Banff National Park, Canada

Revelstoke
Wow, it feels like so much has happened since last time we wrote! We drove from Squamish through the rain to Revelstoke, a small little town near Revelstoke National Park. It is well known (or so they say) for it's great heli-skiing, with the most vertical drop in BC. It's also well known for Mt. Biking. We celebrated Jonathan's birthday by staying in a little motel in Revelstoke. It was a good relief from the constant rain.

We woke up early and rode some trails. First, we rode a loop together, trying not to slide on the wet roots. The trail was fun. Then, Ashley dropped me off at the top of a popular downhill trail that winds down the mountain through the forest. This was the steepest trail I'd ever ridden. It constantly had dropoffs that I even had trouble walking down. It was made a little harder because of the rain, but I still have trouble imagining ever riding down this stuff. Several spots I tried to make myself ride, but couldn't. I'd look at it, convince myself to do it, back up and ride to the edge of it, and then.... step off my bike in fear. Even though I was cautious, I still managed to do 2 endo's (front flips), because it was so steep. There was also several log crossings, where I rode on a log with a 6" wide platform for 20'. There was several crazy jumps and platforms built as well, that I rode around. I was finding cuts and bruises on myself for days afterwards, but it was well worthit.

Then we drove to nearby Glacier National Park, and went for a hike. There was a huge glacier that we hiked up to. It was 3500' vertical in 3 miles. It was beautiful, even though we were engulfed in clouds and rain as soon as we got up above treeline. We were gonna camp nearby, but because of the rain decided to keep driving to Banff Nat'l Park.


Banff National Park

is pretty cool. Huge peaks all around it and a nice big clear river running through the valley. We relaxed one morning and walked around the town of Banff, and then did a few sport climbs nearby. Sunday we went to a little presbyterian church in Banff. It was a cool group of people, mostly from out of town, but all excited to be around other believers.

We went for another bike ride on a recommended trail by the river. This trail was the last straw for my bike. 5 miles from the trailhead I broke my rear derailler and then my seat. Here's the list of broken parts (items that need to be replaced) on my bike: Front Shock, Seat cushion, bottom bracket, chain, pedals, derailler, cassettes, chainrings. Basically everything except the frame and wheels.

Monday and Tuesday we climbed. We found some really unique limestone sport climbing in Canmore called Grassi Lakes. Tuesday we climbed some trad and sport climbs at Lake Louise. The climbing at both these places was great, and the views were spectacular. We met more climbers from Boulder than from any other place.

Then we drove to some Natural Hot Springs on the edge of a river. It was fun running back and forth from the hot pools to the freezing icemelt water. We also had a few long interesting conversations with some canadians.

Squamish, Canada

We just left Squamish Canada, the outdoor capital of Canada. It was beautiful. The place is known mostly for it’s climbing, but also has great mountain biking, kayaking, cliff jumping, hiking, and camping. Sounds great for us, right. Well, Squamish also gets about 80 inches of rain per year, and even though july is supposed to be pretty dry, Squamish was covered in clouds and mist and rain the entire time we were there. The sun came up long enough for us to boulder a little and then climb 1 route. It was a little disappointing to look at all the big cliffs and soaked bike trails and not be able to use them.
We did happen to bump into Dave, a friend of Jonathan’s from Boulder. Dave now lives in Durango and got to Squamish the same night we got there with his friend Timmy. Dave and Timmy are a unique combination, which provided us with non-stop entertainment. They were constantly changing into ridiculous costumes, making fun of each other, throwing coffee grinds at each other, and anything else that they thought might pass the time.
After hearing that the forecast called for 5 more days of rain, we decided to pack up and leave and head towards Banff National Park. We added a few more pictures to the Picasa site again.

Clash Alert

Jonathan is pushing the limit of the maximum allowed different blue shades in one outfit, consistantly! See our photos for evidence....

Car Update
Our power steering fluid is still leaking. It got a little better once we got out of the heat of Idaho, but it’s still leaking. We took our car to a repair shop in squamish and found out that our racks & pinions were leaking, and that it would cost $1100 dollars and would be a week before they got the part. So, off we went, with a few more bottles of power steering fluid.

