"No Friends on Powder Days" Defined

If you've ever ventured to the slopes, or been around those that have, you've probably heard the phrase: there are "no friends on powder days." Now, there are probably a ton of different ways you could go with this phrase, but this is just my humble interpretation.

In order to lay out the guidelines encompassing the "no friends on powder days" rules, we will follow our fictional skier friend: Sarah the shredder.

Now, Sarah is a friendly fun loving girl, who happens to love skiing and shredding pow. She’s skied with a variety of skiers at many different levels over the course of her life. Sarah is taking an epic trip with friends to Whistler (or insert Alta, Telluride, or any other epic mountain) and is stoked out of her mind because there's supposed to be a ton of fresh powder. Sarah also lives by the "no friends on powder days" principles. Now what do these principles look like?

1. If you are Sarah's friend, don't be offended if she doesn't ski with you for part of, or the full duration of the day. This does not mean you and Sarah are no longer friends. The girl loves to pillage powder pillows and will take full advantage of this epic ski trip to do so.
2. Don't expect Sarah to wait at the bottom of the lift when the mountain opens if you're late. She’s cool riding up with you if you get there on time, but if the chairs are moving, and the mountain has opened, she’s probably already on her way to the top of the mountain. You wouldn't show up late to your flight would you? If you did, the plane would have no qualms taking off without you. In the same way, Sarah would wait around, until she couldn't wait around any longer.
3. Sarah actually enjoys skiing with others, even on powder days. But, if Sarah is having to wait every hundred yards or so while watching others shralp fresh tracks, she’s going to be sucked in like a tractor beam and will be fulfilling fantasies of freshies. She didn't spend hundreds of dollars on lift tickets, lodging, and travel to wait around when there's freshies to be had. She'll be more than happy to wait for you on another day.
4. Powder doesn't always stick around for the full duration of the day. Maybe Sarah and some of her friends will meet you up later in the day on the mountain, or at a lodge for lunch. If the snow is all skied out, she’s probably more than happy to ski with you and the rest of her friends for the afternoon. In fact, she actually enjoys this. But, if the steeps keep spitting out fresh snow like manna falling from the heavens, just plan on meeting Sarah in the hot tub once the mountain closes :)
5. Just because you aren't skiing with Sarah, doesn't mean you have to ski alone. Partner up with a buddy, or a few friends of similar ability level and have fun! The stories will be much better in the hot tub if everyone has a good time.

So, I hope this clears up what my interpretation of "no friends on powder days" actually looks like. You and Sarah are friends for 365 days per year, you can probably get by spending a few hours apart for a day. To some, "no friends on powder days" may look like a severance of relationships like Urban Dictionary defines it. But, to me, it's a civil way to ensure everyone takes full advantage of those blissfully perfect powder days.

*Exceptions

• If your family member, friend, or anyone else is taking you skiing on their dime and you haven't seen them in quite a long time, you should probably arrange to ski with them as much as you can. Take a few runs along adjacent powder slopes and meet them at the bottom of the lift. That's totally cool. But, remember that you wouldn't be enjoying this epic vacation if it wasn't for them in the first place.

Luke 2:52 Wrap-up

I just finished up my 4 weeks goal last week and for the most part stuck to it. I was pretty close to my weight goal, but it's hard to calculate how much "excess" weight you've lost when you gain some muscle weight working out 6 days a week. It was really great being able to pray for people every day too. It made me realize I should definitely be doing more of that for people anyway. The hardest part was sticking to a "no sweets/ sugar" diet. Also, it was tough to eat less. For those of you who dont know how much I eat, it's probably twice the normal amount :) I really enjoyed reading more in the word and being more intentional with frends. I'm hoping to take a lot of the good habits I took on during this time and put them into practice.

4 Square Life

Over the next 4 weeks I'm going to commit to something I think is worth committing to.

On my way to the gym, I wanted to make it a goal to lose some excess weight and become more "nimble." After working out in the gym and figuring out how much excess weight I could safely lose in 4 weeks, I decided I should also commit to enhancing my relationship with God and others.

