I want to remember:

• Walking up in the dark at 2:45 am-- SO cold and dark
• Lauren led us over the ridges to the continental divide trail, hiked/rock climbed over a giant boulder for fun
• Being so happy to finally be on a trail
• Feeling so discouraged on the switchbacks but Haleigh encouraging me and pushing on, telling her Ethiopia stories and starting to feel better
• 6 am stopped for breakfast and the Creation story and shouting out things that are American because it's the 4th of July
• Being FREEZING in my sleeping bag to the point of tears as we were eating coffee cake and Smelko pulling in the sun to warm us up

• 8:15 made it to the peak of Mt. Coney, dropped out packs
• Smelko's dream-- we all walked up to the top in a long line holding hands so we'd see the view at the same time
• Story of the prodigal son and 10 minutes of time alone with God looking out over the view
• Toasts with blue and red jammers, battle cry and peanut butter m & ms, "A toast to trust God to handle everything instead of trusting myself."
• "Let freedom ring" sign, USA and Keep Exploring flags, pineapple on the peak, Diggy hand, Smelko's kite
• Caroline's life story back at our packs
• 10:00 we hike and hiked and hiked, saw 4-wheelers, deer up on the hill, walking downhill on so many rocks, persevering through JP's skinned knees, Gidget's knees, Sophie and Elyse's blisters, everyone was just so ready to be done

• 12:15 prayed for our campsite, dropped packs and ate lunch immediately-- everyone was out of water and irritable and tired because we'd been hiking for so long
• Girls put up their flies soooo slowly and then sat inside and napped and talked
• We put up the Noah's Tarp and tried to get water, Smelko gave me a La Croix and I cried and then I read the letter Justin wrote for me to read on Wednesday and kept crying
• Sat in crazy creeks with Smelko, Lauren and Haleigh for two hours before sending the girls out on their second 1 on 1 with each other
• JP's life story
• Quiet time with the verses from the peak
• 4th of July dinner-- mac and cheese, watermelon, watermelon sour patch, rolls, flowers and flag in the middle of the circle, watermelon seed game, Line cried because she wanted a second watermelon, deer kept walking back and forth right beside us, acting out different people in our group, health form trivia
• "Which one of your boyfriends is going to be my husband?"
• "Why wouldn't my parents answer the phone if I died?"
• 8:45 going to bed when the sun was still out-- glorious after waking up in the middle of the night

Quiet Time 4

"Begin to know Him now and never finish." -Oswald Chambers

Day 5-  Solo morning at Heart Lake, hiking in the rain and Cowzone

I want to remember:

• Coffee, water from the platypus and boiling water (we've given up on the pumps)
• Olivia rebraided my hair, granola and applesauce bread breakfast, hot chocolate
• Meal question- Where should we stop on a roadtrip across the USA?
• Telling my life story-- trying to pull out the most important things to share, I love the questions half, I love feeling seen and heard
• Sending out all of the girls on Solo Morning (instead of Solo Night) so they'd have time with Jesus with fewer distractions and without fearing the night and sleeping alone
• 1 on 1s with girls (I didn't get to do this last time on Wilderness and it was my hope for this year)
• What do you want me to remind you about in a few weeks about this trip?
• How can I be with you in Young Life and Wyld Life this year?
• Why do you need Jesus in your life?
• Tell me about peak day and what you're taking away from that time on the mountain.
• How has God been speaking to you out here?
• Sub sandwich lunch before heading out, SO MANY DANG FLIES
• Popping Elyse and Sophie's giant blisters
• 1:40 Hiking again, walked with JP and played grocery store and say the same word and hide and go seek in our heads

• Walked through a creek right away, saw a herd of cows, then more cows right in our path, then more cows again
• Rained the second half of our hike-- half of us had our rain flies on, the other half had raincoats on, Elyse and Caroline started catching water in their Nalgenes
• The first two campsites already had groups at them so we just kept on hiking in the rain
• 3:40 walked down to the cow pasture and set up flies in the rain and couldn't wait to get underneath them while all the girls screamed about the rain, trying to avoid putting the tent right over cow poop
• Hurried to put on warm and dry clothes to get warmed back up
• Smelko, Lauren, Haleigh and I hung out and talked about being thankful for rain and tried to make Jiffy Pop but it failed

