Saturday, July 26, 2008
Trek Part 2 - High Camp and Mt. Tweeto
At our devo at low camp, our guides told us that the next day's hike, roughly 6 miles, would be the hardest day yet as we would be at 11,500 ft and the edge of the treeline. This is were the main "thievery" commenced. It was before we left for High Camp that our young men, began taking things out of the girl's packs to lighten their load. The weight of some of the boy's packs to put it mildly was formidable.
Preparing for the hike to the "high camp." From left to right: Chad facing away, Bret, Sharon, Mark, John, Kris-kris, Janel, Daniel, Zack, and Steven.
Issac on the ground adjusting someone's pack. In the background from left to right: Janel, Zack with the spiked hair, Lindsay who persevered through much pain, David, Tara, Matthew, Kyle, and Melaine.
I turned around for a click picture and almost ran into Kyle. That Bret and Josh coming up from behind. Notice the head down position. It was hard not to walk with your head down the entire way to watch your footing. The trouble with that method was twofold:
Take a look at Steven's pack, he's the closet in the picture. Mark's pack to his left dosen't look much better. I was so proud of all these young men. The tracks were used by a "tourist train" that you can take from Leadville. Here we are at one of the few "standing breaks" along the way.
The reason to keep your head up - look at the valley behind Steven. 
Just to prove that I was on Trek - This was a nice resting place on top of a stack of crossties.
Who needs the "Mind Freak guy" - how about this for defying gravity. 
In this picture we are beginning to reach the edge of the treeline at around 11,000ft. If you look carefully you can see on the far righthand side, some of our party coming over a rise. What was ahead was a seemingly inviting, easy, and flat meadow that we were going to use as a stopping place for lunch. I can still see our guide Isaac, pointing at a down log and saying, “You’re almost there.” That might have been the understatement of the trip. The meadow was deceptively uphill and with uneven ground full of “something” holes, it was difficult to navigate. It was a great place to stop but torture to walk through.
I don’t think I’ve seen a more beautiful meadow but what a torture it was to walk up and across.
Now this is a picture of utter exhaustion. This would be our last stop before high camp. 
A closeup of "Exhaustion meadow." From left to right: Sharon, Bret and his 14 blisters, Steven putting on mosquito repellant. Yes, mosquitoes are rampant in the backcountry. Also in the picture are Ron, John, and Chad. 
We made it to high camp. Our first task was to set up our tent and yes, all 4 of us slept in that little Pup Tent. From left to right: Chuck, Ron, Chad and your truly in the front.
After the first night we figured out that it was somewhat smarter to sleep crosswise in the tent facing in opposite directions. This allowed for a little more maneuvering room. That “room” was somewhat relative since we all slept inside a “Zero Degrees” mummy sleeping bag. Despite the temps dropping into the high 30’s at night, the bag used each person’s body heat to keep you warm and toasty. In fact, there were several times when I actually was hot and had to come out of my bag.
Our group was broken up into 2 "Crews" of 10, each having their own "Crew Tent." This is Chad under our Crew Tent doing one of the most necessary things in the backcountry – carrying water and purifying it with chlorine drops. How would you characterize the look on Chad’s face – excited, stoked, downright glad to be there, or exhausted?
A dream for me come true – being with my son in the Colorado backcountry. 
Our campfire devo at high camp. Notice the warmer apparel as the sun was going down. We turned in early that night as the next day; the summit climb was going to start at 4:30am.
My next installment will be the climb to Mt. Tweeto.
Preparing for the hike to the "high camp." From left to right: Chad facing away, Bret, Sharon, Mark, John, Kris-kris, Janel, Daniel, Zack, and Steven.Issac on the ground adjusting someone's pack. In the background from left to right: Janel, Zack with the spiked hair, Lindsay who persevered through much pain, David, Tara, Matthew, Kyle, and Melaine.The hike started off along some railroad tracks before making a steep righthand and uphill turn.
I turned around for a click picture and almost ran into Kyle. That Bret and Josh coming up from behind. Notice the head down position. It was hard not to walk with your head down the entire way to watch your footing. The trouble with that method was twofold:1. With your head down it slowed your pace.
2. With your head down you missed out on the beauty of God's Creation.
I wonder if our walk with Jesus doesn't suffer the same effects when we keep our spiritual heads down.
Take a look at Steven's pack, he's the closet in the picture. Mark's pack to his left dosen't look much better. I was so proud of all these young men. The tracks were used by a "tourist train" that you can take from Leadville. Here we are at one of the few "standing breaks" along the way.The reason to keep your head up - look at the valley behind Steven. Just to prove that I was on Trek - This was a nice resting place on top of a stack of crossties.Who needs the "Mind Freak guy" - how about this for defying gravity. In this picture we are beginning to reach the edge of the treeline at around 11,000ft. If you look carefully you can see on the far righthand side, some of our party coming over a rise. What was ahead was a seemingly inviting, easy, and flat meadow that we were going to use as a stopping place for lunch. I can still see our guide Isaac, pointing at a down log and saying, “You’re almost there.” That might have been the understatement of the trip. The meadow was deceptively uphill and with uneven ground full of “something” holes, it was difficult to navigate. It was a great place to stop but torture to walk through. I don’t think I’ve seen a more beautiful meadow but what a torture it was to walk up and across.Now this is a picture of utter exhaustion. This would be our last stop before high camp. A closeup of "Exhaustion meadow." From left to right: Sharon, Bret and his 14 blisters, Steven putting on mosquito repellant. Yes, mosquitoes are rampant in the backcountry. Also in the picture are Ron, John, and Chad. We made it to high camp. Our first task was to set up our tent and yes, all 4 of us slept in that little Pup Tent. From left to right: Chuck, Ron, Chad and your truly in the front.After the first night we figured out that it was somewhat smarter to sleep crosswise in the tent facing in opposite directions. This allowed for a little more maneuvering room. That “room” was somewhat relative since we all slept inside a “Zero Degrees” mummy sleeping bag. Despite the temps dropping into the high 30’s at night, the bag used each person’s body heat to keep you warm and toasty. In fact, there were several times when I actually was hot and had to come out of my bag.
Our group was broken up into 2 "Crews" of 10, each having their own "Crew Tent." This is Chad under our Crew Tent doing one of the most necessary things in the backcountry – carrying water and purifying it with chlorine drops. How would you characterize the look on Chad’s face – excited, stoked, downright glad to be there, or exhausted? A dream for me come true – being with my son in the Colorado backcountry. Our campfire devo at high camp. Notice the warmer apparel as the sun was going down. We turned in early that night as the next day; the summit climb was going to start at 4:30am. My next installment will be the climb to Mt. Tweeto.
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My next installment will be to look at the pictures of your climb to Mt. Tweeto. Any mountain by the name of "Tweeto" doesn't sound that intimidating!! :)
Greg - You're right, we thought the same thing about some Mountain named "Tweeto." Tweeto was a guy who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey.
Great pictures! That was a gppd thought about what happens if we keep our heads down on our walk with Jesus............
Cecil -
I'm really enjoying your narrative and all of the pictures from your wilderness trek. Really great stuff!
But, I have a question - you have not mentioned at all yet what you guys (and gals) ate while trekking. What all did you have to eat? Tell us about that.
Cheers & Blessings to you all today!
Dee
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I'm really enjoying your narrative and all of the pictures from your wilderness trek. Really great stuff!
But, I have a question - you have not mentioned at all yet what you guys (and gals) ate while trekking. What all did you have to eat? Tell us about that.
Cheers & Blessings to you all today!
Dee
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