Backpacking in the Wind River Range
We just returned earlier this week from the most incredible backpacking trip we’ve ever experienced. The Wind River Range in Central Wyoming is by and large one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. Danae and I have backpacked in the Sierras, the Cascades, and the Rockies. We’ve been to Yosemite and Yellowstone. The Wind River Range seriously takes tops. Imagine three or four Yosemite Valleys all in one range. And we were just in the southern area of the wilderness. Let’s put it this way… we’re already planning a longer trip for next year. The following is a day by day account of some of our activities. If you want to just skip over the editorial, click here for some pics.
Day 0
The only problem (or the best part, depending on your point of view) with the Wind River Range is that it is in the middle of NOWHERE! First you get off the freeway, and then drive about an hour on a county highway. Now, Wyoming only has around ½ million inhabitants, so a county highway has a different connotation here than in California. After that, we spent 1 ½ hours wandering around on dirt roads trying to find our way to the campground at the trail head. It’s almost dark by this point, as we had just driven from Colorado to Wyoming. At about 9:00 we pulled up to one of the rare ranch houses and asked directions from the Joneses. No joke. They put us on the right path, and about an hour later, we pulled into the campground. A hasty tent set up, and we went to sleep, anticipating the next day.
Day 1
We broke camp and started up the trail toward Marm’s lake. About a 6 ½ mile hike, we ascended through lush pine forest alongside a pristine river most of the way. After about an hour and a half, we broke through the trees into a wide open meadow with shocking views of distant peaks. After consulting our trusty map we were stoked to discover that those were the very mountains and valleys we were going to be spending the next several evenings in. After about 4 hours we reached Marm’s lake and found a beautiful rocky spot to set up camp. An afternoon of reading, journaling, and listening to nature’s sounds does a soul well.
Day 2
After a campfire, some oatmeal, tea, and a leisurely camp breakdown, we decided to get on the trail and head up toward Mae’s lake. At one point we crossed a river—our first chance to do so with packs on and no bridge. Fortunately we could rock hop without getting too wet. Elliott (our 6 month old black lab puppy) loved it, and was thankful for the chance to cool off.
We reached a trail junction and decided to go over Hailey’s pass rather than just relax at Mae’s lake. While we are glad we made the decision, it turned it into a very different day. The next 4 hours were spent ascending and descending an intense mountain pass, swatting innumerable mosquitoes, and trying to make it across a huge boulder field with a 6 month old puppy and two heavy packs.
On the way down Hailey’s pass, though, was the most beautiful valley I have ever seen. Looking north from the valley floor, it is possible to see 12 peaks. One of which is a sheer 2000+ vertical rock face similar to El Capitan in Yosemite. I snapped some quick photos, but then had to run for the darn mosquitoes.
We finally made it to Grave’s lake (11+ miles later) just as it was getting dark. Graves was incredibly beautiful, but unfortunately the mosquitoes were something to be reckoned with. After a hasty dinner, we called it a night and slept a good 10 hours.
Day 3
Stiff and sore from the previous day’s adventuring, we woke, broke camp, and ate another hearty meal of oatmeal and tea. This day was an easy jaunt over to Valentine Lake. A mere 5 miles compared to the previous day’s 11+. Although it was much shorter, we were surprisingly tired and sore from the hike to Graves lake. About a mile from Valentine lake we began walking up a gentle, wide mountain valley. A cool, clear river meandered down the valley, and sheer granite peaks rose upward just in front of us. It was truly breathtaking.
Our site at Valentine lake was the favorite of the whole trip. We had a high perch atop a hill immediately next to the lake. A fresh wind blew much of the afternoon as we read and rested. The view was stunning, the mosquitoes weren’t too bad, and the food was good too… Not a bad deal at all.
Day 4
An intense day from Valentine lake at 10,400 ft, on top of the high meadows on the eastern peaks close to 12,000 ft, down into Lonesome North Lake. Approximately 11 miles. Both of our feet had hot spots and blisters, and Danae’s pack made one of her hips go numb by the time we reached our destination. There is something about being 12,000 ft up—the cool air, the blowing wind, the treeless ground alive with the color of innumerable wildflowers.
