Hiking out. 

The view from the tent the next morning. 

Camping on Etna Summit. 

The volvo makes it again. There is about 8 inches of snow on the car.  

The next morning on Shasta. It was a cold and Windy night. 

This is where Jim and I camped on Shasta at about 10,000ft.  

A view from the hike to our base camp. 

Me and Davis on Mt. Shasta. 

Another good picture of Mt. Shasta. 

Me and Jim on Shasta 

Gas is expensive here!!! 

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.