No Particular Place to Go

The next morning we entered the Northwest Territories. The resident’s license plates of this territory are in the shape of polar bears if that is foretelling at all. The difference between the Rocky Mountains and the rest of Alberta is incredible. Who would have ever guessed that Canada had so many swamps, rivers, and lakes? Also, who knew Canada had so many trees…duh! We have all heard about Canada’s forest, but when you are driving from Edmonton to the Northwest Territories and all you see in every direction is an insurmountable expanse of never ending forest. It is a little claustrophobic. While driving on the highway we once again have been impressed with the amount of wildlife we have seen. We have seen a lot of black bears, bison, and some other strange Canadian animals.

These critters were found on the highway! Although they tend to just lounge in their chairs, the monkey with high heels looks like she could be ferocious! Do not feed the wildlife! 

Oh Canada

Sunday night, while trying to find Trans-Canada Highway 1 we ended up in a residential suburb in Calgary. We turned around and looked for a gas station where we could ask for direction. The Canadian clerk, although friendly, had no clue what Banff was let alone where it was or even how to get to Highway 1.  So instead we bought a map and figured it out ourselves. We found a pull off and camped right off Highway 1 in Kananskis. The next morning we drove into Banff.  We walked around the town of Banff, which reminded us a lot of Breckenridge, and then because we did not want to pay $35 a night for camping we drove over to Yoho National Park. We found cheaper and more scenic campsites overlooking Takkakaw Falls. It was necessary to use a wooden cart to bring our camping gear to the sites that were 500 meters (while in Canada we will be using metric, eh) from the parking lot.  Overall, camping there for the four nights was great, but the mornings and nights were extremely chilly.

Tuesday morning we got up early, ate some grits, and started our trek towards Yoho Glacier. The first eight kilometers crossed streambeds, waterfalls, and a dense, moist northwestern type forest. The trail followed Yoho River as it came down from the glacier. The last 3 kilometers to the glacier were a mix of rock scrambling and rock climbing to reach a glacial moraine where we could look down on the Yoho Glacier and across at the Wapitik ice field. The glacier looked like a huge, powerful river frozen over winding through the valley.

It was a spectacular view, but one that we only wanted to view for a short time because it was so cold. One of us (he has two eyes) had a bathroom incident on the way down. It made for some good entertainment (at least for one of us) as we continued our hike down. We got back to camp and made dinner on the wood fire stove that was in the camp kitchen and talked with a couple from Vancouver for a hour or so. We had tea after dinner that proved to be too much liquid for one of us (she also has two eyes), which led to another bathroom incident during the middle of the night. What an eventful day! Wednesday we made bacon and eggs. We then drove back to Banff and hiked Lake Louise.

It was a beautiful hike that led to more specular views of glaciers and of Mount Victoria, but the best part of all was the Teahouse at the top (according to Lauren)! All hikes should have these! We had some delicious hummus and chips. Chris had a mocha and Lauren had a ginger chai tea. Yummy!

The hike down went quickly and we headed into Lake Louise village to buy some groceries and a nice dark Scottish ale. After that we drove back to camp, ate dinner, and went to bed. No bathroom incidences that day! Thursday was a pretty uneventful and relaxed day. We first drove into Kootenay National Park and were rather uninspired by the views. Once we learned that the visitor center that was in the middle of the park was not in operation we became frustrated and turned back. Why does Canada have four nation parks all bordering each other instead of one big one? We then went back into the town of Banff to get some lunch. We ate at an Indian buffet that was quite good. When we finished we walked around Banff some more and left. On Friday we walked our gear back to the Jeep, packed up, and ate breakfast in the parking lot and drove to Jasper National Park. When we came to the Columbia Ice fields, Chris went up to Wilson Pass to take pictures of the Athabasca Glacier. The drive through Icefield Parkway is extremely scenic. The Saskatchewan River had a lot of glacial runoff, which made it a brilliant blue color. The peaks on either side were tall and jagged and many had glaciers clinging to their cliffs or in the valleys. Seeing and hiking to as many glaciers as we have we were ready to leave to new territory. On the way out we saw a family of mountain goats and four huge bull elks. Apparently, it is better to just drive on a highway to see wildlife.