We descended into a valley, and made our way toward the Cirque of the Towers. The name says it all. Countless towers (and I mean that, too) encircle Lonesome North Lake. As Reed, the friend who told us about this place said, “It just keeps getting better and better.” Unfortunately, the mosquitoes were so bad at this lake we didn’t have time to really appreciate the view. Our trip next year will be in late August / Early September, so hopefully the mosquitoes won’t be so darn bad. We were in our sleeping bags by 8:00, asleep by 9.
Day 5
A 4:00 AM wakeup, a quick camp breakdown, and some homemade Lara-Bars for breakfast. We wanted to be on the trail by 5:00, so we could hopefully be on the road toward home by 12:00. The first hour was pretty tough, as we tried to find the trail in total darkness with only our headlamps to see by. But, after a while the sun rose and we were on our way. The hike out was pretty intense, with the first 4 miles dedicated to ascending and descending Big Sandy pass. Thereafter, it was a gentle descent back toward the campground and trail head. We reached our car by about 11:00, after about a 9 mile hike out.
I must say, It’s rather disappointing to have to drive for 14 hours after you’ve been backpacking for four days. But, then again, it was nice to just sit and rest for those 14 hours. We made it back to Sisters at around 3:00 AM, after having been awake for 23 hours. I’ll admit I was hallucinating a bit as we made our way through Eastern Oregon at 1:00 AM, but, well, it was worth it.
All in all, an incredible trip. Not only are we planning to go back next year, but we’re hoping we can make it an annual trip. Let us know if you want to plan a trip yourself… we’ll give you the details!
-Mike & Danae.
Today’s Thoughts
It’s hard to believe that nearly three months have gone by since we returned from Africa. We’ve been staying quite busy, though, so I suppose that has a lot to do with time passing quickly. As I write this blog update, we’re on our way to the LifeWater International conference in Los Angeles, CA. LifeWater is the organization that helped us organize our entire trip in Uganda, and so we’re really excited about it. We are actually going to reconnect with two friends from the Stones Trip: Cesar from Ecuador and Deleo from Uganda.
Both Danae and I sometimes turn on the water in our kitchen sink and stare dumbfounded at the stream of clean, safe water pouring out. More than a billion people don’t have access to clean water, and are sick or dying because of it. Many such people became our friends while in Ecuador and Uganda. Now, back here in America, we’re trying to figure out how to use the experience that we’ve had to help generate awareness and support for clean water efforts in other countries. We’re hoping a book and a DVD will soon be in the works, and are beginning to compile outlines and proposals.
I have serious garden jealousy. By this time last year in Santa Barbara we had enjoyed a full harvest from our backyard garden: squash, kale, chard, lettuce, spinach, onions, snap peas, green beans, broccoli, beets, garlic and carrots. Just yesterday, we got our first SINGLE piece of spinach out of our garden. Prospects are looking a little bleak. You could almost see the plants growing in Santa Barbara, but there’s hardly any change at all in an entire week here in Oregon. I learned the other day from the Master Gardener at our Community Garden that there have only been 2 days out of the 365 days per year when there hasn’t been a killing frost in Sisters. As said, the prospects are bleak. But, we’ll keep on and see what happens.
Elliott continues to grow, and is now nearly 40 lbs. He’s remarkably well trained, and we love his disposition. He sleeps most of the day (which, as I understand it, for a black lab puppy is pretty rare), and hasn’t chewed up too much of our stuff. We’re looking forward to an awesome 5 night backpacking trip with him in Wyoming in late July. A few long walks and a couple of hikes and he should have a bit of stamina for the trek.
We’re signed up to run another marathon this October, and we’re about to begin our training. This marathon is in Northern California, and is actually a trail marathon. Mercifully, most of the course is downhill. This will require its own training regimen, though, and we will begin scheduled training by the end of the month. Hard to believe it’s almost time to run another one!
Thanks for reading this brief update, and we’ll try to be more disciplined with writing blog posts as the summer continues.
