THIS IS THE AIR I BREATHE
More like the air I could not breathe, and thus leading to a very frustrated weekend. I was surround by the glory that is South Colony Lake and planning to hike Crestone Peak. However, some plans do not work out. I could not breathe very well, more like I was choking, so I only could handle backpacking into the Lakes. I could not climb Crestone Peak with the rest of my friends on Sunday.
I was really looking forward to this hike, because I love this mountain and because it marked the completion of all the 54 Colorado fourteeners by Rod. While they hiked, I had to pretty much sit on a rock overloading the lake near base-camp and try to get better. Hopefully, one of the group member will write about the hike up Crestone for this blog and I will have pictures up soon.
For me, I got to understand the verse, Be still, and know that I am God in a personal way that I was not wanting to. With all that is going on in my life with kid issues, crazy work load, health concern, looking for a new home, etc., I believe I needed to just be still and silent, spend time with God, and see His beauty in a different way that I hoped. Really, that sounds like life a lot of the time.
There were some other things about the weekend that are worth noting here. Unlike the Humboldt Hike, we made it all the way up the four wheel drive road in my Xterra (althrough on another part of the 5.5 mile 4×4 road, the driver step panel on my Xterra did not make it). The weather was awesome on Sunday for Rod’s last 14er hike. Also, there was a big group of Big Horn Sheep when we backpacked out and it was just great to be there and watch them.
I will leave you with some words of Aslan from “The Silver Chair”:
“Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly: I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down to Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that is does not confuse your mind. “
LikeJUST TOO BUSY MAN
Life is just so busy right now. Work is very busy, school has started so that means a lot more driving and more work for us parents, then we have put our home is tip top shape so we can sell it, and we are looking for a new home. We are moving north to be closer the school and my wife new job. Our house seems to be very popular and we maybe homeless soon because we have not found a new place. So more stress for us, as I didn’t have enough. We are praying we can find a new home soon.
Why did I write all that, I don’t know really. Just to write something and let you know what is going on in my life. Isn’t that what my blog is for anyways?
LYDIA
Well, here is update the newest member in the family, Lydia Love Hamann (this is the correct spelling). She was born to Jeremy and Mandee. She arrived on Tuesday, August 16th at 8:46 p.m. CST (just 3 hours and 14 minutes shy of daddy’s b-day! She wanted her own, I guess!). She weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz. 19 1/4 inches long. Everyone involved is doing well.
ELVIS HAS LEFT THE BUILDING
My friend, Bill – FPOTUS (he will get that and if you know him you can figure that out), let me borrow Rob Bell’s book, “Velvet Elvis: Repainting The Christian Faith”. I must say I have really enjoyed the book. I like to listen to Rob Bell’s sermon and his book reads just like one of Rob’s talk.
STRIKE THREE
I know you are thinking this is a baseball entry, but it is a bowling post. While people where looking at our house, my step daughter and I had to do something. So we did something we sometimes do together, we went bowling. It had been awhile but it was fun. It was nice because the alley is smoke free. It sure is better to do things when there is no smoke and you can leave not wanting to burn your clothes. We had a nice time. Oh, 150 and 157 was my scores. Ok, I guess.
GUTTER BALL
Ok, I figured if I would just put a bowling title for a baseball note. The rockies have won 3 series on the road. They have done that 3 times before in their history. Not bad for a bad team. The best part this time was it was against NL West teams. Hopefully, they can win the series in SD this weekend and set a club record that is not a bad record to have for a change.
CRESTONE
Well, as I end this, I need to go find my hiking gear (some of it was packed as we have packed a lot of things up) as I am going with some friends backpacking on Saturday so we can camp out so that we can climb Crestone Peak on Sunday and then backpack out Sunday afternoon. So it will be a lot of work as it is a hard 14er to climb, but hey this is what I do for fun and relaxation and time with friends. Yea, I know, crazy, but it is better than packing more stuff up at the house to give away to charity, right honey? Maybe it is just more a matter of a opinion, I guess. As Anne Lamott says, “Everyone thinks their opinions is the right one. If they didn’t, they’d get a new one.”
Pray for our safety, endurance, enjoyment, and good weather.
LAND THAT I LOVE
I just wanted to put a special plug out there for my friend’s new on-line business venture.
Check it out, tell others, and maybe even order something from the site.
THIS BABY
A big welcome to this planet and the family, Lidia (I have not got an official confirmation on the spelling) Love Hamann, born on August 16, 2005, at 7:46 PM MST.!!!!!
Congrats to the proud parent’s, Jeremy and Mandee, and to Lidia’s big brother Emory.
I am sure more details will follow at a later day.
Monkey Meditations
- Things I learned of late: “Give us today our daily bread…” is not a carb friendly prayer.
- Is it just me or does the Avs signing Brad May remind you of the time the Broncos signed Dale Carter?
- A goon from a revival team that was involved in hurting our players, but then we sign him the next year.
- Things I learned of late: The rockies actually can win a series in San Francisco.
- The rockies had a winning record without Todd Helton 8-7. Not at all what I figured when he went on the DL for the first time in his major league career.
- Bye, Bye Peter, this Avs fan will miss seeing you as a member of Colorado’s NHL club.
- Things I learned of late: Keeping emergency drum sticks in a car can help save the worship thu music at church.
- Congratulations Mike and Sarah on their marriage a few weeks ago.
- Congratulations to Nate and Katrina on the birth on their son and second child.
- Things I learned of late: The goat has left the building, but it was hard getting the goat there.
- Here is a tip that, getting new carpet is a pain. Why because you have to move everything out of the way,then move the stuff back when the carpet is installed, and then you have to write a check for the carpet and installall work
- It is a little worst when you know you will be moving from the house in a few months. So it is more of a practice run for the real move.