The Budget
Many discussions were had about our budget for this road trip, especially among our Colorado friends. Well, the budget has worked pretty well as a guideline. We did even better than our budget while back East, thanks to the hospitality of a lot of family and friends. The budget has worked well the last few weeks while camping as well. Campsites have been cheaper than expected, and, of course, we’ve spent more money at gas stations than hoped.

Seattle, Scum, Nelson, & Pictures

We added more pictures to our Picasa Album. You should check it out at http://picasaweb.google.com/jowallac/NorthWestRoadTrip.

We met up with Nelson at Mt. Rainier and camped and hiked. It's a huge mountain, 14,411 feet tall, and lots of people were hiking up it to attempt to climb it. There were lines of people with huge backpacks, skis, snowboards, crampons, axes, ropes, plastic boots, and everything else all hiking up towards Camp Muir, the base camp for most summit attempts. It was fun watching these people struggle with each step up while we ran up & down the trail.

We then followed Nelson back to Seattle to his 8'x8' room he shares with another guy. Nelson showed us their plans of building a loft in the room, so that they can open the door without moving his bed. He then took us to his church, Scum of the Earth http://www.scumchurch.com/. It was cool, and the exact opposite of the church we went to in Tennessee. The name comes from I Corinthians 4:11-13. They served us dinner (tortilla soup, salad, and raspberry banana pudding), and then had church in a small room. About 30 of us sat on couches and the floor. The preacher is a former bank robber and was very open and honest about his shortcomings and how God's grace has gotten him where he is. He spoke about living a life of integrity, and that doesn't mean that you are perfect but that you are honest about who you really are. Afterwards we met Zach and Alex, who grew up in Chiang Rai Thailand and whose parents are good friends with Aje and Nancy (the couple who run the orphanage that we support). They have a friend who will be in the DTS with us this september. It was fun and encouraging to talk to them about our next steps. It was crazy how God arranged our meeting and conversation.

Now, we're heading north to Squamish, Canada to camp.

Backpacking in the Olympic Nat'l Park

We just got done hiking for FOREVER. Well, it felt like forever and our legs are real tired now. The Olympic NP was beautiful and lush with huge trees covered in moss, waterfalls, big slugs, bears, deer, elk, and not many people. It's so different from the CO mountains because of all the vegetation. Even though the highest point we hiked to was 4700', the trail was very rugged. It went straight up & down (2000' vertical gain in 1.5 miles). Our first night out, we hadn't seen any people and were a little terrified at the thought of a bear snooping around our tent (Ashley made me go to the bathroom with her in the middle of the night). We didn't see any bears, but we saw plenty of fresh bear scat (pooh), and one guy we passed (who camped at the same places we did), said he had seen 4 different bears playing in the water & eating berries.

On the hike out this morning, our legs failing us, the only thing that kept us moving was jonathan's serenade to ashley of every cheesy song he knows (Bed of roses by bon jovi, I'll be there for you, Redneck woman by gretchen wilson, all of the guns & roses classics, and of course, the grand finale of Peculiar by SFC (soldiers for christ).

We wish we could have spent more time there, but now we're headed to Mt. Rainier to meet our friend Nelson from Flatirons Church.

July 12, somewhere near Mt. St. Helens

Well, Monday morning we left Boulder and drove to City of Rocks in Idaho. We drove past one huge fire (55,000 acres) that was started by lightning in Southern Idaho. The fire had come all the way to the road in some spots, and you could see the flames far away in the mountains.

The camping there is so beautiful. You are in this valley with all these big rocks sticking up around you, and the sunsets every night were beautiful. It’s a nice place to relax. We did some climbing. We did a few classic 1 to 2 pitch routes from 5.6-5.10. Ashley has decided that she really doesn’t like trad climbing. She doesn’t like taking out the gear, and she thinks it takes too long. We also went for a run at sunset through a cow pasture. We would try to scare the cows off our path, but they just kept running the way we wanted to go. Cows aren’t that smart. One cow (a huge one) tried to hide behind this little bush. He acted like he was peeking his head around the bush to watch us, not knowing that we could see his ENTIRE body.