Enjoy the gifts of today.
-Mike & Danae.
Stones Project Update 2008-04-09
Friends & Family~
Thank you, once again, for sticking with us throughout these past months. It has been encouraging to know that you are journeying with us in a way. Thank you.
We have thousands of pictures from our trip to Ecuador and Uganda, but we have posted a few of the best on our website: http://www.yankoski.com/wp/gallery.php?parent_id=47
Enjoy! You’ll have to ask us if you want to see more!
Grace & Peace,
Mike and Danae
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Stones Project Update 2008-04-02
Dear Friends & Family,
It’s been a week since we’ve returned home to Oregon, and the thought of trying to process all that we’ve experienced in the past three months is utterly overwhelming. Culture shock has been intense, as has the jet-lag. Our final week in Uganda was uncharacteristically full compared to the previous six weeks we spent in the country. We’ll try to summarize.
Richard’s Farm
A couple of years ago some good friends spent some time at a 500 acre organization in northern Uganda that ministers to families devastated by the 20 year LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) insurgency. The organization allows families to live on and farm a plot of land until they have enough money saved to purchase their own plot of land nearby. Some forty families have been given hope after enduring the unspeakable atrocities of the LRA. Late one afternoon we both wept, completely overwhelmed, after hearing woman after woman share what they had experienced. One woman watched as her husband was chopped to death with a machete. Then, the laughing murderer instructed her at gunpoint to get a pot to cook and then eat her husbandwhat do you do with that? Though the pain is still raw, this woman is finding hope at this farm where she and her remaining children work together to farm the land they’ve been given.
Kapchowra
Our church in Oregon has a long term relationship with a church in Kapchowra, and we wanted to visit the people we’d heard so much about. W e took a 5 hour taxi ride from Kampala north west to the district of Kapchowra. The taxi was a large blue and white van, whose side read licensed to carry 14 passengers. After cramming 21 people into the van (don’t ask how, we couldn’t believe it ourselves) we began the most uncomfortable journey either of us have ever experienced. At every police check point the driver subtly handed the inspection officer a thousand shillings (<$1.00) and we were waved on despite carrying 50% too many passengers.
Though we could only be in Kapchowra for a couple of days, the time was rich and full. We enjoyed the incredible hospitality of the partner church’s pastor, and enjoyed two early morning hikes in the nearby mountains. Though the city of Kapchowra Town was significantly better off than the villages we had been staying in near Lira (the town had electricity, cars, a hospital etc…), the city water system had been broken down for nearly three months and a typhoid outbreak was affecting many, many people. The need for clean water is overwhelming.
Annette
Our next to last day in Uganda we had the chance to visit Annette, the child we sponsor through Compassion International. She is ten years old, and at first was so excruciatingly shy that she wouldn’t look at us. We found out that we are the first white people she has talked to and spent time with, which definitely contributed to her shyness. But, as the day went on and we shared meals together, met her family, and saw her school, she grew steadily less inhibited. By the time we left, we were singing songs and laughing and hugging. It really was special to visit her and put a face to the letters and photos we’ve been receiving the past few years. A word of encouragement for those of you who sponsor children through Compassion or some other organization: it has a significant impact & it really is meaningful to the children, so keep on!
Many, many thanks to all of you who have supported us through prayer during these past three months. We’re thankful that you’ve journeyed with us through this experience, and are confident that it has gone exactly as the Lord planned.
We have a huge task ahead of us now: taking these past three months and attempting to write a book and create a 45 minute DVD to capture the experience and motivate others to get involved and help. Our hope in all of this was to raise awareness. We want to tell as many people as we can about the grave needs, and then point them in the direction of the organizations doing effective work. That’s our hope and prayer. So, we ask you, if you would, to continue praying for us as we begin trying to synthesize and communicate this experience. It is, honestly, rather daunting.
We’ll email in a week (hopefully) once we’ve gotten some pictures up on our website.
Grace and Peace, and Keep On!
-Mike & Danae.
