WILDERNESS TREK 2010
August 12-16, 2010
Jefferson Park,
Mt. Jefferson, Oregon


This year’s Wilderness Trek was, perhaps, the best and most spiritual of all of our Wilderness Trek’s. Every day was filled with viewing God’s creation and studying God’s Word from the Book of Colossians. Evening devotionals were Spirit led and filled with discussions, reading and prayers. We learned about and from each other. New friendships were made that will last for a lifetime. God was, indeed, in our midst. What a blessing it was to be a part of this experience!

Wilderness Trek 2010 began serious planning stages as soon as we learned that our request for a Group Camp Permit for the Wonderland Trail was denied for the 3rd or 4th year in a row. Leaders were selected and the sign-up list filled by our Teens. Everyone was informed of our decision to go to Jefferson Park on the North side of Mt. Jefferson, Oregon and camp on the shores of Scout Lake.

A week before departure, Alyssa Beekman, Josha Moss and I (Mike Thomas) made a quick overnight trip to Jefferson Park for a “scouting expedition”. We wanted to make sure we knew the trail conditions and what to expect once we arrived in the Park. We found a large campsite at Scout Lake that should serve our site needs. We actually camped at a secondary option on the shores of Bays Lake. The next day we looked around for activity options, and then headed home.

At 0700 Thursday morning, August 12, we loaded up our teens in a 15 passenger van and headed south. Two teens had dropped out which left us with 6 teens and 4 adult leaders. We stopped at McDonald’s in Salem for a breakfast snack, then back on the road towards Detroit Lake, Oregon. About 10 miles out of Detroit we cut off for a 7 mile dirt road trip to the Whitewater Trail Head, where we would begin our actual hiking. Our destination would be on the North Shore of Scout Lake, a distance of 6 miles and 1800’ elevation gain.

It was a beautiful sunny day; exactly like you would wish for, if wishes came true. The air was cool, the sun was shining, and the lower elevation temperatures would be in the 80’s and 90’s today. Ours would be a bit cooler in the upper elevations of Jefferson Park.

We stopped along the trail at the first rocky outcropping that gave us views of Grizzly Peak and Woodpecker Ridge to begin prep work in our Journals that Josha, our female adult leader, had prepared for everyone. It began by allowing us to do some goal setting for the trip and then have a time of sharing our goals or prayer needs with each other. It also gave us time to have a bite to eat and replenish our energy for the final 3 or 4 miles of uphill hiking.

We arrived at Scout Lake beneath the majestic 10,497’ Mt. Jefferson, a Stratovolcano less than 100,000 years old that resides in the Cascade Volcanic Arc, part of the Cascade Mountain Range. It is the second highest snow covered mountain in Oregon in a rugged area named the Jefferson Wilderness and is perhaps one of the most difficult volcanoes to reach in the Cascade Range.

We camped at about the 5900’ elevation level with beautiful picture window views of Mt Jefferson reflecting in Scout Lake. Bays Lake to our right was deeper and more scenic but had limited campsites for a group our size. Russell Lake to our left was shallower, but also with limited group camping sites. God wonderfully provided for our needs.

We immediately began setting up our campsite with tents. Fortunately, Josha and I had learned from our previous “scouting trip” that the appetite of the Jefferson Park Mosquito was voracious! So I had made a trip to REI, our local outfitter and purchased a Mosquito proof tent and packed it into the Park with my gear. We ran a cord between two trees and pulled it tight in order to hang our Mosquito tent directly over our campsite seating area that was comprised of two logs in an “L” shape. Campfires are prohibited in the “park” so the tent fit well with our immediate needs!

The tent skirted out about 11’ and tall in the center, adequate for our sitting needs. It was within this “cone of silence” that most of our interaction, sharing, singing and praying took place in our evening devotionals. We agreed that what was said “in here, stays in here”. During the daytime, it was used for a place of retreat from the pesky bugs that relentlessly hounded our very sanity!

Our first afternoon was spent setting up camp, exploring and resting. Our evening dinner, prepared by Josha Moss was a generous helping of Spaghetti with Meat Sauce; very fitting after a strenuous hike to the mountain. It was delicious and filling. Following our meal, we readied our night by securing our food and snacks in individual bags to hang from a rope between two trees to keep unwanted rodents (Chipmunks) from helping themselves to our food during the night.