So, it hit me, I would be using Luke 2:52 as a model for the next couple of weeks. It's the only verse that describes Jesus' life between his youth and ministry years. It says, "And Jesus grew in Wisdom, and in Stature, and in favor with God and men." So how does it look for me to model this? Simply by growing in all four areas. I'm committing to gaining wisdom in the Scriptures, in health, and in diet. I'm committing to exercising, weight training, and eating smart and intense over the next 4 weeks. I'm committing to spend time with the Lord in Word and prayer several times a day. I'm committing to having intentional conversation with others and specifically praying for people everyday.

If this is how Jesus modeled his life, I want to model my life around that too. So, by September 15th (roughly a week before I start grad school) is my short term goal to have all of these accomplished.

Day 7

Friday, June 26th

We had a late morning and met up with Tana's friend at the Whitehorse book store. After lunch, Morgan (Tana's friend) hopped in the motor home with us to head off to Dawson City. Jenna Berkan and Morgan are sisters, and Jenna will be in Dawson City tomorrow night. Morgan got off work for a couple days, so she decided to come along :) We only had one stop during the drive, Five Finger Rapids [insert pic] then headed off towards Dawson City. We arrived in Dawson City and all the RV parks were full, so we pulled up into the park along the Yukon river and cooked dinner. Apparently there was a canoe race from Whitehorse to Dawson City that took a couple days, and they were just getting it! It was pretty sweet. Very similar to the atmosphere at the Iron Man except there weren't as many people. Everyone was cheering on the finishers! After dinner, we heard some motorcycles a block away. They were participating in some motorcycle games. The guys drove and the ladies were on the back and had a series of events to compete in. One was a balloon toss over a fishing pole and then a catch. The other was a hot dog tied to a fishing line and they would drive under it and try to bite the weeny. It was a great time, especially when Susan decided she wanted to play, so she found a biker, and participated! Then, we went to the local Casino where I played some black jack. We headed back to the park, moved our RV (as if there were really going to be meter maids chalking tires here) and slept in the park right in front of a "no overnight parking" sign.

Day 6

Thursday, June 25th

Another long driving day. After hiking to the hoodoos in the morning, [insert pic] we headed towards Whitehorse. We did have one significant stop: The Laird Hot springs. At first, we didn't know if we had time to stop, but we thought we'd check it out. I'm glad we did. These were the best hot springs I've ever been too. They were the largest natural pools I had come across. [insert pic] They were hot, and one of them was 3 meters deep! I was swimming in a hot spring! [insert pic] After leaving Liard, I had a long driving section that lasted for hours after a quick fill up in Watson Lake. We did one quick restroom break right before the largest bridge we'd come across so far in Teslin, then made it to Whitehorse. We had successfully made it to the Yukon. We pulled into an RV park, cooked dinner, then Tana and I headed down along the Yukon River trail on bikes to Whitehorse 6 km below. The town was weird and full of interesting people. It was weird to watch people come out of bars at 11:00 pm while it was still very light. We were glad we didn't live in the town. We headed back up hill and I walked towards the check in desk to get on the internet. That's when I learned Michael Jackson died. My heart sunk. I can remember watching him moon walk for the first time and my dad and I stayed up all night trying to figure out how to do it. The man had an interesting life, but he was a legend and I'll miss him for his spunk and musical genius.

Day 5

Wednesday, June 24th

After waking up today, we went on towards Grande Cache where were were hoping to get just past Fort Nelson for the day. A long driving day. We did stop in Dawson Creek where the AL-CAN officially begins. [insert pic] (Alaska-Canada highway) There was a lot of history to the highway. It was always on the mind of the U.S. government, but during World War II after Japan had attacked some of the mid Pacific Islands, construction of the road went in overdrive. The rest of the drive was quite long and not as filled with sights as the day before... until we came across two Provincial parks. The first park was Stone Mountain Provincial Park, where we came across incredible scenery and Stone Sheep. These sheep are only native to this part of Canada. [insert pic] After leaving Stone Mountain, we came across Muncho Lake Provincial Park. This park was a high alpine area with lots of lakes, jagged escarpments, and incredible views of the sun going down. After driving around in the park for a little while, we kept looking for pull outs where we could sleep. They were all so beautiful but we finally set up camp near a lake at the end of the park. Since we hadn't had much adventure that day, I was just itching for something. It was 11:00 pm when we parked the RV, but still light out. The milepost said there were some huge canyon walls just down the road, so, I grabbed the bike, and started pedaling down there through the night while the girls took showers. It was pretty eery being on the road that late, but a huge rush. First, I saw some Hoodoos (erosion pillars) then the route started getting pretty steep. I had entered the canyon walls. This was an incredible section of the road. It hung to the walls of the canyon and had cliff drops on the West side. You could see the river valley for miles and miles, even at night! I felt alive. I started the steep uphill journey back to the RV, it took a little longer and worried Tana, but I made it home in one piece and after a shower, I was out like a light.