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Stones Project Update 2008-03-17
Dear Friends & Family,
So sorry its been so long since weve written. We hope we havent worried any of you. Weve had some major technical problems with our servers (READ: the server company we were using went out of business not a fun thing to try and fix from Africa!) and were just getting things up and running again.
Below youll find the update we wrote two weeks ago, but never had the chance to send. Know that we are well, and that we will write again when we get another chance.
Grace and Peace!
-Mike & Danae.
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Dear Friends and Family,
Hello from Lira, Uganda. Yesterday afternoon we came out of the village of Otongo, where we we’ve been staying for the past two weeks. We thought we were going to be staying in a different village called Akwia-Woro, but at the last moment it was decided that it would be better for us to stay in Otongo. It was a wonderful experience, and we’re immensely thankful for the time that we spent there.
A few highlights of the past month:
* Walking 125+ miles through rural Uganda in 110+ heat, visiting 28 villages and seeing 75+ water points.
*Learning a little bit of the Luo language. Despite the native speakers’ insistence that it’s the easiest language in the world to learn, we found it quite difficult! It’s much more tonal than English, and this posed quite a challenge for us.
*Sitting for at least three hours per day under one of the many mango trees that dot the landscape, eating fresh cooked meals of greens, beans, cassava & millet bread while talking with many (sometimes 30+) Ugandans about anything and everything. Usual topics included their need for water, the many problems faced in rural Africa, and life in America. They really cant believe that I didnt pay a bride price for Danaes hand in marriage!
*Watching wells be drilled, cased, and installed and witnessing the utter joy of the village residents when they saw clean, safe water gushing out at last. In one village, a group of 10 women came running out dancing, singing, clapping, yelling, welcoming us as soon as we came into view. We were dumfounded, until we learned that they knew we were with Divine Waters (The Ugandan NGO that has helped to coordinate everything on the ground for us). They couldnt say enough about how much the well Divine Waters installed has changed their lives. Pretty cool to see work that really is making a difference!
A few of the hard things:
*Cultural Exhaustion: It was wonderful being with people for 8+ hours a day, but the language barrier, coupled with many differences in culture has become wearying over the course of the past month. Gabriel, one of the employees of Divine Waters told the citizens of Otongo village Dont let Mike & Danae be lonely while theyre here! That translated into very little down time for us. Often wed be in our tent, just about to turn off our headlamps for a nights rest and someone would come calling, wanting to sit with us a while longer.
*Heat: One afternoon as we were walking around on red dust trails, I looked at the thermometer and couldnt believe what I was seeing. 110 degrees is just a little too hot. Our bodies have adjusted, some, certainly, but still we are affected by the heat.
*Health: We are both feeling a bit under the weather. Fortunately we havent been very sick, (neither of us has thrown up yet, an unexpected blessing!) but we feel like our bodies are fighting something. We really appreciate your prayers for continued help. Even the Divine Waters staff cant believe that we havent gotten really sick yet, so your prayers are working! Thanks!
From here:
Tomorrow we are headed to a town about 2 hours south west of Lira, called Kiguma. We are staying three days at a farm which helps people transition from the IDP camps back into normal life. From there, we head to Kapchowra, where our church in Sisters, Oregon has some strong connections. We finish our time in Africa with a week in Kampala, Ugandas capital city, meeting with employees of Compassion International and World Vision. Also, we hope to visit Annette, the girl weve sponsored for more than two years through Compassion International.
Its a full two weeks, to be sure. There is a lot of travel involved, and wed appreciate your prayers for safety and as few logistical nightmares as possible. The rainy season is just beginning here in Uganda, and that can make things pretty chaotic considering most of the roads are dirt!
Thanks for your continued prayers and support. We probably wont have a chance to email for a while. Know that we are well, and that we will send out another message as quickly as we can.
Grace and Peace.
-Mike & Danae.
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Stones Project Update 2008-02-25
Friends & Loved Ones~
It is difficult to know where to begin, how to encapsulate our life these past two weeks in a few feeble words in an email. So, instead of attempting to do that, we will offer a few snapshots and moments that we have experienced.
