Live Different: My 100 Life Goals

#74: Hike to Devil’s Hall in the Guadalupes

In the past eight days, I have walked 27 miles in two different national parks. I’ve also knocked out a couple of life goals. As with the Emory Peak hike last week, however, I didn’t expect to cross off this goal until the morning of the hike, when my friend Paul decided he would hike Devil’s Hall instead of the planned route up Guadalupe Peak. He had knee surgery a few months ago, and didn’t want to put too much stress on it right away.

So I took three guys who had never hiked the tallest peak in Texas along with me, while Paul did some reconnaissance work on Devil’s Hall. After a quick 5 hour scamper up and down G Peak (Aside: I don’t care how in shape you are, Guadalupe Peak is a challenge. It makes even the best of us wheeze.), we met Paul at 2:30 PM under a shady Madrone at a trail junction. Paul said it was an easy extra couple of miles; he had also taken careful notes of all the birds he had seen that morning. (If you know Paul, this doesn’t surprise you one bit.) The rest of the guys were bushed from the Peak and wanted to head back to the car, so I went by myself.

I’m glad I did. It’s a magnificent hike: short, scenic, and on a fairly even grade. As you can see from my pictures above, I’m fascinated with plants growing straight out of rocks, and there are plenty of examples of this in Devil’s Hall. This will be one of the hikes I take the boys on when they’re a bit older, maybe even this fall (I suspect the big-toothed maples on the trail will be sublime by then).

PS - This was the first time we took the long route down from Guadalupe Peak, instead of taking the steep “shortcut” (sponsored by the Arthroscopic Knee Surgeons of America). The long way is actually prettier; you go back into the canyon and see some lovely foliage. We also happened upon a herd of deer and a couple of snakes. I guess the wildlife knows which trails are less traveled upon…)

Martin Luther King used to quote a woman who, at the end of a protest march in Montgomery, would say, “My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest.” Yes.

#73: Hike Emory Peak

(These photos are courtesy of Shannan Goss.)

As we left Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park Saturday afternoon, I looked at my friend Shannan and asked if he thought we could make it up Emory Peak (7825 ft., the tallest point in the park) and back to camp before night fall. We were there with 11 other guys from my Sunday School department on a guys’ retreat. We had already experienced some spectacular things, including the 1500 foot sheer rock walls in the canyon that morning, and a magnificent evening on the “Window Trail” the night before. But I had shared my 100 Life Goals list with the guys that afternoon, and Shannan, Jeremy, and Justin all said they wanted to help me cross Emory Peak off my list. As we walked back to the car, we decided to do it, though in order to make it back in time, we would have to shave an hour off the normal time it takes to complete the hike (five-six hours). I also happened to make a brief, passing comment about the small clouds gathering in the distance over the Chisos Mountains. There was a 10% chance of rain, Shannan said; surely we wouldn’t run into any of that.

But we did. About 2 hours into the hike, dark, foreboding clouds gathered over Casa Grande Peak and started to roll over towards Emory. We could hear thunder getting closer by the minute. As we reached the turnoff from Pinnacles Trail to scale the peak itself, we laid our packs in the thoughtfully placed bear bins (thanks NPS!), grabbed our Camelbacks, and began jogging towards the top. By the time we reached the peak, we were into a full run, heaving and huffing our way up the gradually disappearing trail. Finally, we reached the final challenge: a fifty foot rock wall to the summit, which has been identified as a class three scramble. (I have no idea what that means, really.)

The wind started to howl out of the northeast. The rain clouds were tumbling over the peak like tumbleweeds; I have never seen anything like that before. It was becoming a dangerous situation. One false step and you weren’t just injured, you were dead. I felt that queasiness in the pit of my stomach; you know what I mean. How am I going to explain it to one of these guys’ wives if they get blown off? How will they explain it to Carrie?

“Guys,” I turned back and said, “Should we stop here? This might be as far as we get to go.” Shannan replied: “Clark, we’ve come this far. Let’s finish.” I turned around, for no other reason really than not wanting to be the one guy in the group who chickened out. We said a prayer, and I started to climb. The other guys followed. After some careful maneuvering and a few breath prayers (“Lord, help!”), we reached the summit, and I crossed #73 off my list.

Here are some photos of the hike. There’s a reason we seem to be leaning on the peak. :) The picture at the top is what the peak looked like right after we got off the mountain, so we made it just in time. Afterwards the storm passed, and on the way down we observed the most spectacular sunset I have ever seen in my life. We thanked God for giving us that moment. We made it back to the trail head in four hours and fifteen minutes.

I told the guys when we finished that there aren’t many things you know in the moment that you will never forget. This was one of those things. Thanks guys - thanks for encouraging me to finish. It was worth it. And thank you Father in heaven - you were good to us that day.

#99: Reach my 2012 Fitness Goals (13” bicep, 38” chest)

I didn’t reach this goal until February of this year, but I’m glad I finally made it. It was the bicep that gave me the most trouble. It wasn’t until I started ingesting large quantities of horse steroids that I…well, never mind about that. Anyway, as always with my fitness goals, I do not show pictures on this blog, because A) nobody wants to see that, B) Carrie would kill me if I posted pictures of me with my shirt off on the internet, and C) really, nobody wants to see that.

#23: Annotate Ten Bibles

This is the first Bible that I’ve read cover-to-cover. Patrick Payton suggested I try out the Key-Word Study Bible; it was an excellent suggestion.

My only quibbles: the binding came apart early on (hence the masking tape), and the margins are still not big enough. But the integration of Strong’s dictionaries of both Old and New Testaments was an invaluable part of my study every day. The commentary was conservative as far as Biblical exegesis goes, but it was measured and thoughtful. I don’t like Bible commentary that’s longer than the Bible itself (something to keep in mind for my next purchase; anyone got a suggestion?).

Looking over my comments in the margins, I think the phrase I wrote the most (by a long shot) was “Wow!” I read Job 42 (see above) in the Gila Wilderness; the comment I wrote next to the scripture eventually was transformed into the essay I contributed to the Expect the Unexpected book. 

My friend Berry taught me to date and write down significant events in my Bible. As you can see from the chapter above (Hebrews 13), I’m really glad I did. I scrawled next to it on 4-16-10, “Bills to pay, $70.00 in the bank, baby crying.” God is faithful.

“The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?”