We drove into Edson to grab some dinner, but this was no ordinary dinner for Lauren. She had a pizza bursting with gluten!  She figured it was time to test the waters again. I begged her to just start with a piece of bread, but she replied, “Go big, or go home”! So soon after Lauren was going big in the bathroom…JUST KIDDING! It has been two days and it has still not made her sick! We made camp down by a river and made use of the Jeeps 4-wheeling capabilities to get there. In the morning we bathed in the river, the warmest one we have been in yet. One unexpected camper may have seen a lot more of Lauren then most! We spent all that day driving, with the occasional stop for gas and one for groceries at an IGA. We camped that night in a mosquito infested area. Campfire smoke did not even come close to deterring these blood-sucking monsters! That night while we were reading in our tent we heard eerie howling of a pack of wolves that was not too far away. Pretty amazing!

Cold as Ice

HOT! It was a huge surprise when we arrived in Glacier National Park and found it to be 89 degrees! It was difficult to sleep that night, since it did not cool off much. At first we were confused, but when we entered the park we realized the elevation of the lakes were about 3,100 feet, which made the surrounding landscape look all the more impressive! Friday we we spent most of the day on the free shuttle that Glacier offers through the park. We hiked to Avalanche lake, which was beautiful. We saw western red cedars and an intensely blue lake. The rest of the day we rode the shuttle and tried to take pictures of the scenery, which proved impossible to do from inside the bus. We ended up getting back so late we had to get dinner at one of the park restaurants. We ate and then drove to our campsite.

We got up at 4:30 the next morning to ensure that we would get a campsite on the far side of the park. We drove through GNP along the Going-to-the-Sun road. We were able to see the sunrise behind the mountains, but unfortunately due to the overcast skies the lighting was not good enough to take many pictures of the glaciated peaks and valleys. We reached the far side of the park, found a campsite, and after setting up our tent, we hiked Iceberg Lake. We started at 8:30 and walked the 4.9 miles to the glacier lake. Along the way we saw a long-tailed weasel running down the trail towards us. It was so stinking cute; but it disappeared into the grass before we got a picture of it. Rats! The views were incredible, and upon reaching the Lake we decided to take advantage of the ice floating in it. There were in fact icebergs floating around in the water, so we waded out to meet them! The water was between 30 and 35 degrees near the shore. We took turns standing on the iceberg while the other took a picture...Lauren had to go out two separate times because the photos I took were sub-par. The water was so numbing that both of us while wading back to shore began to lose muscle control in our lower limbs, and because of Lauren's stature she found it hard to breathe as the water rose to her chest. After climbing out of the frigid water it took several minutes of running in circles and jumping jacks to warm our bodies up again! We hope we are ready for the Arctic Ocean!

On Sunday we felt like having a lumberjack breakfast before beginning our ascent to Grinnel Glacier! Pancakes with apple-butter and applewood smoked bacon...mmm mm good! We started the hike around 8:00 and reached the lake around 10:15. More astounding views! We met three men at the lake as they were preparing to ski down one of the glaciers in the valley. The oldest of the men has been doing this annually for nine years! As we hiked down many people seemed more astounded at our early start and summit times. Almost every person made a comment like, "Wow, up and back already?!", "you guys must love hiking", and "Did you already make it to the glacier?!".  Being from the good ol' state of Colorado we were very confused by those comments, since back home an 8:00 start time would be considered late. We saw several cinnamon colored black bears, but alas, no grizzlies, and still no bull moose!

Aren't these flowers fun?! Dr. Suess has nothing on God!

The striking emerald coloration is due to what the Park Rangers referred to as "Rock Flour".
As the Glaciers move down the mountain, the large pieces of ice rake against the rock
and grind the surface into an extremely fine powder which is washed down
into the glacial lakes. It stays suspended in the water for a long period of time and absorbs
the whole spectrum of color, except the emerald shade of blue!

After we finished the hike we crossed into Canada without a hitch. We are now in Calgary, Alberta and headed for Banff National Park!