Things we could do without:
*drinking unpastuerized, warm milk (which they call tea, unfairly getting our hopes up!) that is hard to stomach even if you are not lactose intolerant (as we both are!)
*using the pit latrine in the afternoon when the number of flies is unthinkable
*the 105 degree and higher heat (when we came from a foot of snow)
Moments we cannot forget:
*watching children drink from water sources infested with frogs and slime, the color (and at times, consistency) of mud
*eating millet porridge (Nyuka Kal) that was threshed and ground that morning (and learning to love it)
*becoming friends with widows and families whose children were abducted by the LRA
* footing over 50 miles to fourteen different rural villages and witnessing & sharing life with them:
*milking cows, plowing fields, growing & eating cassava, harvesting millet, cooking beans & poshe (corn meal flour), grinding sim sim (sesame seeds) into a paste-like tahini, eating sugar cane
Later this afternoon we are heading into the second community, Akwia-woro. This community has had sanitation and hygiene training, and has a well which was installed by Divine Waters. It will be interesting to see how different life is there.
Thanks to the many of you who were praying for our health. Much to our amazement (and the amazement of the Divine Waters staff) we didnt even get at all sick while in Otelonyor. Hopefully your prayers continue to be answered while we are in Akwia-woro as well!
Again, please dont be concerned if you dont hear from us for about two weeks. We will email again with more stories upon our return to Lira.
If you think to pray for us, please continue to pray for fast relationships to be developed in Akwia-Woro. The relationships were incredible in Otelonyor, we were welcomed with open arms into nearly everybodys home, despite the fact that most were living on under $2.00 per day. Please pray for the cultural differences which can at times be very trying. Pray that the Lords will be done!
Keep on!
Grace and Peace.
-Mike & Danae.
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Stones Project Update 2008-02-09
Dear Friends and Family,
Hello to you from Lira, Uganda! We’ve been traveling for 88 hours now, and will finally arrive in Otelenyor (the first rural African community we will be living in) this afternoon. Otelenyor does not yet have access to safe water. It’s been a very long, but a very good journey.
Thanks to all of you who were praying as we passed through Nairobi. Everything was fine at the airport, and we even ran across Lisa Borden, a fellow Westmont Graduate and missionary who lives in Tanzania with her husband and children. An unexpected and wonderful meeting!
It is quite hot and dusty today. We’re writing this email from the offices of Divine Waters, the Ugandan organization based in Lira that has organized our rural community stays for us. You won’t be hearing from us for at least two weeks, but please don’t be alarmed–email is hard to come by in Otelenyor! Then we’ll be staying in Lira for two nights, before heading out to Akwia-Woro, a community that has had a well installed by Divine Waters. We’ll try to email during those interim days.
Thanks for your continued prayers. Specificially please pray for: 1) Strong relationships despite cultural and language barriers in Otelenyor. 2) Patience and grace on our part as we are \”Mzungus\” (White people) living in an African community. 3) Health 4) The Lord’s will in all of our experiences.
We miss and love you all!
-Mike & Danae.
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Stones Project Update 2008-02-05
Dear Friends & Family~
After spending the last 8 days at home, resting, eating good food, and being clean, we are heading out to Eastern Africa tomorrow morning. It will actually take us 2-3 days to get there (we land in Entebbe, Uganda at 11pm local time on Thursday)prayers for traveling mercies would be greatly appreciated, especially as we fly through Nairobi, Kenya on our way.
During our time in Uganda we will be spending four weeks living in two different rural African communities. The first community does not have a reliable source of safe water. The second has recently received a water system thanks to Life Water International. We will be spending two weeks in each of these communities in order to better understand how much access to safe water improves peoples lives.
I would say our mood as we go is sobered, but expectant. We are not bursting with excitement, but we are thankful to be walking this path, and are looking forward to what God has in store in it.
We will email when we can from Uganda, but sadly there will be no pictures on our website until we return, because of some problems with our serversorry!
Thank you for your continued prayers. Please keep us updated on your lives as well! May these next few months be filled with the love and peace of Christ.
