DeMaster Stories: June Adventures

Fair warning, this is not Stacy. June was an adventure month for me. My first trip was to the west coast to visit my brother, Pete. We met a couple of old friends and drove into Yosemite National Park to do some backpacking and to climb Halfdome rock. The weather was perfect and the views were breathtaking. We hiked just under 50 miles in about 3.5 days tackling some tough elevation changes. We trekked in late Friday morning and left the park Monday afternoon. I swam in a mountain lake with snow still on the hillsides, took pictures of incredible waterfalls, survived on what was in my pack, and just had a great time. My only regret is not seeing a bear during the trip.

On Sunday afternoon we made it to the base of the cables on Halfdome. The final 400 ft or so you need to almost pull yourself up with a set of large steel cables attached to the rock. I was fairly exhausted (and a little afraid of heights), but I made it the top. Even with some nerves, there was no way I wasn't climbing that rock! The view was awesome and I was overwhelmed with the greatness of our God who created all of it.

On the trail with Pete and Mike

Very quiet, reflective morning at 9,000 ft

Just conquered Halfdome

View from our final camp - that's Halfdome in the background

The second trip of the month was our now annual summer backpacking trip in Northern Michigan. Caleb, Isaac, and I went with our neighbor and his daughter and a friend from church with his two sons. Last year Isaac was too young to come along, so he had been waiting a long time for this trip. We borrowed some canoes so we could hike up river and then float back down to our starting point. It worked out great. We got to the Manistee River Trail Sunday afternoon and hiked in far enough to find a good campsite. Monday was a long day hiking 8 miles with full packs, but the kids persevered and made it to the end. Tuesday morning we pushed off and spent the day paddling down the Manistee River. We experienced a portage, saw a bald eagle, had lunch on an island and nearly lost Dad in a sink hole at the start. It was an exhilarating, challenging, fun trip that we'll all remember for a long time. The only rain we got was at night, which is always a huge blessing. Although crawling into our tent on the second night around 9:30 on a stifling, hot, muggy night as the rain was just starting was not pleasant. It was a sweat box!

Isaac learned about pitching a tent, how to build a fire with birch bark and that "backpacking" really just means hiking through the woods with a heavy pack and pooping in the woods. :) Caleb put on a full size pack this year and really pulled his weight. I'm very proud of both of them.