Friday, July 14, Youth Pastor Seth Baker, the Ignite! youth group and I boarded the Daze On for Sheldon's 7:30 am. transport to the Grace Ridge trailhead across Kachemak Bay for the annual mountain hike and beach campout!
I chose to chaperone though none of my boys were home... I wanted to hike! I carried a walkie-talkie at the end of the pack with the call name "Mama Bear." With a flare in my backpack just in case, we made plenty of noise and all we saw was scat along the way, thankfully. Fun to get up to the height of other ridges across Tutca Bay to the west!
Break for snack and water.
Sweet lookout with the Millers toward Sadie Peak east. Emerald, Alectra, and Alexis brought their visiting cousin Warren along! A humid 60 degrees, we were all sweaty and puffing!
Up a little higher to the willows and grasses.
A GREAT trail all the way!
Feeling the altitude and the strain on the calves... changed my name to "Mama Goat."
GLORIOUS!
Lunch break on the first peak at 11:30am!
Pastor Seth took a quiet moment to meditate on the mountainside.
Onward and upward! Seth and I used walking sticks. Oh yeah!
Youth guide Sammy Shelton was our fearless leader... to the rock peaks now!
Delcy, Brenden, and Emerald hiked with me a lot of the way.
"This is AWESOME!"
David Weisser with chaperone Josh Lockwood and Maxwell Smith.
Lovely view of Tutca Bay.
One of the trickiest points of the hike was the maneuver around the rocky ledge.
Mountain Man.
Looking back along the spacious ridge.
Another snack break to wait for everyone to catch up. They were a great team and stuck together!
Emerald found an eagle's feather.
God, You are SO BIG!! Exalted HIGH above!
"Grace is the first-fruit of GLORY." Matthew Henry
Group photo on the Grace Ridge summit, 3,105 feet! Sadie Peak in the background.
Simon Shelton and Brenden Fuson with a view of Homer and the Spit!
ONE MORE down and up... the trail disappeared. :)
God's beautiful little flowers in the rocks at the top!
Snow and views into Kachemak Bay!
That's a long ways DOWN. Rhodes Turner.
Final and windiest point of the day, 2:15pm. Views of Homer and the Spit for the trek down.
Wide open spaces... the kids just RUN!
Snow and lupine on the front face.
The creek runs down through the high meadow.
A great place to fill water bottles!
We finally passed 2 other couples coming up this side of the mountain.
"We just did THAT!" Group photo with the Ridge behind and a few sprinkles coming down.
Back down into the willows and the clouds.
The creek turned into a gorgeous waterfall down in the trees!
Sweet wildflowers.
The trail got a little muddy and slippery. Found one bridge... almost to camp!
We made it!! Wet, cold, tired, and hungry. 4:30pm.
Overcast beach right out front of our campsite in Tutca Bay.
Seth felled a tree, and the boys chopped it up for firewood.
Two fire pits kept us mostly warm and dry and fed!
Lots of just hanging out together in our tent city!
Alexis Miller, Sara Shelton, and Iris Turner on an evening beach rock exploration.
A little pink sunset in the sky at 10:00pm. So peaceful.
Midnight bedtime before the RAINS came down!
Breakfast, devotional, and clean-up in the morning before Sheldon returned to pick us up at noon.
So blessed to have been a part of this grand adventure with a great group of kids! XOXOX
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