The mountains near Frontier Ranch. 

Nice pool to at Frontier Ranch. It is heated by a nearby hotspring. 

The facilities at Frontier Ranch were incredible! This is the interior of the Dining Room. 

Another view of the rapell tower. 

Nice view from the rapell tower at Frontier Ranch in Colorado. The Wild at Heart Retreat was at Frontier Ranch. 

The Work Crew from the Wild at Heart Boot Camp in Colorado. 

Possibly not the smartest thing to try. There is a class V rapid just below where we are. Yes, I did make it. 

One More... 

and another... 

Another one 

I don't know what type of flowers they are though. 

For some reason I have this new fascination with close up pictures of flowers. 

We drove by the Salmon River on the way home. Mostly Class IV and V rapids. 

The guys at the end of our run of the Trinity River on Saturday.  

Blog under construction

Many of you (if anyone still reads this) may have noticed the format problems with my Blog over the past month. I finally decided to take the time to do something about it, so I have chosen a new template. The problem is I have to go in and add all of the links I had on there so this make take a day or two. It should me much better when I finish updating it. I have alot of new stuff to add.

Jim and David's visit to CA

Last week Jim (my brother) and David (my cousin) came out to visit the Ranch. It was a great week. We stayed really busy and packed alot into the week. I picked them up at the airport in Medford and then we drove straight back to the Ranch. We decided to hike up on Etna Summit and camp for the night in the snow. The hiking was very hard because the snow was nearly waist deep. Pictures are on the way. It was a cold night but the three of us stayed warm in my tent. The next morning we hiked out early. Jim and David went to Mt. Shasta to snowboard but I had to stay at the Ranch to work. We had alot of fun hanging out every night. Friday we went to Mt. Shasta to snowshoe. It was a beautiful day. We hiked to about 9200ft. The views were incredible! The next day Jim and I returned to Shasta to try to climb to the top. Our packs were heavy and the weather report was not very good for Sunday. We hiked to 10,000 feet and camped. We had to dig into the side of the hill to build a shelter to block the wind. It was a long night. We cooked dinner and then the wind started to blow. It was gusting up to 50mph that night. I thought the tent poles were going to collapse. Neither one of us slept much that night. It also snowed about 10 inches during the night. We woke up at 2am to start the summit climb. When we looked out the door of the tent the weather was to bad to try to climb to the summit so we decided to sleep for awhile. We woke up a few hours later to hike back to the car. Visibility was about 10 ft. We thought it would improve as we descended but it got worse. We got off course on the way down but Jim was able to get us back on track. It only took us a few hours to get back to the car and then we went into town to eat a good meal. I finally bought Kathryn's (my sister) birthday present (a few months late). It was a fun climb even though we did not get to make a summit attempt. The next day I took Jim and David to the airport. It was great to have them here for the week. It really made me miss being home.

A quick trip to Birmingham

I realize it has been a long time since I have posted an update so I decided to break it up into three posts. Pictures are on the way. The week before my trip home was crazy trying to get everything ready for me to leave. The trip to Birmingham was great but to fast. I had to cram a lot into a few days but I was able to do it. I arrived late in Birmingham the first night. The next day I slept late and drove to Auburn for the day to visit some friends and have lunch with Jaime (my cousin). It was weird to be back in Auburn. In May I will have been 2 years since I graduated. Whoever said time flies after you graduate was right. Auburn’s campus is changing so much, there is construction everywhere. I have been back to Auburn only a handful of times since graduation. I understand now why people go back to the football games to “relive the glory days.” I loved my time at Auburn and often compare things to it. My goal is not look back on those days as the best days of my life as most people do, but to see it as another chapter of adventure in my life. One of many chapters of adventure. I returned to B’ham that night to have dinner with Mom and Dad while Jim and Kathryn were still out of town. It was a great time for the three of us just to talk and catch up since I have been gone for nearly 3 months now. The next night was spent with Granny at dinner, continuing our tradition of trying new restaurants in Birmingham. It was great, as it always is. We always have a great time just talking about life. Saturday was a great day. Me, Daniel, Andrew, Kathryn (my sister) and John headed out early to the lake to go wakeboarding. Daniel had the boat running great after many months of frustration (the frustration is another story). The water was cold, even with wetsuits. The water was calm and the sky clear. It was one of the most fun days on the lake in a long time. The lake is one of the things I will miss the most this summer. I hope to make it back to Birmingham in time to catch the end of wakeboarding season with the guys. I have several good pictures to post soon from this trip to the lake. Sunday was a crazy day. We celebrated Easter with my dad’s family at our house and then went to my grandmother’s house to celebrate with my Mom’s family. It was a full day. It was great to see all of the family. Monday morning I flew back to the Ranch but did not arrive until Tuesday because I was voluntarily bumped from two flights. I have always wanted to do that. They gave me 2 free round trip tickets to anywhere in the US, meal vouchers, and a free hotel room. It worked out great. Overall, it was a great trip. I wish it could have been longer. Jim and David are flying out next week to visit the Ranch.