We met under the “cone of silence” mosquito tent for our evening devotional. Greg Woods led us in a time of worship and sharing that turned out to be quite amazing, as it did every evening we were there!

Our sharing time was a spiritual highlight of our time together. Listening to our teens express their very hearts to each other was unlike any other Trek before. We listened to their hearts and prayed for each other’s needs. We could see God at work in the lives of these kids like at no other time we could remember. It was a wonderful time together this first evening.

We ended our devotional around 10:00 and planned tomorrow’s events. We then headed to our tents and warm sleeping bags for the night.

Morning came early on the Mountain. We boiled water for coffee, cocoa and instant breakfasts before we began an hour of personal time with God, praying and reading His Word from Paul’s letter to the Colossians. Each day we devoured a portion of the Book of Colossians, which became our center point of devotional that day.

The personal time began by having us go off alone to spend a moment in silence listening for God before starting the day’s study. We then read chapter 1–2:5 and answered the written questions: “What verse stands out to you and why? What is God teaching you through today’s study? Pray about how you will respond to what God is teaching you today”. It was thought provoking and helpful to focus our minds on spiritual matters that could help direct our paths for years to come.

Following our alone with God time, we assembled beneath the cone of silence for singing and discussion. Greg always had us focused on God for the day and provoked us to be aware of ways we saw God at work around and in us that day.

We packed our Day Packs with snacks, lunch and water for a long hike to the top of the Ridge, along the Pacific Crest Trail. The hike was through beautiful meadows, around beautiful Russell Lake and across streams of cold, clear water from melting snowfields. We often stopped to filter a new supply of the most delicious water you could imagine!

Patches of melting snow still dotted the area on this day in the middle of August, as we made our way upward to the 7000’ elevation level of the Jefferson Ridge. From there, we had magnificent views of Olallie Butte and Olallie Lake with snow capped Mt Hood to the north. To the south, Mt. Jefferson was magnificent! We looked down on Russell, Scout, Rock and Bays Lakes and an overview of Jefferson Park. In addition, we saw many other ponds of water. One in particular caught our eye. It was close to the Ridge on the south side, still mostly covered with snow, but with a crescent of blue and turquoise along the edge, giving it that appearance of glacier water. It was beautiful!

From the PCT at the Ridge, we proceeded to hike even higher along the ridge, attempting to get to Park Butte about 3 peaks towards the Southwest. The hike became difficult and most of us turned away from continuing that quest. Three of our teens, more young and agile than the average continued on to rock hop to the top. The rest of us decided to skate down the scree (loose rocky soil) and do a little “cross country” to connect with the PCT down below in the valley.

Soon, we were descending onto a large snowfield, braving our fears and having a lot of fun coming ever closer to our trail. Some of the teens were very cautious, taking their time trying not to slide into the imaginary abyss or tumble onto the rocks. It appeared to me that they were only mimicking Greg’s descent! Others came running and sliding on the snow as if skiing! It was so much fun; they wanted to do it again!

We followed a stream from the melting snowfield as it tumbled down hill through beautiful wild flowers and lush vegetation. Soon we were on the trail drinking from the cold stream of liquid crystal.

The day ended as did the day before with our evening meal (today was Mashed Potatoes with Chicken and BBQ) and a time of devotional.

We gathered beneath the mosquito net, our “cone of silence”, and shared together. We sang songs and then prayed for each other, especially to the needs we shared on the trail our first day. It was very warm and moving. Rodney Whiteside, our fourth adult leader, on his first Wilderness Trek with our Metro Teens, was very moved by the sincerity and spirituality in each heart.

The prayers from each of our teens was moving and uplifting. It was, perhaps, the most wonderful moment I have experienced in a long time. I thought, how rare it is that most of us adults never hear our teens pray, especially our girls. As an elder in our church, I have prayed many prayers and heard many others. But growing up in a church where women have no public leadership role, the prayers are usually by men, but occasionally a young man or teen will lead one publicly. My most memorable prayer was listening to Lindsay Tester pray specifically for me at Wilderness Trek 2008, as we went around in a circle praying for the person next to us. I was nearly moved to tears hearing her words.

