I'm on support for the week - support is both good and bad for me. It's so fun getting to hang out with different groups and see what else is going on at camp outside of our normal teen schedules. It's a little weird sometimes though because of the free time you have - we have a lot of blank space in our schedules and you have to find ways to fill it and it makes me miss being with the same kids for a week.
Monday
On support schedule you help with early birds at 7:30am everyday, so I woke up a little bit earlier than normal. I helped get supplies ready for cookouts and hung out with Mountaineers for most of the day because my schedule was pretty clear.
Amanda, Abby, Elizabeth and I had planned on hiking Twin Sisters yesterday, but because of rain (and lack of motivation) we decided to do it after work today. Twin Sisters is no little peak, and I felt a little sick going up last year, so I was mentally preparing myself for 2 hours of grueling hiking that evening.
We left around 5pm and started hiking at 5:35pm. Twin Sisters is divided into 3 parts in my head: the first section winds you up and around the mountain through trees to the avalanche site, the second section takes you up many, many switchbacks still under treeline, and the last part takes you out of RMNP into the Roosevelt forest and finally above treeline to a really cool rock shelf (I don't know what else to call it.)
It took us 2 hours 18 minutes to summit (about the same time as last year haha) and we were treated to a gorgeous view of Long's Peak and the sun setting over RMNP. We sat at the top until 8:30 and then headed down so we wouldn't have to hike totally in the dark. We were booking it and made it to the avalanche part in 45 minutes, and by then we had to pull our flashlights out to finish the last leg (walking through the trees always seems to take the longest compared to going downhill).
We made it to the trailhead at 9:45ish and then treated ourselves to some Mickey D's because we just hiked an 11,428 foot mountain with an elevation gain of 2,475 feet (and about 7.4 miles). Not a bad Monday, and I enjoyed hiking Twin Sisters this time a lot more than my first time. It definitely helps when you've hiked something before and know what to expect.
Tuesday
Tuesday's camp agenda included filling up 50 water balloons, making a paper mache balloon, and teaching an archery class! (I really enjoyed today) Support is also in charge of taking the outpost dishes to Spruce to be washed, so had a little trip in the camp van.
I received an email from my church today giving me an update about my fundraising - it's so amazing to see how faithful God is! I have been blessed by people I never expected to give. It's a humbling experience asking others for donations for this mission trip, but I've been reminded of Luke 11:9 - "Ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened to you." I'm prayerfully trying to ask, seek and knock according to His will and so grateful for His faithful people answering.
Wednesday
I enjoyed Wednesday morning immensely because it was my "come late" day on support - because we come in early the rest of the week, one day we get to come in late so we don't go over our 40 hours. I clocked in at 9:30am then taught an archery class, helped with a dance class of kindergarteners, and hung out with the Mountaineers again. Our teen meetings are on Wednesday as well so we stayed an extra hour to figure out next week's schedule (I'm with adventurers and get to go rafting!)
I was proud of myself for my afternoon productivity: I went running and did laundry, and rewarded myself with another half price YMCA movie night seeing Inside Out again (just as good the second time). The theater was so full and it was funny because it was mostly Y people.
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| our Inside Out crew drowing our feelings in icecream |
Thursday
I went on an all day hike with the Rangers 1 group (3rd graders) to Sprague Lake. They were pretty slow so we stopped a lot and finally got there almost two hours later haha. But they were such a sweet group! We played ninja and bibbity bop bop bop with them and I loved hanging out with younger kids that didn't hate the games (unlike Mountaineers). Later they drew all over me and we sang songs and it was the best.
I was SUPER pumped for Friday because
1. It's Friday, hello
2. I would take over the outpost kids when their counselors had to clock out
3. YMCA Fourth of July Parade!!
I love 4th of July, I love parades, I love getting dressed up (and an excuse to paint my face and go crazy), I love fireworks, I love warm summer weather, I love that patriotic feeling everywhere. It's probably one of my favorite holidays if we're being real. And I love 4th of July in Estes Park. While the sudden influx of tourists can be a little frustrating, I actually really love seeing all of these people come from all over the country to celebrate in the mountains.
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| my new goat friend |
The rest of the day we did game rotations (3 legged race, obstacle course, musical chairs, water balloons, face painting) and ate popsicles and hot dogs. It was great.
That evening Abby and I went to Baba's Burgers & Gyros and it was SO good. Eating hot dogs and hamburgers is just something you need to do around the 4th of July. We walked around town after that, watched a guy blow and shape glass, and met a lot of local shop owners. We wanted a low key night because of our early hiking plans for tomorrow!
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| 10/10 would recommend. |
Saturday July 4
Saturday morning I met Abby, Kristina, and Michael in Spruce at 7:30am and then we headed up to the Glacier Gorge Trailhead! Unfortunately we didn't make it up there until 9ish so we couldn't find a parking spot, but we caught the shuttle from the park and ride and hit the trail by 9:30am. I was SO excited about our hike today because we were doing SKY POND. It was one of my favorites last year and I really looked forward to doing it again. We made great time past Alberta Falls (.9 miles), wound our way around to the junction (1.3 miles), then sped up the dreaded switchbacks (there were only four which was good news) up to the Loch (.8 miles). The Loch is absolutely gorgeous!
From the Loch there's a stretch of hiking that's a mix of flat and sets of stairs until you hit the stairs up to Timberline Falls.
You climb up the waterfall (how cool is that) and see the Lake of Glass and a spectacular view of the Loch.
It's only .4 miles and two snow fields from there to Sky Pond, a beautiful little lake tucked into the mountains.
We ate lunch while marmots eyed us hungrily and explored the area before heading back down. We reached the trailhead around 4:30pm. We took showers and rested before heading back up trail ridge road to watch fireworks from rainbow curve. While you couldn't see or hear the fireworks up close, it was really cool to see fireworks from Denver, Boulder, and Longmont, as well as lightning in the distance (God's own fireworks show)
Sunday
I slept in Sunday then decided to take the shuttle into town. I had some awesome Jesus time in the morning reading more of "The Me I Want To Be", then wandered in an out of book stores (got another book) and coffee shops (Kind Coffee, Inkwell Brewing, and Starbucks).
We also counted up our hiking days left and were very shocked by the low number! So we made a list of the hikes we want to knock out this summer if possible
1. FHO (Flattop, Hallets, Otis - 3 peaks in an 12 mile hike)
2. CCY (Chapin, Chiquita, Ypsilon - also 3 peaks in an 8 mile hike)
3. Bluebird Lake (we want to make it all the way this year)
4. Long's Peak? (The 14'er here. I keep going back and forth. I'm here so I might as well try it, but people also die doing this and that freaks me out a little bit)
All of the hikes I've done total this year:
Eagle Cliff (2 miles)
Bible Point (2 miles)
Moraine Park (3 miles) three times
Moraine Park/Cub Lake trail (9 miles)
Nymph, Dream and Emerald (3.6 miles) twice
*Mills Lake (2.8 miles)
Gem Lake (7.6 miles)
Sprague Lake (6 miles) three times
*Fern Lake and Odessa Lake (9.5 miles)
Bierstadt Lake (3.5 miles) twice
*Black Lake and Blue Lake (11.5 miles)
Cub Lake (3 miles)
Twin Sisters (7.4 miles)
Sky Pond (9.5 miles)
= 96.5 miles hiked
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