Conquered!

This weekend I stood on the highest point in all of Texas! Three friends and I traveled to Guadalupe Mountains National Park to climb Guadalupe Peak. We arrived at the park around 10:00pm Friday night, and we set up our tents in the dark.

After surviving the blustery night, we made oatmeal and started the hike UP the mountain. Unfortunately, we had to bring our own water because this mountain is in the dessert (and water weighs 8 pounds/gallon). It was perfectly exhausting- not so hard to be discouraging and hopeless, but difficult enough (with thirty pounds on our backs) to be a challenge. Hiking UP about three miles made us glad to finally find our campsite. We pitched our tents and made a delicious meal of rice, veggies, and chicken! Snuggled in our sleeping bags in our small tent, we played Go Fish (and I lost miserably) and drank hot chocolate. Saturday night was freezing- but with three girls in a cozy two-person tent, our body heat aided in our fight against the cold.

We arose Sunday morning and started our summit hike. It was exciting to reach the top and realize that we were higher than anyone else in the whole state of Texas. We could see miles and miles of land around us. The view was lovely, but not quite like the scenery in Colorado or California. The hike down flew by, and my knees were thrilled to find the pavement at the base of the mountain.

The entire hike I was fascinated at how God made our bodies! It is incredible how our eyes can take in so much information at just a glance, and how our brains can keep our feet moving quickly and prevent painful stumbles. Whew!