On the Road Again

On Tuesday evening the Jeep was done and we drove it back to camp! Our last night camping in Ketchum had arrived, and it came as a huge relief because the smoke was becoming overwhelming. All throughout the day the ash was raining on us as we read in the square. The Starbucks owner (one of the first individually owned) had noticed us everyday since we arrived in Ketchum and gave us a free drink. We thought perhaps we would go unnoticed, but that can't be done for two people who wear the same clothes and go to the same spot everyday in a town of 3,900! Wednesday morning, we made our final preparations to leave Ketchum, which included dropping the Jeep off for a final checkup and doing laundry. Success! The Jeep passed the inspection. With a new engine and clean clothes we were ready to be on the road again! As we were leaving we found that many others were leaving as well; those that were staying in Ketchum were wearing face masks due to all the smoke and ash. You couldn't even see the traffic lights at the end of town! 

We drove north along the Salmon River Valley. It was very scenic. We made it to Montana, and low and behold the Jeep made it in one piece and running well! We stopped to take a picture of the sign and noticed a backpacker, Adam, trying to get a ride. He only needed to go 15 miles down the road, the same way we were traveling. So he clambered into the back and to Lauren's disappointment he had rested his arm and armpit on her pillow! What an unfortunate surprise that night...She had just done laundry! He was super nice and he told us all about his backpacking adventures, which included hiking all the Appalachian Trail, all of the Pacific Crest Trail, and was near finishing the Continental Divide Trail. When he finishes the CDT he will have backpacked 9,500 miles! We dropped him off and headed to Missoula where we bought food and slept in a Walmart parking lot. Thursday morning we woke up, ate a quick breakfast, and hit the road.

Y.M.C.A.

A shower at last! We had to put that in first because we could not wait to share our good news with everyone! Now back to the beginning. The day started with cold cereal and moving camp again. This time we had to drive towards the fire and the smoke was so thick that we could hardly see the far side of Bald Mountain (the ski mountain). After we pitched our tent we headed back in to town to talk with the mechanics. They said the engine had not arrived yet, but they expected it soon. Layke said if everything goes well we should be able to leave here by tomorrow afternoon!!! Cross your fingers. From their we took a trip to the YMCA where Lauren swam a 3000m and I swam a measly 1600m! Give those swimmers some credit, swimming is hard! We showered with HOT water and for a LONG time! We used shampoo AND conditioner AND body wash! What a glorious day! We were so excited to feel clean we even had the YMCA Marketing Manager (a fellow Coloradan!) take our picture in front of the building! Swimming gives you a voracious appetite, so we drove over to the market and bought some chicken, cheese, chips, trail mix, gluten free cookies, and two disgusting peaches which we promptly threw away after taking one bite. Blech! We headed over to the town square where we ate our lunch and are now blogging. In hopes that the Jeep will be fixed, we will be doing laundry tomorrow and prepare to leave this town! Hello Montana...maybe!

Whoa! Who are those squeaky clean folks?!

Love, Love, Love

Saturday morning we went to a coffee shop in downtown Ketchum. It is a little place called Java. Chris had a cup of joe and Lauren had a chai tea latte. With our drinks, we walked over to the town square (where we have been spending A LOT of time) to enjoy our drinks and read. We pretty much read all day until Lauren could no longer stand the pain in her butt from sitting. We then left and explored the town some more. We found out that this weekend they were hosting an art festival in Atkinson park, so we joined in on the festivities. We walked up and down the rows of art exhibits. The hand carved wood displays, photography, and paintings were our favorite ones to observe. There were some pretty incredible artists there! When we were finished, we sat at a table to listen to the bluegrass group that was playing for the festival. In Lauren's opinion they were playing some good ones: Hey Good Lookin' and The Preacher and the Bear. Lauren was thoroughly disappointed with the latter, no one can sing it like Andy Griffith! We forgot to mention in an earlier post that Ketchum caught fire! Not really Ketchum, but the Sawtooth National Forest seven miles away. The sky looked pretty crazy that night as the smoke was engulfing the sun and making it blood red! We then headed to camp and made dinner. We had something besides sausage for the first time since we started camping; we had chicken! We savored this meal, bite by bite, and then went to bed.

