Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

A few of us went camping yesterday and I just wanted to share some thoughts on the crazy experience we had. (BEWARE: This is a long read!)

First off: Don’t go on random hikes if you haven’t researched the hike! You might be in for a surprise.

We got to Kananaskis at around 11AM and registered at the campground (which was a pretty decent campsite – if you ever want to book there, look up “Bow Valley Campground”). After setting up our tent and what not, we decided to go for a hike.

We decided to go to “Barrier Lake” and find a trail there and do our hike, the only reason we chose this locale was because it was a close proximity to us. We talked to the girl at the Informative Centre and she had told us the hike was 3-4 hours long and wasn’t too bad.

So off we went!

We had to park and walk across the Barrier Lake Dam and then went up a small trail to get to the trailhead and then headed up the trail.
When I saw the lake and the mountain and compared it to the camp that I had, it looked like we would be going up the trail and head up close to the treeline (if that at all) and then head down back to the lake and double back to where we started.

A few hours into the hike, we realized that we were no where near the middle of the mountain – we were actually on top of mountain! We only realized this when we broke through a clearing and saw the lake at the bottom on one side of the mountain and we saw on the other side a huge valley.

At that point we couldn’t go back as the trail we had hiked up was long and treacherous, one entire section of the trail was actually ladened with black ice at a 30 degree angle – it was pointless to go back the way we had come up, however what laid ahead of us made me choke. We had to actually climb past the treeline as the trail path headed up that direction and looked like it went further up past the rocky crags.

So again, we went and the trail actually angled to 60 degrees at one point and became a 60-70cm width and we had to single-file climb up the trail. The last stretch that almost broke my heart was that we were at a point where we had to get on our hands and feet and actually climb at a 80 degree angle up the trail along the rock face. We got past that obstacle and found ourself at the top of the mountain – like the TOP of the mountain!

We looked around us and it was crazy and amazing! The view was spectacular and breathtaking
At that point we had to look around and it took us a while to find the trail to head down the mountain. We went down the side of the mountain and found ourselves drudging through snow that was knee deep in some areas. It was at this part of the hike that we realized we were only halfway through the hike – I had thought the top of the mountain was the halfway mark.

We were tired, out of food and fast running out of water, we were now 3.5 hours into our hike.
So we kept on heading down and a few of us began to feel the physical wear on our body, we couldn’t breathe, our muscles were tensing up. We were losing a lot of energy and hope in getting down the mountain.

We finally reached the bottom of the mountain and we were exhausted; but we were renewed and re-energized to finish off the hike when we saw the Barrier Lake Dam. It took us another hour before we actually reached the dam. The hardest part of the hike was actually the last stretch because it was flat ground and in Dan’s words “unchallenging”. We finally finished in exactly 5 hours – tired and spent, we all congratulated each other and went back to the campsite.

The hike was actually an amazing time that I spent reflecting on my own walk with Jesus and I was reminded of several things because our lives are a journey and we face many mountains in our lives.

1. The World Doesn’t Teach You Much

We had a map and a person from the Informative Centre tell us that this hike was easy and that we could do it in 3-4 hours
Reality told us otherwise, it was a hard hike and took us 5 hours to complete! Had we asked the right person (probably a seasoned hiker), he or she would’ve told us how hard the hike was going to be, what food we needed, how long we should be prepared to spend on the hike

It is much like how in our own walk with Jesus, there are times when clearly we turn to the wrong people or the world to look for answers to our life when clearly in the Bible, Jesus has already outlined what we need to exactly do.

2. The Journey is Not Easy

Our life isn’t easy – Jesus even told us that!
I was reminded of this when we were hiking up the trail and faced the path of black ice. Chris actually slid down the path after he had thought he had a solid grip!

There are times when we will slip and slide on our journey, when we will fall, when we will fail.

I was reminded though that we should not give up and keep on going because Jesus is with us and He knows that the obstacle is only a temporary thing.

3. Be Aware of Distractions

At one point in our hike, we came across a Grouse and we wanted to catch it and bring it back to camp for grilling. Thankfully we couldn’t catch it!

Dan mentioned this when we were at the top of the mountain: “If we had caught that grouse, we would probably have gone back down the trail and went back to camp and we would’ve missed THIS!” (pointing to the view of the world below us).

How true it is what Dan said! So many times we get distracted and don’t continue our journey and miss out on the blessing God has in store for us!

4. The “Jonah Reaction”

When we had finished coming down the mountain, I think we were all expecting something crazy and great to finish off our journey but we were all disappointed! The trail was flat, muddy and … BLAH!

Very much like how Jonah was expecting God to punish the Ninevites after all the hardships Jonah had gone through and his sermon he had presented to them, we often finish our mountains and expect God to do something crazy or something out of the ordinary in our lives but we see nothing. Our lives seemingly become bland or “unchallenging” as Dan had mentioned.

I don’t think every time we finish something challenging in our life God will do something profound, but a lot of times we will trek through a tough time in our life and don’t feel God’s presence or His direction afterwards. I think those times are meant for us to just rest in God and WAIT for His next instructions for us

—

The camping trip was amazing and refreshing for myself and the other guys
We all came back with tortured bodies but at the same time had satisfaction knowing we just did something crazy: conquered a mountain!

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