Day 4

Tuesday, June 23rd

If I had only one phrase to describe today it would be: "Banff and Jasper National Park are easily one of the most beautiful spots on planet Earth." But I have more so I will go into detail :) I tried hard to wake the girls up early because I knew there would be a lot to see. First, we stopped at Johnston canyon where we walked on catwalks that were drilled into the side of the Canyon walls. [insert pic] Then we headed towards Lake Louise. The drive generated tons of 'holy cow's' and many 'that is incredible's'. Castle mountain was truly spectacular. [insert pic] Next, we pulled into Lake Louise where we saw the Fairmont Chateau, a HUGE 5 star hotel in a National Park. I just couldn't get over how Canada does their National Parks. There were towns and resorts inside the park! Crazy! After scoping the sites on Lake Louise [insert pic] We headed North on the Icefields Parkway. This was voted one of the Word's 10 Best Drives, and it cracked my top three best drives list. There was mountain after mountain and Glacier after glacier. After multiple stops to scope the sights, we did a short hike down into Mistaya Canyon. The river and waterfall that was below us in the canyon was nearly 100 feet deep and only about 5 feet across from one wall to the other! [insert pic] I was pumping full of adrenaline hiking along the canyon because I was entertained by the idea of trying to reach across and wedge myself against the other side. After realizing that I would plummet to certain death in the violent washing machine and rock grinder below, I decided against it :) After stopping several more times, we reached the entrance of Jasper National Park, which we instantly decided was a little wilder than Banff. Banff had glaciers, Jasper had gnarly glaciers. Banff has awesome peaks, Jasper has +10,000-11,000 ft. peaks. After driving over a pass at nearly 7,000 ft., We pulled up to the Columbia Ice field. We drove to the base of Athabasca glacier and hiked right up to the toe of the glacier. There were warning signs and ropes everywhere about the rushing glacial river and crevasses at the toe. I wanted to lay in the glacier with my shirt off, but then I read the last three crevasse rescue attempts were unsuccessful and that I'd get a fatty fine, so I didn't. [insert glacier pic] There were tours that would take you right up high on the glacier. The machines that took you up there followed a road much higher up on the glacier and then just drove right across it! These machines were beefy! [insert machine pic] Athabasca glacier is the only glacier in the world that drains to the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic Oceans. Next we saw several falls. We saw the weeping wall, Sunwapta falls, and Athabasca falls. [insert pics] Sunwapta and Athabasca were definitely man-sized falls. Then, we pulled into the town of Jasper and had dinner, Susan's treat! She told us that'd probably be the only non-moho meal for the next week since we'd be on the road a lot, so Tana and I quickly agreed to the sit down meal. We ate at Evil Dave's, which was a spicy, wild themed restaurant in the little mountain town. After getting to Jasper, the sun was out and the skies were clear. The girls were pretty tired so we didn't stop many more times on our way out of Jasper park. We viewed the wide and maze like rivers, majectic mountains, and lakes from the moho.

