stepping up

I'm ready for an upcoming weekend at home, but I had opportunity to throw on the backpack and sleep in a tent in the woods again this weekend... that makes two weekends in a row.  Autumn disappears quickly... I'll take it!

I invited my brother and nephew to backpack with us this year.  When we compared our schedules, they only matched for October 31st.  I didn't really want to wait that long in the season, because the weather could get questionable and the window could close without getting to go.  I told my brother that we were going earlier (only by a week, as it turned out), but I/we would consider going twice.

In the meantime, my brother had an idea for a slightly modified trip.  He got permission to use Stony Glen Camp as the location and proposed that we do a "men's retreat" of sorts... a little backpacking (about a mile on Saturday and a mile on Sunday), a night of camping (Stony Glen has a few primitive campsites off the beaten path), and a four-part men's Bible study video series titled, Stepping Up (produced by Family Life Ministries, where he is a member of the ministry staff).

I liked the idea (and I've never backpacked into November before), so we worked out the details and I made the boys go with me (one of them needed a little more forcing than the other, but they neither put up too big of a fight).

We met Saturday morning at Stony Glen

He's here... as long as neatness doesn't count!

On our hike into camp, we stopped at Borderline Falls, one of five beautiful waterfalls within the camp property.  There was a fallen tree across the top of the falls and one of the boys had the idea to push it off the falls.  I didn't think it could be done... it was pretty big.  So, then it became a manly challenge!  We team lifted and pushed it and were able to move it inch by inch closer to the edge.  we got it very near the edge, but it was still wedged at the top and it was too close to the edge to safely push any further.  We then found some smaller logs to use as levers and were able to pry it over the edge.  It only went part way down the falls and stopped at another ledge, but we felt accomplished in working together in a display of testosterone to move the tree!  It was nonsense, really, but it was making memories!

Borderline Falls (top)

There has to be a way to push this log over the falls...

We did it!  The upper part of the falls, sans log.

The log started just below the first ledge

Borderline Falls from below

Climbing back up after admiring our "work"

Camping at Pioneer Point

Pioneer Point is on a bluff above the Grand River

Thanks to iPad technology, we had a packable video screen in camp and we did the first two of four segments of the Stepping Up video series on Saturday afternoon and evening, with plenty of time for hanging out and messing around.  Stony Glen is a beautiful Christian camp and Pioneer Point was a great campsite.

cooking dinner... and drying socks from the waterfall escapades

I'm in this picture... but you might not be able to see me!

We packed out of camp Sunday morning and went about a half mile downstream, where we stopped at another campsite to do the third segment.  Someone had built this cool stone table out of logs and a stone slab.

Reminds me of an old Russ Taff song, Table in the Wilderness

We wrapped up session four with a stop at the two-story tree-house

We ended Sunday by exploring more of Stony Glen's magnificent waterfalls before we headed home.  I enjoyed the weekend and the opportunity to spend some time with my boys, brother, and nephew.  I'm glad I got my backpacking fix the prior weekend, because this weekend's shorter hiking mileage would not have been enough to scratch the itch.  But, I really liked the second weekend of combined backpacking and men's retreat.  

The Stepping Up video series is well done and affirmed some areas I'm doing a pretty good job and challenged me in some areas where I need improvement.  Although some of the content didn't apply to the boys, much of it gave good foundational principles for them to build on as they approach manhood, if they will apply them.  I was happy that all three of the boys participated in discussion times, which indicates that they were engaged in the material.

Thanks, David, for the idea and for putting this together for us!

Big Falls

My brother and nephew

Cascade Falls

Small Falls