Another Weekly Update March 19

This week was a very productive one. The footings for the deck were poured at the beginning of the week. We all had to help carry around the tube that pumped the concrete. It weighed a ton! There were about 30 footings and a retaining wall (see my picture of the plans from a week ago). Also this week Bob moved into his new house. We spent a few days helping him move. The view from his house is incredible. I am close to wrapping up several projects this week after getting approval to order several things I have been waiting for. Monday I will order lining for the boat trailer drawers, pay phones, and ping pong tables (I found a great deal on these). So things are moving forward.

It looks like it is going to rain all weekend so I am trying to decide between going snowboarding and checking out Ashland, OR. Travis's cousin is here for the weekend and they are going to the Redwood Forest to sleep in the rain which doesn't sound fun to me. They are saying it may rain over an inch this weekend. I almost forgot. I bought a kayak this week! It is a Dagger Redline, which is a huge boat. Now I don't have to worry about getting thrashed in hydraulics as much because of the higher volume of the boat. We played basketball last night at the church in Etna. It was alot of fun and I think we are going to try to do it one night every week.

I finished reading Bill Johnston's book When Heaven Invades Earth this week. It was a great book about the gifts of the Holy Spirit manifested today. Very Interesting. That is most of what happened this week. Keep in touch. I am going to go cook breakfast now...

Shasta 

Another favorite picture. 

The guys on Shasta. 

These are the plans for the deck we are working on. This week we dug the footing for it. It is not a small deck! 

I like this picture. We hiked to about 9000ft and then snowboarded down Shasta. The powder was very deep near the bottom and very difficult to board through. 

This is a picture of us with the guys who came out from Furman to work during their spring break. It was fun week! 

Just another day in paradise...

There is something satisfying about digging a hole that is as deep as I am tall and about 4 feet in diameter. We have been digging the holes for the footings of the new deck (by the lodge). These holes are huge! We started around 8:30 this morning and finished at 5pm. My back was aching and I was exhausted but the sense of accomplishment was great. After the deck was finished we loaded up the van and went to Callahan to snowboard until dark. The snow is melting fast up there. The highs were in the 70's here this week. Great weather. It was a full day.

New pictures posted!

New pictures posted!
http://saundha.dotphoto.com/CPListAlbums.asp
Click here to see them (Furman work week)

Birthdays, Mountains, atomic breakfast burritos, and more Mountains

So it has been a few weeks since I have posted a real update. Here it is.
My Birthday was February 16th. It was great! Chef Bob made a cake for me and then I went to dinner with the guys at the China Dragon in Yreka (great chinese food). I received a huge box with different presents from my family. I got several great books, some gloves, and some other camping gear.

Our meeting times with Ray (staff pastor) have been very good lately. He has walked us through how we should address conflict with one another which has helped us alot. He has also just finished his teaching a segment on the authority of Christ. It probably takes us 5 times as long as any other group to make it through one of Ray's teaching segments because we ask so many questions and it always leads to other discussions that are very interesting. I like the flexibility in our classes. We are never in a hurry to finish a section. I came up with a way to record Ray's sessions with us so we can archive the meetings in case someone has to miss one. We use my camera's audio recording function to record the meetings. It works very well.