- Things I learned of late: My body says you can’t do this boy, but my pride says oh yes you can.
- I listen to a few churches sermons on-line. It is one of my favorite things about the Internet.
- The ones I listen to consistently are Mars Hill of Seattle, WA, Watershed of Cedar Rapids, IA, Mars Hill of Grandville, MI, Flatirons Church of Lafayette, CO, and the church I attend The Next Level Church of Englewood, CO.
- It is too bad that more of the worship music is not on-line to hear, but I understand the copy-write concerns.
- Things I learned of late:The best selling CD of 2004 was the blank and recordable ones.
- Congratulations to Dave and Doreen on the birth of their second daughter.
- Congratulations to my doctor friends Andy and Regina on the birth of their first child, a boy.
- Things I learned of late: The move Great Raid doesn’t veer too far from the facts as we know them. So, Hollywood can tell a story without changing the truth that much.
- My condolence to the Happel family for the lost of Jack. He was a good and Godly man whose friendship and wisdom was a blessing to my family. He will be missed.
DID YOU FEEL THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE?
Editor Note: Ok, I know some of you are saying that he has already used this song for the titled for the last fourteener entry. Yes, that is true. As the writer of the blog, I decided that the fourteener hikes will all be titled “DID YOU FEEL THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE?”. It is something that I write whenever I sign a registry at the top of a 14er. I did think about using other songs, but I decided to stick with the mountain classic. I know that will bug some of you, but you will get over it, hopefully. Non-fourteener hikes will have various song titles for the name of the entry, if that helps the pain.
14er attempted and completed: Humboldt Peak
Date: August 6, 2005
Hiking Partners: Alan, Josh, and James
The four of us left the Denver area, around 5:30 PM Friday night and headed south. We crash at my parent’s home in Westcliffe since it is close to the mountain we planned to climb. Saturday morning, we get up early and drove to the trail-head. It was nice not to have to sleep on the trail-head in a tent in the pouring rain. Plus, finding the road and driving the hard 4×4 road up to trail-head in the dark was not something I wanted to do or would recommend on this road.
We drove to the 4×4 road in the light of morning and we ended up only getting about half way up to the trail-head. The road was very muddy as it rained most of Friday night. We could not get over this one big slab of rock. I could not maintain the speed of my vehicle when we hit the rock, the back tires would get stuck in a big mud puddle and just spin. There was a spot to park there, so we left the vehicle there and started up hiking the road to the trail-head. This added about six extra miles to the day’s hike, (three up and three down) which made it a longer day than I had hoped.
Well, even though the hike turned out to be a longer than plan, the weather was beautiful and the view of creation was just incredible. It is so beautiful there as the South Colony Lakes Trail goes though a great little valley surround by many impressive mountains and the lower and upper lakes adds an extra touch of awe. It was good to be back here even if the last time I was in this area was not so much fun.
The first part of the trail is not too bad as it is more of a slow and steady hike up to Upper South Colony Lake. When you reach the lake, the trail starts to really climb. Also, around the Upper Lake, we started to see a lot of marmots, chipmunks, flies, grasshoppers, and even a weasel.
Eventually after going up a bit we reached the ridge, and then the trail got even steeper and is mostly boulders instead of just dirt. The trail also becomes hard to see but the cairns (a pile of stones erected to define a path) are well marked, so we just followed those. While we were going up, the wind started to be kick up and was cold. Also, we could see the clouds were building behind Crestone Needle and kind of looked like they maybe headed our way. We were not too sure if we were going to make it to the top of Humboldt or even the false summit before the weather forced us down. However, that cold wind keep those clouds away and blew them south. So the skies remained blue and sunny. By the time we got to the top of the false summit, the wind stopped and the cloud did not worry us.
After we reach the false summit, we could see the top of Humboldt Peak. It is not too far from the false summit and we knew we would make it in a few minutes. I was told that from here the edge of mountain is very steep and would be nasty fall that would for sure kill you if you fell. Sure enough it had a big drop off, however, there is a lots and lots of room on the mountain that you do not need to be close to the edge.
When we got to the top of the Peak, we enjoyed a great and awesome view. We even could figure out where my parents place in Westcliffe is. We could not find a registry from the Colorado Mountain Society at the top to sign or USGS marker point like most 14ers which happens sometimes. Also, at the top we questioned as to which side of the Peak is taller, but other friends of mine who have climbed it have had the discussion. We decided probably the side with the rock built as a wind barrier was probably the taller part. We were there adn on both sides, it does not matter that much as the fact that we got to the top of Humboldt Peak.
The big treat of this hike was at ridge on the way down. That is where we got within a few feet of two Big Horn Rocky Mountain Sheep (Ovis canadensis canadensis). It was very cool to get that close to them and watch this powerful mountain animals up close while not being at the zoo or on I-70 near Georgetown.
Going down is always a pain and it wears me out. It got a little longer as we missed a right turn we needed to take but it did not cost us too much time as we figured out our mistake and was able to backtrack to the right trail. The other pain was extra three miles we had to hike from the trail-head down the road to where we had to park. It seemed like forever and that someone had moved my vehicle. However, eventually we got there. Then we drove down the rough 4×4 road which really jolted the sore body as the drive down the road another three miles. Finally, we got out of there, ate in Westcliffe at the Chile Bear Cafe and headed home to Denver.
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As with the last fourteen, there is a sneak preview of the pictures of the hike for the loyal blog readers. You can click here to see them. There are two pages of pictures because I like so many of the photos I took and thought they should be on the site. So check them out. Regular visitors of the personal website who do not read the blog will have to wait to know about the photos. Just a way of saying thank you for reading this story.
I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from GOD, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains. Psalms 121:1-2 (The Message)