We were planning on staying right outside of Jasper park but didn't want to pay for an RV park, so we decided to keep driving until we found a pull out. Unfortunately, the highway was pretty small so the pullouts would have put us almost on the road, which was pretty dangerous. We busted out the mile marker book and saw there was a nordic center high in the mountains and we decided to go looking there since nordic season was over. After being on a gravel road for a while and running low on gas, I had my first heart sink moment of "Oh no, are we gonna be able to turn around in here and make it to a gas station in the morning?" Then we came to a small pullout and flipped a U-ey. After driving up the the Nordic lodge which was closed up for the summer, I got out of the moho to do some reconnaissance work to see if we could stay there. That's when I ventured out on to the biathalon field and saw my first elk of the trip. It was huge! We both took off running: It to the woods and me to the moho. We got back on the highway and stopped at a pullout where we thought we'd sleep. But we were at the beginnings of a Provincial Park and saw a map for many lakes and campsites! So, at 9:30 pm with the sun and mosquitos still up and roarin', we headed on. We pulled into several camp sites and realized that although it was on the honor system, we'd have to pay, so we made the decision to move on and sleep somewhere on the site of the main highway road so as to better our chances of seeing the Northern lights. Tana busted out the mike marker book and we realized there wasn't a pull out for a while. But there was a free camp ground just outside of Muskeg. Tana told us it was only 50 km away! Which wasn't too many miles further. After driving for 20 mins. she re-adjusted and told us it would now be 50 km away from where we were. The 10 mins. passed and she said, "Oh shoot! these markers are in miles, not kilometers!" You figure that a MILE marker book might be in miles when the title of the book is MILE post guide to Alaska. Oh well, it added to the adventure. After pressing on to try and reach the free campsite, Susan kept trying to get us to pull off on one of the logging roads. Tana wasn't having it as it'd be tough to back up back onto the freeway. I was rallying behind the wheel at 11:00 pm with the sun slightly out when I saw my first moose of the trip about 5 feet from the freeway. I didn't want to plow into one of those during their prime grazing times, so I quickly became a fan of the road pull out stop. We then came across a pullout that was more like a grassy meadow so we set camp about 60 yds. from the free way. We hopped in bed, and set out clock's for 2am to try and see the northern lights. It was still fairly light out when we went to bed.

Day 3

Monday, June 22nd

After raining all night, we got a slow start out of the KOA. But we charged on to the Glacier National Park gate only to find out the road all the way through was not quite open yet. Our moho wouldn't have been able to get far before having to turn around, so we took the highway on the outside of the park and viewed from a distance. Next, we came across the Alberta/Montana customs and of course had to pull over and come in for further questioning. It was a small border station, but the agent didn't really like Susan's response of "I dont' know" when being asked how long we were gonna be traveling through Canada. Then, we entered the Southern Alberta plains where we almost got blown right off the road! We decided to stop at a place called Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump [insert link], a world heritage site, just because the name sounded pretty cool. The Blackfeet Nation used this natural cliff as a way to herd animals over the ledge to get months worth of meat, fur, hides, and tools during the harsh winters. After snacking on some Buffalo sausage sticks (word to the wise, it will jack up your G.I. tract) we headed towards the outskirts of Calgary to Okotoks (OH-KO-TOW-KS) to view the largest known glacial erratic. We did a quick viewing as it started pouring raining while we were out on the trail. We sprinted back to the moho and headed towards Banff. After hitting a bird, fueling up in Canmore, and being lied to by every person in that town, we decided we needed to stay the night in Banff. The younger ranger was staring at me with Hungry eyes, so Tana got a little territorial. We pulled off in an RV park and called it a night.

Day 2

Sunday, June 21st

Today we woke up at 5:30 am to go watch the pro's start at the IronMan. Those guys are INCREDIBLE. After meeting up with Brian Bauer to give him the last heave ho before his start, we headed to the beach to watch the madness begin. [insert photos of group and vid of the beach] We stationed ourselves along the bike route to get some good picks of Brian and then we headed off East towards Montana. Tana and I caught up on some sleep and Susan drove (since she got a lot of sleep while we were all watching the IronMan). Driving through Montana is beautiful. The rivers are huge, and the countryside is pristine. We stopped in Hot Springs Montana and took a dip in the sulfury mineral springs. An old native man pulled up while we were there. He was really a riot. A funny guy who told us he prayed to God for the hot water full of minerals and since He delivered, he now had to be a good Christian. It made me think about how that's not how Jesus really is; works based faith. Although it seemed like he wasn't being entirely serious, maybe he's just doing what he can with his life, sacrificing every minute of it for Jesus since he gave us life. After taking a dip in the springs, we hosed off with the moho's outdoor shower. (We are now affectionally calling the RV the moho) Once we started getting close to Glacier National Park, we found a lake called Flathead. It looked pretty cold but I was desperate for a jump in after still smelling like Sulphur. I used my sweet talking and convinced Tana to jump in with me :) [insert pic of me and tana] Kali (Susan's chocolate lab) also joined in on the swimming :) [insert vid] After the dip we headed to a KOA stationed just outside the park. We cooked some dinner, and headed to bed.

