in the woods.
october 27.
there we were. all loaded up into our big white van. it was dark. the clock read 6:30. 6 ranchers. 2 mentors & 1 educational director were beginning the journey 4 hours south to the Little Missouri Trail trailhead where the plan was for us to spend the next 4 days. i found myself sitting in the backseat. one rancher laid her head upon my shoulder & drifted off to sleep & my other seat mate decided to use my lap as a pillow. in this quiet moment i realized my heart was happy. a few hours into the drive ranchers began waking up. one of the ranchers & i had a great fit of laughter that we tried to contain out of respect for those still asleep. i found myself in an incredibly happy state & reading license plates with her was a very funny activity. the trail head was nearing. the road turned to gravel & there we were out in the trees. the sky was dripping. inside i knew that this is how it was to be. rainy & wet. each person pulled out their incredibly fashionable rain ponchos, set their trecking poles to the right height & pulled on their packs. & at last we began. out in the woods. on the trail. with a whole lot of time to think was exactly what i was in need of. i smiled to myself as we began & wondered how i ever ended up here. backpacking was one of those dreams i had that i never knew if i would actually achieve. & here i was. this day we hiked 5 miles. it rained for almost every moment of those 5 miles. we found a nice campsite right on the trail. it was small & cozy. the sky stopped crying. we set up camp. each rancher pitched their tent in their assigned locations. & i was to camp right next to the trail. it left me feeling kind of like camp gaurd. two ranchers & i headed down to the river to filter water & fill all the water bottles. darkness crept in much quicker then i had expected & i was unprepared with no headlamp to light our way back to camp. we decided to sing as we walked. everyone was sitting around ready to make supper when we arrived. each of us had our little stoves & pot in front of us. & the decision was made to eat our mac & cheese with bacon tonight. a rancher had a bit of a struggle this night with cooking. this is not her first time out in the woods with the ranch so she should know that we do NOT boil water inside our plastic drink cups. in this moment i was thankful that miss brooke took charge & decided to cook this ranchers meal for her. after we cleaned our pots & tied up our food in our bear bags it was time for bed. we stood around & had circle prayers & then off to our tents. i was thankful that even though it had been a very wet day it was not a cold one. my sleep this night was not the greatest. it began to rain again & during the night there were some great downpours.
october 28.
o what a beautiful morning. if you like rain. ms brooke & i met for a little bit of a talk. the rain was causing spirits to be a bit low. we all sat under our tarp & cooked our oatmeal for breakfast & i had my morning coffee. we had a round up to talk plan as the rain continued to fall. the original plan was : hike 2 days. rest sunday. finish monday morning & go home. now we were begining to wonder if we should maybe change this. we decided to hike within 2 miles of the chariot. spend one more night out here & go home sunday. camp was taken up. all the ranchers did such a fantastic job of helping one another. on the trail again. many a water crossing happened on this day. 3 miles into our day & we had arrived at little missouri falls. no longer did the sky just drip. instead the heavens opened up & as one rancher said " God really blew His nose hard !" in this moment we realized we were done & wanted out. there were 4.1 more miles to the end of our planned trail. the question we had "has chariot been moved?" ms. brooke talked with this awesome couple & they said they would take her to see. behold there she was parked. darkness was gonna catch us if we didn't get moving. inside my head there was a war. o i wanted to stay out here it had felt so right when we talked but o a warm & dry house would be so pleasant. if the rain stopped at the halfway point we were going to still go with this mornings plan however the rain kept on coming. 2 more miles. we pull out our headlamps. darkness falls upon us. the last hour and a half in the dark i had many a thought. i really wanted to just stop. set up my tent & just sleep. my lack of good sleep had caught up. & then there we were on the rocky shore of the river once again. as we scanned the other bank my headlamp caught the sight of our van's tail lights through the trees. we had indeed made it all we must do know is cross this water one last time. & so it was that at around 7:30 nine very wet humans loaded their soggy packs & bodies into the chariot & began the journey home. we had completed our 12.5 mile trail in half the amount of time we had planned.what a thought. at midnight we drug ourselves into our house. quite literally throwing our packs down on the porch. each of the ranchers had a very quick shower & were sent to bed with the plan of waking up at 10:30.
october 29.
my plan was a nice waffle brunch kind of charcuterie style but not fancy. brown paper was used for a table covering & i just layed everything upon that. it was a fun meal to give to the girls after our excursion in the woods. dishes & we pulled out the colouring books. ms. sam spent some time with a rancher that was struggling & the rest of us tuned in to church in enderby. quiet time. supper & then a lazy evening.
. . . . . . . . . . .
New every morning. the words in my head as we hiked along. He loves me that much that each morning He gives me a new page. a chance to try again. do better. & a chance to leave yesterday in yesterday. of this i am so undeserving.
God new that what i needed was the silence of the woods.
He knew that i needed the sound of the rain.
He knew just like He always does.
your prayers are felt.
until next time
ms. tif
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happy things from this past bit of time.
. a trip to goltry on my off days to sew my dress for haleigh's wedding
. oct. 26 . a birthday lunch. miss brooke has a birthday on this day & with mine being on tuesday they joined our parties. this was a nice suprise.
. oct. 31 . my birthday. i had off. mr. dougs took me out for lunch & i went to mr.todd's to cut out a dress. bri & i went into rogers. met ms brooke at a cool pizza place. thanks for all the fun messages :)
. trains that roar past coffee shops
. all the beauty we were able to see out in the woods
. a day trip with the girls to hike & see whitaker point. eating one of backpacking meals. singing in an old church.
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