Last week, Adam and Andrew and I joined our friends, Mike and JJ and headed into the back country for four days in the Trinity Alps. It was an awesome time of praising God for his awesome creation, building memories with my boys, and regaining perspective in life.

The first day we hiked in and set up camp near some meadows and a stream, where we purified water. Mike cooked awesome food for our trip, which is part of his business, Mike’s Outdoors. I was very proud of the boys as they jumped in helping set up camp, purify water, and do what they could to chip in.

On day two, we headed up to Boulder Lakes, and found a lake to swim in (and of course do some jumping from rocks). We were amazed at how warm the lake water was! We made it up to Forbidden Lake, at the base of a high, steep rock bowl. That night, we laid on our backs under a star studded sky and talked and counted satellites and shooting stars.

Day three we headed up to Canyon Creek Lakes, and then did boulder hopping and cross country hiking to get up to El Lake, the top lake in the area. The boys were pretty wiped out, but they did a great job and had good attitudes… most of the time. 🙂

Our final day we broke camp and hiked out and made it home with a mind filled with great memories, beautiful scenes and new adventures. I expect I’ll be doing much more of this (I hope) with my boys up in the northwest. For me, getting into the remote mountains and experiencing God’s creation up close puts back in perspective how I fit into his very grand plan, and I can trust Him for all the details of my life that so quickly overwhelm me.

Ever onward, Eric