GOLD in the CLOUDS : because of this .......

As a little girl.....and then a teen....and then an adult........this Scripture has been one of my top 10 faves

I've always been drawn to the mountains........

my childhood home was in the foothills of the Adirondacks...the largest publicly protected park in the lower 48 states....larger than Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon combined. Let that sink in for a moment.

my childhood family camp, until I was about 17, was in the southern Adirondack region.....close to many amazing mountain lakes and trails.....

for 10 days every July, from age 7-18, I was at our church's conference camp.....outside of Saratoga Springs....it was where I became a Christ follower (during the end of the Jesus Revolution movement) and in my last year of church camp, I climbed my first ADK High Peak: Giant Mt. That's really when I fell in love with this Scripture and with climbing. Even though we only had sneakers on and nothing but one water bottle each (what were our youth group leaders thinking??) we scaled that mountain and had a praise service on top......it's where I felt safe.....

Giant Mountain, the ADK's 12th highest peak
elevation 4627"
I climbed that in 1978
this photo is one I took from the summit of Rooster Comb in 2020...
.....where is a fantastic view of Giant Mt and other high peaks
Since then, I have climbed to Giant's Nubble which i think is the 2nd point from the summit,
going towards the right in the pic.

Now?

People ask me all the time why I get up at the crack of dawn (typically) and drive 2 hours to hike a 6 mile mountain.

this is one reason:

.....i like challenges....most of the peaks I summit are not like this one pictured..... I just happen to connect with the quote......

they are most like this one.......and it's because of this, I hike......

summit of Cascade Mt High Peak at 4098' elevation
August 2020

the views........the challenge.......

yup.....you have to climb up this and there's no ladder!
Cascade Mt the "easiest" High Peak to climb in the ADK
this is where I have to walk sideways down so the discs
and the knees and the toes are not injured
(of course I didn't know this until about 10 yrs ago)

you must scramble up this

or when you are on Rooster Comb Mt, which is one of my favorite mountains in the entire ADK High Peaks region, although it isn't a peak that is over 4000' high, you actually get a bit of help before the final ascent:

heading up Rooster Comb Mt

Is it worth it, people ask me? even my hiking group friends who only feel comfortable hiking on flat trails (which by the way is perfectly fine....any trail is an adventure!) cannot understand the pull of the mountain summit to me.......

is it worth it?

Well...yes.......look:

my niece Mady and I on the edge of Rooster Comb summit

Mady and I on the summit of Hopkins Mountain, 3156' high
High Peaks region of the ADK

I mean...look at the beauty! That's God's art work! and I feel safe on a summit.....

it's because of this......seeing Him in the world He created.....it's where I feel closest to God.......and I feel safe.......

.........and honestly.....this past month, there's been a disconnect.......I've only hiked 4 mountains so far this year and I'm feeling antsy about getting on a summit again......And out of those 4, only one was over 3000' high (Haystack in Vermont).

I have hiked 17 different trails since March with the SoulSteps group, or solo.

But the mountains are calling to me, because God is calling me and I know there's this thing ...this obstacle in my life that I have to face......and in the mountains, I feel safe.......

..........and maybe with the hike that's coming up this week in the deep wilderness surrounded by my beloved mountains, I can finally release this to the One who made it all......

......maybe, because of this, I will "feel" that deep connection again......

because of this, maybe I will feel safe again........