“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.
-John 15:9-14 NIV
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: Christianity, earth, Jesus, mountains, photography, photos, spirituality
A few moments later the day is done, and all is changed to dull gray. Fainter, fainter grows the twilight….The brownest trunks lose their color….How solemn the hush, the rest! Not a squirrel note now. Every one is at home motionless, sleeping in a rolled ball, all his lightning filled limbs wrapt about with his tail for warmth. The dew is falling. The violets and daisies are drinking. Not a breath stirs the innumerable plumes of fir. Go out in the latest twilight on the mead and see even the airy panicles of Agrostis scarce moving. Yet the heart of Nature is still beating.
-John of the Mountains – Pg. 212
Posted in Nature Writer Quotes | Tags: Caifornia, earth, John Muir, life, nature, photography, photos, spirituality, travel
31 Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”
Luke 5:31-32 NLT
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: Christianity, colorado, hiking, Jesus, life, nature, photography, photos, travel
It was a cloudy Autumn day in October of 2011 when we set out on this hike near Steamboat. We had hiked this trail before when we were here last June. The trail is not difficult and there is a 100 year old barn that has been restored about two miles into the hike. It had rained off and on all morning making the trail a little slippery and sloppy.
The trail ascends quickly and travels along the Mad Creek as it makes its way through a canyon. It was late fall but there were a few aspens that still held on to their golden leaves.
After a couple of miles we reach the barn. Unlike last time there is no one here. We have the barn all you ourselves. We relax and take pictures while the kids play in the barn.
The contrast in colors in Colorado is quite stunning.
The last time we hiked this trail we had to turn around after the barn and head back. This time we pressed on and found the remnants of an old county bridge road and a log cabin that was next to the creek.
It is wasy to see why someone would build a cabin along this creek. It is absolutley stunning.
We hike on for another mile or so when out of nowhere a huge group of rocks shot out of the ground around 50 feet high. We decided to try our hand at climbing. We finally found a good route and a beautiful view was our reward.
We climbed down the rock and decided it had been a satisfying day. We headed back the way we came. We walked past the barn and back along the ridge of the canyon. Our return was not without excitement. We heard a noise in the bushes just off the trail above us. We looked into the bushes hoping to spot a deer or even a moose. I was actually thankful we didn’t meet what was in the bushes, especially when we saw these.
We hiked a little faster back to the car with excitement and curiousity in our hearts. On the drive home we pulled into a driveway of a house that was for sale and God blessed us with this.
Posted in 2011 Hikes | Tags: colorado, hiking, life, local, mountains, nature, photography, photos, travel
>> Conquer fear. Don’t let the onset of darkness cause you to panic. Hysteria drives lost hikers to keep moving (getting more lost) and boosts heart rate and muscle tension. Both responses compound stress. Try belly breathing to relax: Lie down on your back and place one hand on your chest and the other on your abdomen. Inhale through your nose, expanding your belly, and hold it for seven seconds before exhaling through your mouth. Repeat for up to 10 breaths.
>> Prioritize water. Dehydration undermines decision-making and endurance, and three days is your survival limit without fluids. If your supply is scant, look for a water source. If it’s plen- tiful but you have no way to purify it, collect the clearest water you can find. It’s better to stay hydrated than hold out for purification; most water-borne illness won’t strike for weeks, and by then, odds are you’ll be close to medical care.
>> Build a shelter. Settle on a suitable location—near water, but high enough to avoid potential flooding and cold-air inversions that settle into depressions. Fashion a modified lean-to (see Illustration above): Gather materials (body-length sticks, saplings, and bits of bark, moss, or leaves) anidentify a fallen log or upturned root ball that will act as your shel- ter’s support. Pile dry boughs to create an insulating bed beside the log and lean 5- to 8-foot branches against it, above the bed and approximately one foot apart. Interlace them with saplings to form a slanted roof, and cover the frame- work with leaves or bark to form a water-resistant surface. The structure should be just big enough for you to wiggle into without knocking it down.
-Backpacker Magazine
Posted in Weekly Survival Skill | Tags: enviroment, life, mountains, nature, photography, photos, survival, travel, utah
“Then a yet stranger light came on. The cliffs here and there caught a glow of yellow, changing the white gradually to rose. One beheld a thousand views of clouds-a new climate, a new world. The mighty pines glowed like flames, and the falling waters rejoiced as if conscious of the treasures being heaped in their fountains….A grand reproduction of Egypt’s Sphinx on the south wall….its head turned north.
-John of the Mountains-Pg. 241
Posted in Nature Writer Quotes | Tags: books, Caifornia, enviroment, John Muir, life, nature, photography, spirituality, travel
42 Early the next morning Jesus went out to an isolated place. The crowds searched everywhere for him, and when they finally found him, they begged him not to leave them.
-Luke 4:42 NLT
–http://www.satyathakur.com/blog/2009/09/06/holiday-places-in-ladakh/
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: Christianity, earth, faith, Jesus, life, nature, photography, travel
“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
-Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: Christianity, colorado, hiking, Jesus, life, nature, photography, photos, travel
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
-Matthew 3:16-17 NIV
–http://nightingales.wordpress.com/
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: Christianity, faith, Jesus, life, nature, photography, photos
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
-Matthew 3:13-15 NIV
Posted in Daily Scriptures | Tags: Christianity, earth, Jesus, life, nature, personal, photography, photos, travel
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