Day One to Alaska!

Saturday, June 20th

Our Journey begins! After Susan picked me up in Seattle along with Phil and Alec, we headed towards Woodinville to pick up Tana. Phil and Alec are catching a ride with us to Idaho to cheer on Brian Bauer in the IronMan. After picking up Tana, and some delicious food in our bellies out at Woodinville, we headed East along I-90. Once we got to Hyak, I took over behind the wheel and powered through for hours until 2 am when we reached Coeur d' Alene. We drove around the town to find a good spot to sleep and ended up in a Safeway parking lot. [insert video on the moho]

My Review of K2 obSETHed Skis

REI

The K2 obSETHed skis tackle every application with ease—big mountain lines and freestyle skiing in deep backcountry powder.

K2 obSETHed Skis

Great all-around skis in park and powder

freek4jesus Seattle, WA 4/11/2009

 

5 5

Gift: No

Pros: Good Grip, Good Carving Ability, Great Flotation, Durable, Smooth Ride

Cons: Scratches Easily

Best Uses: Park and Pipe, Downhill, Powder

Describe Yourself: Advanced Skier

These skis are some of the best all around mountain skis I have skied. I was worried they'd be really hard to turn since they are a lot wider than skis I've ridden in the past, not the case. They turn and hold their edge nice on the groomers and in the park. And, their mini-rocker on the tips and tails makes shredding powder effortless! It's all the advantages of a reverse camber ski, but only on the tip and tail, so that underfoot, there's still a little camber to it. That means you can shred powder, ski some groomers, and shred some more powder. If you want one ski to ski it all instead of having multiple set ups, this is the one.

()

A-Rod comes clean

Alex Rodriguez admitted today to using performance-enhancing drugs from 2001-2003. I commend him for coming clean to the public and admitting that he was wrong. I'm glad he is coming to realize the truth has set him free. You can read the entire ESPN article here or watch a snippet of the video here:

Rollin' Rainier

My first time to ski Crystal... The pic says everything if you ask me.

Rainier peepin' out through the low cloud cover from Crystal Mountain

Stead's first camping experience...

Stead told me a while back that he wanted to go camping with us sometime. This initially came as a shock to me because I knew Jordan had no interest in camping. It was kinda like asking Stead to eat seafood, you knew he wouldn't eat anything that swims. So why would you ask him to camp? The only thing I had on my side was the epic pictures we always came back with. Pictures got Stead on facebook, Pictures got stead mountain biking, Pictures got Stead an identical Nikon Camera as Seth Yates, Pictures even got Stead pondering, "how can i put picasa, a windows program on a mac." Pictures were truly the number 1 factor of growth in Jordan's life towards manhood, so maybe Pictures would again have the power to change.

Since he approached me, I felt this could be a genuine movement. So, I began to look for opportunities to get Stead camping, but with the winter season approaching, I knew we'd have to hold out for spring 2009.... or would we?

Stead strolled over one night for a slumber party (actually more like some unemployed college aged kids getting together to talk about the days of the old when being unemployed was legit because you were in school) and asked me where the sleeping bag was. I reminded Stead there was a futon downstairs well equipped with a soft mattress and blankets. He was convinced it was ridden with Spiders... probably because he had seen one spider earlier in the day, and he didn't even see it in the basement. But, rather than accuse Jordan of this weakness, I instead encouraged the sleeping bag slumber. This would warm him up for the real thing.