• Chicken Tacos for dinner and Smelko brought queso!!! Best meal of the week
• Hiker Girl names for all of the girls: Survivor Girl JP, Good Time Girl Wash, Damp Socks Girl Meric, Trail Jokes Girl Silvana, Pineapple Girl Gidget, Explorer Girl Mack, Crying Trail of Tears Girl Line, Love My Self Girl Maddie, Positivity Girl Olivia, Crusty Cup (aka Irritable) Girl Sophie, Sprinkle Head Girl Elyse, Smoke Break Girl Caroline
• "Just cut it out. Shave my head. I don't care." Wash as Maddie and Elyse picked the crusty golden chunks from sun blisters out of her hair
• Smelko's life story and asking questions for an extra long time
• "What is underrated? What is overrated?"

Solo Morning

Rewrite Ephesians 2:1-10
Psalm 139
Ezekiel 37:1-14
List of true things and true moments from the week
List of beautiful and good moments from the week
Isaiah 55
James 1

Day 6- Cowzone to the Trailhead

I want to remember:

• 6:35 waking up to a family of cows at the fence, Lauren decorating the tree for Christmas, Smelko hanging the girls stockings on the fence, both of them in Christmas sweaters
• 7:45 girls came out to peppermint hot chocolate and hash browns and biscuit mash with sprinkles, sing OH HOLY NIGHT with a crescendo and decrescendo, pentatonix Olivia and Smelko Mary Did You Know?
• Line thinks the earth is flat...
• Meal question-- What do you want to quit?

Quiet Time Discussion

"We are fragile and weak, but because of the power of Christ in us, when we experience death and pain, we can know that God is better and He is life and we can't be destroyed and so we don't lose heart."

"But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead-- it is by Christ you have been saved." Ephesians 2:4-5

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well." Psalms 139:14

"See the Lord while He may be found, call on Him while He is near... for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts... You will go out in JOY and be led forth in PEACE; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." Isaiah 55: 6, 8-9, 12

We saw beauty in brokenness, strength in God's leading to the mountaintop, truth that God loves the mountains but that He loves us even more, freedom in childlike joy and trust.

You can't stay on the mountain top forever. We are changed because of what we saw and experienced and learned and heard. And we're different because of what we'll take home with us.

• Strength bombs and praying over each person in our group
• "I'll remember" lists in each person's journal
• Playing in the river with Sophie, Elyse, Silvana, Wash, Gidget, Mack, Caroline, Lauren and Smelko and singing at the top of our lungs for our last 30 minutes in the Cowzone-- top 5 moments of the whole week
• 30 minute hike out-- walking with Gidget and singing Jesus songs
• Katie Evans and Allie Wier's group made a tunnel for us when we passed them on the trail
• Waiting for pickup at the trailhead with HSE girls, guys and Noblesville
• Maddie rode in the front truck with the adults
• Immediately unpacking, sorting and returning gear when we got back to our packing station

• Unexpected adventure when I had to borrow a car, drive halfway to Creede, meet a notary, sign a new power of attorney and then scan and email it back to Justin so he can finish closing on our house

• Ran to the showers and took my first shower in 6 days
• Girls got to see the map and learn we hiked 26 miles in the past 6 days
• Ran to the camp store so I could get a Wilderness sweatshirt blanket
• Ran into Thanksgiving dinner right after all the girls sat down-- bread with honey butter, cold water without bugs or dirt in it, stuffing, hot chocolate with marshmallows and sprinkles, BIG COOKIE, singing at the top of our lungs as everyone stood up on the benches around the table and around the whole room
• Final Club at Wilderness Ranch and dancing all over the front of the room, kids sharing how they saw God on the mountain
• Saying good-bye to Lauren and loading up the buses to head back to Indiana