Sunday, August 11, 2013, we celebrated our first anniversary! Woo hoo! It was done in high fashion. First, an epic mountain bike ride on Ketchum single track. Then a romantic bath. Actually, we dunked our heads in the Big Wood River and tried not to get any of the sand or rocks stuck in our hair. We cleaned our legs and arms from the sweat, dirt, and blood we had gained since our last semi-bath. We donned our best clothing, which wasn't much, and headed to town for dinner. But first we stopped to relax for a while at the square. We ate at Ricco's Authentic Italian. It tasted more like microwaved imitation Italian. Despite the taste, we ate our entire meal, can't let food go to waste when you are on such a tight budget! We left dissatisfied and still hungry, so we went to Smoky's Mountain for their gluten free pizza, sundae, coffee, and a hot cider. It could not have been more different from our first two weeks as a married couple when we were in Italy. After our sundae we drove back to our campsite and shared two plastic cupfuls of white wine from the Amalfi Coast and sat in the back of the Isuzu pickup watching the sun set. We shared about some of the things we had learned about each other in the past year. We toasted to the past year, full of blessings and reasons for falling more in love with one another, and also to the future!

The Resistance

On Friday we were mountain biking, or rather "hike-a-biking", up a very steep 4 wheel drive road covered in loose cobbles and gravel. I became very frustrated with how long the climb lasted and my inability to ride up it. On top of that I was weak and dizzy from not eating enough the last few weeks (our food storage is limited while in bear country), and I lashed out in a passive aggressive way at Lauren. Knowing me as she does she knew exactly what I really meant when I said, "This trail sucks!".  She responded by saying, "you have done nothing but complain since we began this road trip." Taken aback I said, "No I haven't! When have I ever complained on this trip?". In retrospect that was a very stupid thing to say because she rattled off about five or six things without a pause and continued trudging up the hill. I shut my yap pretty quick because I immediately knew she was right. In that very moment even as I was processing the rebuke I had just received from Lauren, I felt convicted by God that she was indeed correct and that I had a very poor attitude from the very beginning of the trip. I was in every sense the opposite of a "happy camper"! As I moved angrily up the hill pushing my bike I realized not only was I being a grumbler and malcontent, but I had some deep seeded anger and bitterness about the state of our vehicle and the way God was orchestrating the string of events thus far. Even just thinking about it, I became more and more angry and realized that I was not only angry but that I wanted to be angry! I felt that I was justified about being angry and at the same moment a deeper and quieter voice was beckoning me to give it up and let it go. I didn't want to give it up, I wanted to let it linger so that I might have a chance to beat it myself. If I let it go I would lose my opportunity to fight back and my chance to avenge what I felt had been an injustice against me. I decided to talk to God about it, even if begrudgingly. I told him I didn't know how to surrender it and I didn't know if I could, but that I wanted him to take away the anger because it was starting to take root in my heart. When we finally reached the end of the 4 wheel drive road the trail to Eve's Gulch (which is a fascinating coincidence in itself!), we could again RIDE our bikes. I did not feel much better at this point, but I was relieved to begin the downhill, or so I thought! The trail began to go down but only for a little way, it was very deceptive! It began climbing and soon I could feel the anger mounting again! I said to God "if you make me go up one more hill I'm going to scream!". After that hill it was all downhill and I even dared to smile when we reached the portion of the trail that turned off and went down towards the downhill course (called forbidden fruit). I could feel that God was lightening my burden already.

Even after all the pain and scarring, God uses fire for regrowth and his beauty!

In the past few weeks, even months, I had this bloated perception of myself. I felt as if I had earned God's blessing. Somehow I was truer, more steadfast, and spiritually better than those around me. It wasn't that I sat around thinking about how much better I was, it was more that those thoughts resided so deep in my subconscious that I did not even know they were there. Nonetheless, I chose to view my surroundings through that tainted perspective. It was slowly destroying me. It led to a prideful and conceited self-awareness. If anything deviated from my plan to have fun and relax it made me bitter. It made me question God's providence. I called him a liar and defaced his holy name whenever I refused to believe he could take care of us. I chose to set myself up as my own god because I thought I could do it better. I would fix everything and get us prepared for our trip. Boy was I wrong! He destroyed my pride, my anger, my conceit, and broke my spirit on that scarred and burnt mountain. He shone his light on my ugly pride and rebuked me for calling him a liar. He removed the wall of security I had built with money and monetary things and exposed me for who I was striving to be; it was not very becoming. I acted with such pomp and arrogance but all that was left was a child. Immature and weak. In total need of a father's guidance and a father's provision. I reached the bottom of my ability much faster than I thought possible, and yet strangely it was such a relief. All that time I was trying to hold on to those burdens and weights and all the while he was trying to get me to let go. He only ever wanted to make me free, but I preferred the weight of chains and unnecessary burdens. I have been humbled and now know that I should have spent more time preparing my heart to follow God wherever his path may lead us, and less time trying to direct my own way! I am also realizing, as I have so many times before that, this is a process. It was a painful way to wake me up, but I am glad he did, I am a much happier camper now! Just ask Lauren! A trip through the Garden of Eden proved I had a very serious pride issue, but it also laid the foundation for the way I was to be rescued from myself.