What I didn't know, is that Jordan thought this WAS the real thing. I leave the room for 2 minutes to brush my teeth and when I return, a picture request. As you can see below, Pictures were starting to turn Stead into a camper.

notes wouldn't let me flip this pic :(

Notice the beautiful camping environment, no tent (only a three level house to provide shelter) no sleeping pad (only 6 inch thick couch pillows) and no signs of nature (only an empty computer chair looking on). Jordan was truly roughing it. In his eyes, he had done it... he was camping.

Rob and I intervened as quickly as we could and reminded and encouraged Stead that although this was a good first step to sleeping in a sleeping bag, an activity that would prepare for camping, this, in fact, was not camping.

He exclaimed "are you kidding me? what's this bag rated at anyways temperature wise." I told him 15, to which he starkly disagreed, and i starkly raised my eyebrow. Since he was in a bag that was rated to keep a human body warm at 17 degrees below the temperature that water freezes, he was envisioning himself camping in the Utah outskirts, it was as if he was in the Alaskan woods in his mind.

Of course, we told him, this is no adventure, only training. To that he rebuked us and showed us adventure by him sticking his hand out of the sleeping bag (because remember, he was sleeping outside of the city gates of Narnia, where the pines sung with the breeze of the wind, and the snow fell like forgotten confetti.) Of course, it was adventure to stick his hand out into the cold (heated room) Note the brave pic below.

wow, a hand... notice the moisture wicking cotton longsleeve :)

So in the end, pictures HAD changed Stead. They convinced him that he really had been camping and they ultimately made their way to facebook (as all of stead pics, and i do mean all of them end up) Stead had won. He had been camping in the ice and snow, and had pics to prove it.... Maybe next time we'll try using my desk lamp as campsite lighting instead of the overhead room lights, one step towards more adventure.

What makes Oklahoma different?

Tonight I was checking out the elections on a state by state basis looking for trends and things of that nature. Naturally, I started to check out the home state I grew up in.

Two glaring things I noticed:

1) Oklahoma has their election process down... It was one of the first states to reach 100% results in even though it is in the middle of the country. Either that or people dang sure had their mind made up.

2) Look at the picture below... Wow, that's the only state I found that way!

Ben's Car: Stolen, and then not!

A delightful Gchat session I had today with Lisa...

Lisa's new status message - just found ben's stolen car therefore becoming his hero. 2:39 PM

me: what'sthis?

about ben's stolen car?
3:35 PM
Lisa: dude i found it!

me: when was it stolen?

Lisa: yeah!

so i was driving down 16th
3:36 PM
like by 47th

and i saw it drive by

me: what!!!!

Lisa: and i was like oh it's ben i am going to follow him

me: so you called the cops

i dind't know it was stolen

Lisa: so i started to follow him down 16th and was like honking trying to catch up to him (totally still thinking it was ben)

me: hahahahah

Lisa: it pulled into this parking lok like behind fiji's

(lot)
3:37 PM
and i was like honking and trying to get him to stop

but ben's car is a stick and they kept jerking the car

and i'm like wait a minute that isn't ben

and then i thought maybe it was some friends

me: i'm so entertained right now

Lisa: that he loaned his car to
3:38 PM
and then i was like wait a minute ben wouldn't loan his car to anyone who drove that poorly

and all of the sudden the car parked and two dudes hopped out and made a dash for 45th

and then i called ben and the cops came blah blah

me: hahahaha

and his car was just left there?

Lisa: when we turned the car on it was like blasting some hard core gangsta wrap

me: with the keys?

so they just stole it?

Lisa: yeah they hopped out and peaced out

yuppers
3:39 PM
nuts, right?

me: oh my gosh!

this is awesome!

hahaha

Lisa: i know!

the only sad thing is now ben's car totally stinks

me: hahah

Lisa: but other than that it is back

oh yay.

me: well it kinda always did

Lisa: totally
3:40 PM
at least now he can blame it on something :)
3:41 PM
me: hahah

Lisa: but there was a sweet master P cd in his car

Tim and Ben after realizing Ben's car had been stolen... even while they are in Ben's Car!

I landed a job at Apple

Today I got a job offer from the Apple retail store in U-Village. It is a part-time job and I am still working for the start up company I'm involved in.