Gratefully,
Mike & Danae
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Stones Project Update 2008-01-25
Hello Friends & Family!
We are back in Quito, the capital of Ecuador after our trek into the jungle…thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers this week–the past few days have been awesome.
After being quite cold the previous week, in the mountain communities, this week we put away our fleece and hats and down sleeping bags and were still almost constantly sweaty…It was similar to the humidity and heat that we experienced this summer during our stay in Belize, but we didn’t really acclimate in just a few days.
We drove north, toward the Columbian border for about five hours with an Ecuadorian missionary/ water engineer named Cesar. He works in the region with the indigenous people, as well as the black population (descendants from people who escaped from a slave ship). We loaded our packs, plus a new \”bomba\” (water pump) into a dug-out canoe and headed several hours up the river. The canoes have engines on the back, or else the trip would’ve taken days instead of hours. Both of us were deeply grateful for the cool breeze that came off the river. We spent some time in an incredible community called San Jose, where 115 families now have clean, safe water (it was there that we repaired the water pump–or rather we watched while Cesar did the work).
Hopefully within a week we will have some pictures posted to our website (www.yankoski.com). We have a week and a half at home, to wash, stock up on green food, and repack, before we depart for eastern Africa on February 5th. It is so lovely to hear from you (as you have time!) and it’s really encouraging to know that so many of you are praying…
Thanks for journeying with us!
by His grace,
Danae & Mike
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Stones Project Update 2008-01-20
Dear Friends & Family,
Happy Sunday to all of you! We hope that youre doing great tonight. Weve been in Quito for the past three days, recouping after a busy last week and preparing to dive into the jungle again tomorrow.
Here are some highlights from the past and upcoming week:
THE AMAZON
Earlier this week we flew on MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) Cessna planes from a small town called Shell deep into the Amazon rain forest to visit two different Shuar (pronounced: shwar) communities that HCJB has worked in to provide clean water. Over 200 people now have access to clean water because of HCJBs work. The chief of one of the communities came to thank us personally, replete with colorful feather head dress and beads made from various rainforest hardwoods, plus lots and lots of grapefruit.
In Makuma, one of the Shuar communities, we met two missionary couples, one of whom had been in country for longer than 50 years. One of the missionaries, a rather interesting fellow named Dwayne had decided to adopt several of the local customs: Stomach washing (a 3 AM cup of communal herbal tea and subsequent induced vomiting to begin the day with a clean stomach), grubbing (eating the biggest, fattest grubs possible from rotten trees), and snake catching (more than 2000 snakes captured, two bites from coral snakes, and several bites from a non-venomous snake for our astounded entertainment.)
STOMACH WOES
Unfortunately, Danae was pretty sick this past week, as were several of the other people we were traveling with. This is doubtless from the various *ahem* interesting dishes weve been provided by various indigenous communities here. The favorite of the Keechwa is Cuy (pronounced qui): BBQ guinea pig. Um, yeah. One day we had Cuy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That experience pretty much solidified our vegetarianism. You wont believe the pictures.
Fortunately after a good bit of prayer and a fair dose of Cipro, Danae is feeling much better. Please pray for our health as we begin our final week in Ecuador. Weve got a very busy week coming up, with lots of opportunities to learn more about HCJBs water work, and more stomach woes would be a serious deterrent.
GUERILLAS
Tomorrow at 6:00 AM we begin a five hour drive to the Pacific coast to be followed by a six hour dugout canoe trip deep into the heart of the northern Ecuadorian jungle. Several Ecuadorians have responded with raised eyebrows when theyve heard were headed up into this region, due to the guerillas and drug runners that tend to hide out in these jungle regions. Were thankful to be traveling with Cesar, an Ecuadorian water engineer who has been working in these northern communities for many years. Weve been given every assurance that the risk is minimal, but wed still very much appreciate your prayers while were in the thick of it all.
Thanks again for your continued prayers and support. Weve very much appreciated receiving your individual emails, and know that we will try to respond once we have a bit more time.
By His Grace,
-Mike & Danae.
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