As we concluded our prayer time and ended our devotional, one of the boys mentioned the name of one of the bright star clusters in the sky. We all turned our faces skyward and, at that moment, a Meteor, shooting across the night sky, brighter than any we had ever seen, screamed southward directly over our cone of silence, splitting the heavens in two! It was amazing! It was a very long, wide and bright streak of light that everyone saw, a very fitting end to a prayer and to our day! Thank you, God!

Day 3 began as we awoke and ate breakfast, as previously. We separated for our quiet time to meditate and read more from Colossians. We gathered back together after a while and shared our thoughts. Greg did an exceptional job of leading our thoughts as we all went around taking turns sharing our hearts. The “Cone of Silence” was there to prevent us from revealing to “outsiders” the things we shared beneath the Mosquito net. But the intent of our hearts was to get to know each other better and to help each other reach our personal goals.

We packed our day packs and headed out “lake hopping”; going around Scout and Bays Lakes to view the Park from various vantage points nearby. Following that adventure, we returned to camp to “do our thing”. Some relaxed, some talked and some went off to other adventures. I took a nap before taking my afternoon walkabout towards the north, cross country through meadows of snow, water, flowers and streams. It was a peaceful time for me to allow the thoughts of the world, the worries of work and the stress of life pour from me. I was able to pray for our kids and focus my thoughts on the kind of man I needed to be as a leader in our church.

I returned to camp at sunset in time for my share of Beef Stroganoff. Our evening devotional was amazing; even greater than the previous evenings. Greg was filled with the Spirit and provoked our thinking even more. It lasted well over two hours, and yet seemed to fly by. I grew more amazed at our young people; viewing deeper into their hearts. I am falling more in love with these young Christians than I thought I could.

Day 4 was Sunday, the Lord's Day. We arose before daylight, dressed and headed towards the east to greet the sunrise with a time of worship. We took our day packs, water and Bibles and began following Greg along the rocky trail. At one point we veered off the trail and hiked "cross country" to a knoll that Greg knew about. It was there that we began focusing on a time with God. Greg directed us through a time of singing, reading and praying. As the sun rose, we each participated in Communion. We were on Holy Ground. It was an amazing experiece to greet the first rays of sun on our faces, while lifting our hearts to God and communing with Him.

The afternoon was a day of “free lance”. We all did various things today. Following our morning’s alone time with God and reading the last chapter of Colossians, we gathered together for sharing. Greg directed us towards deeper Spiritual thinking. We shared our hearts with each other and learned even more. We discovered things about each other that were private, or buried away in our hearts so no one could see. We found out that we, young and old, were much alike; that years make little difference.

The afternoon was spent in Bays Lake. The kids went swimming in the cold glacier fed water; jumping from rocks into the frigid liquid, claiming it was “just right”. Uh-huh.

Our last evening together was intentional. It began with our final meal together; a hearty bowl of Beef Stew. I was just now remembering that this year, unlike any other previous Trek, we had no leftover food to go out and bury. This bunch was hungry!

Greg concluded our time together with a beautiful culmination of thoughts that inspired us towards greater faith. Rodney continued to be amazed at the Spirit of these young people. He, himself, going through some personal struggles, was encouraged and strengthened by these kids; moved by their words. It was, indeed, a time we all felt encouraged by each other. Josha proved, again, to be an excellent leader, organizer and writer of our study guides for this Trek. She is an amazing woman, filled with the Spirit and devoted to making these events meaningful to the teens. The evening was perfect.

Day 5 began with breakfast and our final session beneath the cone of silence.

Afterwards, we began packing our things in our backpacks; tearing down camp and preparing for the hike back down. Donning our packs with a grunt and a prayer, I led the team to a quiet spot along the trail where we took a group photo with Mt. Jefferson in the background; making a memory.

It was six miles to our van. We made it in two hours. We kept mentioning hamburgers and fries along the way to keep them moving; much like dangling the carrot in front of the mule to keep him walking.

We packed the van and headed into a place I knew of in Salem, where we would stop for a greasy meal of hamburgers and fries, and do our post-trek thoughts. It was a wonderful lunch! The sharing was good. The meal was great. It was very special.

Arriving at our church parking lot to greet parents, we departed, each to a different place. Some would be going off to college in other states. I feel a special bond to Lindsay who is going off to college in Arizona, as she has been with me on all of our Wilderness Trek’s. I will not soon forget her servant heart and how much she has grown.

We came home tired but very refreshed in spirit! Mike Thomas