Message in a Bottle

Caught in Ketchum! We have been in Ketchum, Idaho since last Sunday and it appears we may be stranded here for the next few days as well...boo! It is a wonderful town, but at this point we are ready to be on our way and out of the famous potato state!

This is how you crosswalk in Ketchum...total control!

On Monday we found a mechanic and dropped the Jeep off. It was returned to us Monday night. Layke, the mechanic, replaced a gasket in the engine and told us he thought that would do it. Needless to say, we were excited and hopeful that the problem had been fixed. We went mountain biking, swam in natural hot springs, relaxed in the town of Ketchum, explored its old ski town charm, camped, and camped, and camped! We have had to move campsites three times thus far due to a regulation limiting length of stay. We are becoming quicker at tearing down and setting up camp. We also now have learned not to leave any belongings outside of the tent. A fox is now the proud of owner of one size 10 men's Chaco. Blast!

Ketchum's mountain biking is second to none in the lower 48! There are thousands of miles of trails all around Ketchum, Hailey, and Bellevue.  The trails are filled with challenging uphills, flowing single tracks, and even some downhilling. After most rides you can cool off in the Big Wood River. All these towns are within 15 miles of where we are currently.  There is great fishing up the Salmon River (aptly named) and awesome opportunities for kayaking. The town itself is attractive and quaint. It's a mecca for all things outdoors. What more could you ask for, especially if your stranded!

To backtrack a little, we learned quickly Tuesday morning on our way to Redfish Lake that the gasket was not the problem. As we drove up farther into the mountains the Jeep began spewing oil and smoking like a smoldering firepit. We were super disappointed and decided to turn around so as not to waste anymore time in getting the repair under way. The Jeep, or heap, or lemon, or whatever you want to call it was BACK in the shop for the seventh time in the last three weeks! Layke ran some compressive test on the engine and determined that one of the pistons rings was broken and the engine needed to be...rebuilt. What a bunch of pie! We talked about it for the better part of the day and called Dad Hendrickson. After we determined replacing the engine was the best option given our circumstances. We told the mechanic to order the engine and he told us to expect it by Friday or Monday. As we tried to leave, the Jeep made some horrible noises, like a muffled gun shot. There was smoke coming from the vents and the exhaust. We immediately turned around to return once again to the shop. The mechanic gave us an Isuzu truck and said, "I hope you're okay with this it's a little more white trash than you're probably used to". 

It runs great, better than the stupid Jeep, and it has 192,000 miles on it! We have showered once (in a mountain stream) in the last two weeks, we have been wearing the same clothes for a week, we stink, we are dirty, we are hungry, we are tired, and we now have very little money (Thanks Just Eats Every Penny)! Stay tuned for some more Ketchum adventures and hopefully a shower.  

Take it Easy

We thought we should should share with you exactly what we are traveling/living in. We took out the back seats and created and built a custom storage unit that turns into an expandable bed (With a lot of help from Dad Hendrickson). Pretty Neat! It has one bin for our shoes, one for our bike gear and emergency car equipment, two for cooking supplies and food, two for clothing, and more.  The rocket box is stuffed full of our camping gear and backpacks. Lauren sewed some curtains to put up when we sleep and put mosquito nets in the windows behind the driver/passenger seats. It has boards to extend the sleeping space and a table that can be removed from the vehicle and set up in a campsite.  Frankly there are lots of little details that are too hard to explain in writing! It has a broad rang of uses for the circumstances we plan on encountering!