Southern Idaho is very hot. Like 100 degrees hot. While not as sticky & sweaty as the heat we encountered in Florida & Tennessee, it left us looking & longing for a pool or lake. We found a pool, but it’s only open from Wed. – Sunday. We were there Monday & Tuesday. We did find a cute little Outpost that had some great food and pies and service. We stayed there (inside) during the hottest part of the day and sipped lemonade.

For you climbers out there, Castle Rocks State Park is now open and has quite a few routes at it. The rocks & routes look very similar to the City.

Apparently this little area is becoming developed. They are widening the road to City of Rocks. This was quite a pain. As we tried to leave, we had to wait 20 minutes for a pilot car to come drive us through all the road work. We had a conversation with the lady who holds the stop sign there. I’ve always wanted to talk to one of them. This is what we learned: she works 8am – 5:30pm min. (sometimes 10pm), she can’t sit on the job or use an umbrella, she must wear pants no matter the temp. She lives in her fifth wheel so that she can relocate each summer to her new jobsite. But this sign holder is not just a rough & tough construction worker, she also works as an accountant during the winter. She is a nice lady (with 3 huge “pimping” rings on one hand) and now we have new respect for stop sign holders.

After our conversation with her, we proceeded to drive through Idaho on I-84, through more construction delays (with no real work being done), then drove along the beautiful Columbia River and watched the sunset. We knew we had a little leak of power steering fluid in our car, but it has gotten worse. We talked to a mechanic in Idaho who said it could take some time to find the leak, but that as long as we kept it full we wouldn’t damage the car. Well, the leak is getting worse, and we hope to stop soon and get it fixed.

Now, we’re camped at a little St. Park near Mt.St. Helens. We just went for a Mtn. Bike ride through th forest. It is a beautiful forest with big tall trees and ferns and moss. This afternoon, we’ll drive to the Olympic Nat’l Park and backpack for 2 nights from the Staircase trailhead.

We're Home

The sight of the Rocky Mountains was VERY welcome after driving through all of kansas & eastern Colorado. It definitely feels like home, to look out the window and see the Flatirons. It's hard not to be motivated to go run or climb or bike when everywhere you look you see mountains. It also felt like home to go back to Flatirons Community Church. After visiting churches in Michigan, NC, and TN, it was nice to come back to Flatirons Church. We've heard better preaching, been in nicer buildings, but Flatirons just seems like home to us.

We visited Ashley's Mom in Hermann and her dad, step-mom and sister in Kansas City, and have been in beautiful Boulder for 1 full day. Tomorrow, we'll get an oil change and drive to City of Rocks in Idaho. We'll be back in Boulder around August 5 for Justin and Krista's wedding.

July 4!!!!!

We were reading today in Phillipians 3 and it made us think of that church we went to last Sunday. Phillipians 3:3 says, “For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us.” It reminded us that it says many times in the Bible that it is not what we do or wear or say that makes us saved, it is by grace that we have been saved, through faith in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:8-9 is a good verse as well. So, if anyone ever tells you that you need to wear a certain dress or suit, go to a certain church, or act a certain way to be a Christian, you can refer to these verses and tell them that these “works” will get them no closer to God.

We had a great July 4!!! We spent the last few days at the Riddle Retreat visiting with family. We also ran, swam, rode bikes and waverunners, wakeboarded, fished for catfish and brim, played ping-pong and poker. We were in the annual july 4 boat parade, where about 20 boats decorated with USA flags troll around the lake and wave to all the people on their docks. Later that night we went out on the pontoon boat again and watched some fireworks. It was fun, but not as fun as 2 years ago. 2 years ago on july 4 at the same place was when we first talked about getting married.

New Pictures Posted

Check out our Picasa Web Album on the right hand side of the page to SEE what we've been up to.

We drove from Florida Keys to Chattanooga Tennessee. We bouldered and went for a run at RockTown, then climbed a few routes at Foster Falls. It is very hot & humid. We got up at 5:30am to "beat the heat" and climb, and, we still were dripping sweat after 1 climb.