Monday, September 27, 2010

And the results are....

he didn't pass. I know, it's so sad. I feel really badly for J. He worked very hard and prepared as best as he could. Unfortunately, he had a really bad cough starting about the week previous to the exam, and it stayed with him during the test. He averaged about four hours of sleep a night. During the test, he frequently left the exam room to cough in the bathroom. We think this may have been detrimental to his test taking. :) We are very grateful to have a job. He's going to try again in February. I know he can pass it. It wasn't what we were hoping for, but we'll be fine.

In other news, the hike was AWESOME!! We went on a small section of the Pacific Crest Trail in the Three Sisters wilderness area.  The trail actually spans from Canada to Mexico. It rained/drizzled on us Thursday evening, but Friday and Saturday, you couldn't ask for better weather. J's pack was about 50 pounds!!!! That is so heavy! Mine was a comfortable 20 or so, until the last day when I figured out how to steal some weight from J's and put it on mine. 10 pounds makes a huge difference, btw.

We walked through gorgeous alpine scenery, many lava flows (they cooled probably 2 million years ago), and glimpsed some glorious mountains. We could see as far as Mt. Hood, which was way north of us. I love being out in nature. I'd only been backpacking once in high school, and I really enjoyed it. My dad bought a couple of high-quality backpacking things to make his pack super light. Good times were had by all.

Starting out

Our first campsite.  It was drizzling, but this was a fairly protected place from the wind.

And we woke up to this!!!

J answering nature's call


 A mountain meadow.  I love mountain meadows.


A real spring!  Water just coming out of the ground.  It's my first spring.  It was very pretty.

These are the north two Sisters, Faith and Hope.  

Our second campsite.  My dad said he'd look over a ridge we were hiking nearby to see if he could find a decent campsite.  Lo and behold, a flat spot and a fire pit were awaiting us, along with this view in the background!

It may not look like much, but this hill was the hardest!  My calves are still sore.


These are some of the lava fields we hiked through.  Sometimes there was a bit of a sandy trail, but a lot of it was really rocky. 


Tough guys



















6 comments:

Tawny Crane said...

Looks like such fun! I've never actually been 'backpacking'. Its now on my list of things to do! Big bummer about the test, but it will be nice next time to have a better idea of what to expect. I can't believe you put that picture in there ;0 Your funny!

Michael Family said...

I am so sorry that J didn't pass. That is horrible! Are you still able to come visit us? Hiking looks awesome. How fun!

Joel Deehr said...

I'm way jealous, that looks awesome.

Brynne, Aaron and Cade said...

Did you hike from Obsidian?? It all looks pretty familiar to me but I could be wrong. We camped at the base of the middle sister...amazing!! glad you enjoyed your trip. great pics!

Adee said...

That looks awesome! I love the Three sisters area. It may be one of the loveliest I've seen. So glad you got to get up close and personal!

A, M and S said...

Is that an Epic Relay shirt on Jonas? Wow, that is one awesome shirt. I wish I had one. Glad you had such a great time!