The Great Outdoors - Trekking through the Desert

We are lucky enough to have a friend who is temporarily living in Phoenix. He has an apartment and so we planned a trip there to take advantage of the opportunity. We planned to start in Phoenix and stay there for a few days before driving up to Las Vegas. If I would have went back to Phoenix two years ago, we would have spent our time hanging out, going to a movie, eating tons of Mexican food and maybe sitting by the pool. But my lifestyle has changed. I wanted to get outside and do things, hike, climb, etc. I wanted to soak up as much Vitamin D as I could and work for it. Most people would look at this as a good change, and I do to, but that doesn't mean that lifestyle changes are any easier.

Camelback Mountain - The Railing of Doom

After climbing up some nice sized steps and weaving a path along the edge of the mountain, this was what awaited us. The rock was so steep and smooth that they decided to put up railings to help people get through this section of the trail. This was where I had my first freak out of the trip. My hands were too sweaty and I didn't trust my feet to hold. I tried to just boulder up it without using the railing, but it wasn't working. I was scared that I would get to a certain point and then not be able to go up or down and resolve to just live my life on the middle of this rock. I kept thinking, this is silly, there's a railing, it should be the easy part, but it wasn't. I was setting up a mental block on getting up this part of the trail. I was thinking about it too much rather than just going, doing. I watched as person after person passed me and climbed up to the top. At some point the Jillian kicked in and started yelling "Are you going to let that dog show you up?" I stopped thinking about it and climbed up. It was still really scary and I was thinking about what would happen on the way back down, but I stood at the top with some satisfaction.

South Mountain - Just a pile of Rocks

South Mountain was much more of your average hiking trail. There wasn't any even mild bouldering and aside from the gradient, it wasn't much work. (We even did some trail running to help liven things up.) When we reached one of the peaks we saw this strange pile of rocks. We decided it was an ebenezer. Ebenezer is translated to "stone of help". We all picked up rocks and told God what we were thankful for. Where we had felt his presence and his help in our lives. Then we added our stones to the pile. It was a really awesome moment. It might have just been a pile of rocks that were moved away from the trail, but we made it an ebenezer. We saw God in it.

Right before the rocks was an old stone sacrificing table. We used it too.

There was definitely something spiritual happening up on that mountain.

Red Rock - It Doesn't End With Me Getting to the Top of the Mountain

Red Rock is one of the most beautiful natural areas of it's kind, especially that I have physically been at. The rock is literally red in areas from the iron deposits and it has created one of the greatest climbing areas in the country. There are all different levels of hiking/climbing, from strolling through the desert and admiring the beautiful colors to lead climbing up a rock face. We settled somewhere in between. There was some bouldering and some "difficult" hiking. There was no definitive path, just kind of finding your way up the mountain. To date this rock has pushed me farther past my comfort levels than most other things.(Especially if I qualify that with things in this country that don't have to do with cross-cultural experiences) There were multiple freak out moments, much more significant than Camelback. This was mostly because falling was much farther at Red Rock. There was a lot of "I can't do this. I can't do this" in the crazy girl voice.

In the end, I didn't get to the top. I didn't conquer the rock. I didn't look it in the eyes and tell it I wasn't scared, because I was scared. But I did go farther than I thought I could. I still pushed myself past points I didn't know I could be pushed. I very rarely have moments where I can physically see "cliches" in my life. Usually I just know that they exist in the world. (In fact the cynical person in me can't believe I am even writing this, especially using these words. But I am so I am trying to get over it.) But for me Red Rock that day was about not always reaching big goals, but pushing past limits you set up for yourself, most of which end up being subconscious. I might not have made it to the top, but I tried my hardest and I got farther than I was expecting. I showed myself that if I can push to this point, maybe next time I can push to the top.


I don't know what exactly I am trying to say with all this. You don't always reach the end, but that doesn't mean you've failed. You can find God and His presence in many places, even when you're not looking. Little freak outs along the way can be good for you, they sober you into appreciation and recognition. Arizona and Nevada are really beautiful country and you should go there. I'm not sure, but it was a great trip. I feel like I changed a bit and therefore it was worth sharing with you. I hope at least someone enjoyed it, it was for you.