My study times have not been quite as consistent as they were. I need to make it a higher priority than I have lately. My projects are coming along very well though slow at times. My focus for the past few weeks has been on the new boat trailer, the river trailer and the Gear trailer (see pictures previously posted). I finished the boat trailer tonight except for the drawers. I learned how to use a pneumatic pop rivet gun today to attach the angle iron to the boat trailer. I cut, painted, and screwed plywood to the boat trailer and then glued carpet to the wood. The final touch was the angle iron to trim it on the edges. The last step is to line the drawers with plastic mesh. I need to order this soon. The boat trailer has taken several weeks. The River trailer is a much more simple project basically just modifying some of the shelving and fixing broken lights. The Gear Trailer (as I have named it) is where we store the river and wilderness equipment plus some ropes course equipment. It was a wreck when I started. I am trying to inventory, organize and clean it up. I am currently about 1/2 way finished with this. So those are the main projects and I will not bore you anymore with the little projects. I have been busy.

We scouted out Callahan Summit for snowboarding last week. It is a great run, about 30 minutes away. The view is incredible. The run is easier than the one off of Etna Summit which is good for most of us. I am still trying to to recruit the guys to buy snowboards but they are taking way to long! Matt finally bought some boots last weekend.

I recently read the book The Da Vinci Code. It was a great book. Very fast read. I don't agree with what the book presents but it is still a great novel. I won't give it away for those of you who have not read it.

It seems that the conflict within the house has started to die down. Of course, every time I think this then something happens, maybe it won't this time. We have set up 3 meetings a week to help us communicate better and get to know one another more.

I have decided I need to get into better physical shape. Any of you who have read about my shasta climb know this. I decided to start riding more. I want to go on at least one long bike ride each week (20+ miles) and ride down French Creek and back 3 times per week. That seems like a good start at least. I want to work up to riding up Etna summit road to the top. The days are starting to seem longer so this will be easier to do soon.

Experimental cooking has been an interest of mine lately for some reason? I can make a great breakfast burrito now. I have made Chicken Spagheti, fajitas and my favorite the atomic egg burrito (fried egg, tobasco, fresh cut jalapenos w/ the seeds in a cooked tortilla). Everything has been good so far. I'm not sure how this started.

This last week was the Furman work week. Several guys from last summer brought some of their friends from Furman to do work projects. It was a fun week and major progress was made on several projects (the deck and the split rail fence). We played paintball while they were here and went snowshoeing on Shasta to (I'll post pictures soon). Sledding on Etna Summit to!

Friday night Travis and I drove to Shasta for an Avalanche awareness class followed by a transceiver course on Saturday. We learned a ton of great info about the backcountry for FREE! We camped in the Aerostar and I forgot my ground pad so I slept terribly. It was a fun trip. I won a free avalanche probe ($40 value) by being the fastest person to find the buried transceiver (55 seconds). Several great connections were made this weekend with people at Shasta and Etna. Three of the other guys went to San Francisco to visit Chad Etheridge and Leigh Etheridge (formerly Threadgill). I went for another long bike ride Sunday afternoon (~25 miles). I was lost for a little while but it turned out ok. I realize more and more that we are basically in the center of the universe for Outdoor Adventure. You name it, we can do it in less than a 2 hour drive. I understand why Outdoor magazine featured Etna as the #2 Outdoor Adventure destination in the US. I could definitley live somewhere like this for awhile if the community was a little bigger (just kidding mom, maybe?) It is awesome.

My parents sent me a daily Bible for my birthday. It is the bible in chronological order set up to be read in 1 year. I am reading it every day and hope to finish it by the end of summer. I am in 1st Samuel right now. I need to pick up the pace! I also started reading Bill Johnston's book When Heaven Invades Earth It is about the power of the Holy Spirit manifested outwardly today. It is an inspiring book! I want to find a good fiction novel to read also. Let me know if you have any suggestions. I have been typing for a long time. I still wander sometimes if anyone reads this. I think they do or I hope they do so I will continue to post.

Overall, things are going well. We have settled into our weekly routines and projects and have adventures all of the time. That is my favorite part. The adventure. I think I need to always be doing something that involves alot of adventure...whatever that means. I'm done.

a closer one... 

Another good shasta picture. 

This is the boat trailer I have been working on. I attached the plywood and the carpet. Currently I am working on angle iron to trim it. I am also waiting on the material to line the drawers. It is almost finished!