Maple Pass Loop (North Cascades)

One of the premier hikes in the North Cascades is the Maple/Heather Pass loop which leaves from Rainy Pass along Washington 20. This evaluation is true at least for the average day hiker not getting into backpacking deep into the mountains. This loop holds the promise of two great mountain passes and plenty of fantastic views along the way. There is the added bonus of a spur to a mountain lake and views of another lake. The trail is very hikable with no rock scrambling necessary. We saw good words on this trail in our research on the North Cascades during our family vacation to the Pacific Northwest. Looking for a big afternoon hike to add in to our day's tour through the park this was the perfect fit.

Jesus' Inclusive Love

[Originally published in the Monroe News on June 30, 2023]

The inclusiveness of Jesus really is an amazing thing.  St. Paul really describes it best in Romans 5 “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  When Jesus went to the cross it was to die for every last human being that has ever lived.  Jesus didn’t make distinctions or create boundaries when He poured out His life and His love, alongside His blood, on the cross.  We hear of this kind of love in well known verses like John 3:16 where it speaks of God’s love for the world.  And the openness and the inclusiveness of God’s love and salvation in Christ is amazing “whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life.”  I’ve always loved that word there, “whosoever.”

In a sermon I preached a couple of weeks ago I tried to capture in more relatable terms just what God’s amazing love for us looks like.  This came to be in a Gospel lesson we shared in worship from Matthew 9 regarding the calling of Matthew.  When we first meet Matthew he is sitting in a tax booth likely doing his daily job.  And Jesus very simply and bluntly says to him “Follow me.”  And then the text tells us Matthew “rose and followed him.”  Just like that.  What’s amazing about this is the fact that tax collectors were widely regarded by society and particularly the faithful Jews of that day as being sinners through and through.  They were seen as traitors to their own people as they aided the Romans.  They were usually thieves and liars in how they conducted their business.  We have no reason to think Matthew was any different.  And so we come to the point: it was a sinner like Matthew that Jesus called to follow. That is amazing love.

Mount Ouray

My wandering adventure to the summit of Mt. Ouray was a reminder of how quickly the mindset of a single day can change. I began the day barely able to drag myself out of bed. Two days prior I had done a 31 mile loop over Mt. Harvard and Mt. Columbia making a loop around the mountains including Horn Fork Basin and Pine Creek Basin and the Colorado Trail. Yesterday my father and I made a bushwhacking summit of Marmot Peak, just east of Buena Vista. My quads were shot from the previous days' climbing, my arms ached from trekking pole use, and my motivation as a whole was beat from all the wear and tear. It took a lot of determination to get moving. Yet I found along the way my motivation changing. The soreness in the legs and the body dissipated. The spectacular wonder of the summit lifting my spirits and suddenly I found myself renewed and refilled and loving every minute of the day. I carried that newfound spirit with me back down the trail.

Marmot Peak

For all the years my father has lived in Buena Vista he has set a goal of hiking all the prominent peaks that can be seen from his house. This has included Mt. Princeton, Mt. Columbia, Red Deer, Midland Hill, the Buffalo Peaks and Marmot Peak (its possible a few more are missing my list). Marmot, a mostly obscure peak, was the last missing goal. It sits in the southern shadow of the Buffalo Peaks and is accessible from the Fourmile Recreation area roads. There is no trail to the summit but a reasonable bushwhack can be made from the nearby Salt Creek Trail and that was our goal.

Harvard & Columbia Circumnavigate

I'm learning to become old acquaintances with challenges and failure. I chose to tackle a big self-made adventure again this year with high aspirations, but it didn't quite go as planned. I've been doing ultras for several years now and I decided my big goal for summer 2023 was what I would call an "adventure ultra", that is, not a sanctioned race but rather an ultra length adventure of my own making. I wanted to create my own route and then see if I could complete it. Half the adventure would simply be in the weeks and months of planning for this adventure and that part went exactly to plan.

While my big ultra adventure didn't go exactly as planned its hard to say that it was a total failure. I fell short of my ultimate goals but I still accomplished a lot and I didn't quit in big ways where I easily could have. Perhaps most importantly, I had a great time and still put a wonderful challenge to myself and felt very good about it in the end.