I started looking for part-time jobs a couple months back and applied to Apple back at that time. I want to make a little bit of money for myself so that I can help pay the bills and get experience working for a larger company. I've never worked under a management team working to sell a physical product. I'm expecting to gain experience and learn what it's like.

Apple has some pretty cool products, so if you're looking to buy something major, ask me about the friends and family discount I get... maybe I can hook ya up :)

Mt. Si

On April 14th, I had the opportunity to climb Mt. Si solo. I had recently been cleared for physical activity since my shoulder surgery on the 1st of February, and needless to say, I was really excited to be active again.

a picture i had take of myself at the top of the peak

The hike began with an hour drive out to north bend. I found myself getting really frustrated while in Seattle headed towards the highway. It took about 15 minutes to get to 1-5 from my house, a trip that normaly takes 2 minutes max. After getting on the highway, it started to pour and I seriously considered turning back. But, after coming out of the I-90 tunnel headed toward Issaquah, the sun poked through and the rain had been left in the city. At this point, I knew the decision to climb Mt. Si was a good one!

Driving in to North Bend, I found myself wandering around the small town searching for the trail head. The information I gathered from the Internet proved to be tricky and misleading. So, I used my trusty digital phone to call up Rob who steered me in the right direction. I pulled into the parking lot at about 3 in the afternoon, ready to make the 4 and a quarter mile trek up to the top of the peak.

THE ASCENT

Seeing that I had been limited in physical activity for the past couple months, I war a little ambitious in my inicial ascent. I ran for the first quarter or a mile or so and got breathing heavy quickly. After walking a little more to catch my breath, I thought I had at least traveled one mile. Then I came up to a sign that said I had gone half a mile. I was in for a lot more climbing! I passed several people on the way up, and would get a little boost everytime I saw someone in front of me on the trail.

I came up to the top of the trail and had a decision to make; whether to walk over to the snoqualmie valley view, or to climb the rocky haystack scramble. Of course I went for the scramble. (come on, the signs said it was extremely dangerous, how could I back down from that?) I began to head over the rocky mass and began climbing. It was much more difficult then I had expected. I was definitely getting a rush from the exciting climb.

looking west towards downtown Seattle

THE PEAK

When I had reached the top, the cold wind was blowing pretty good and I could definetely feel it in my shorts and light dry fit tob. But, when I placed myself on the highest rock, I was taken a back and realized the unbelievable 360 degree view that was around me. I saw the clouds rushing upwards over the back side of the peak. I saw the clouds overhead rushing east towards the cascades. I could even see downtown seattle! Another older gentlemen who made the ascent was kind enough to take my picture, and then he headed down because he was getting cold. I stayed up there for another 15 minutes and encountered one other climber that had come up. He had a Norwegian accent and asked if I'd take his picture. He kept saying "I'm the king of the world" as he stood on the uppermost rock. He was clearly excited.

I began to make my way down the rocky face, and as soon as I had made the bottom of the rocky climb, it begain to sleet and snow pretty good. I was thankful I had left the peak before it became slippery and wet. I decided to jog down the 4 mile trail all the way to the bottom to get to my car before it became dark. I passed a ton of people on the way down. When I had reached my car, it was 7pm. After stopping by the Nike Outlet in North Bend for the first time, I drove home and got back into Seattle at about 9. It was definetely a re-charging experience, and I'm very glad I decided to make the journey, even though I was alone.

REFLECTIONS

Alot was on my mind during the initial climb up. I had a couple hours just to let my brain run wild, something I don't normally have time for. It was good to mentally go through everything occuring in my life at the moment. My brain was entirely focused and thinking of nothing but hand holds and feet placement when I was going up the rocky ridge. I thought back later and realized how incredible God designed our minds and our thinking capabilities. What focus, coordination, and adaptability our designer had in mind when creating us. The run down was a mental workout. My eyes rapidly fired signals to my brain to let it know where my feet would take the next step. I could not slip and risk falling on my shoulder. It was good for my brain to be in such an intense, demanding position. I miss that quick thinking that usually accompanies me with sports. That hike has helped motivate me to explore God's creation more, and seize opportunities like it that come up.