Off the grid

No April Fools.  Life is getting busy.... Family, ministry, travel, and all those wilderness/mountain outings I lead.  I'm gonna take a break from Garth's Blog (but not from my other blogs, nor Twitter) so I can focus on writing the remaining credentialing reports for my ministerial licensing process.

Garth's Blog will return.

Here is a re-post from one of my other blogs about my anxiety of being phoneless, originally posted last month:

March 4, 2017

Day 3 of no cell phone.  Cancelling my Mount Hood climb up/ ski down event that I was leading for NW Wilderness yesterday was a bit of a relief.  It's a challenge to coordinate these outings without a phone.  Though I was bummed that the mountain weather was too extreme for my friends and I to play on the slopes... What could beat sitting inside a Sprint repair store for 3+ hours on a sunny Saturday instead?  Blah.

Grumbling aside, being phone-free has ultimately been a calming experience for me.  But first, I had to overcome the expected anxieties:

• My friends are gonna think I'm either a flake or a jerk for not texting them back (some of them apparently followed up on Facebook, which I also can't check when I'm away from WiFi).
• How will my loved ones get ahold of me in an emergency, or if they need me for something?
• I have plans with my surfing buddy and also hiking/climbing friends this upcoming week... How will any of them let me know if something comes up?
• I already miss my Twitter friends.
• How many Instagram friends will I lose from not posting my daily Instagram Story pics?
• When I'm away from WiFi, how will I even message my overseas friends to plan our international trip for next weekend?

Looking back at this list, it's embarassing to see how overly social I am.  It's silly.  And it's sobering to realize how much I kill myself to stay in touch with the people I love.

Everything will be alright.  I'll see my friends when I see them.  In the meantime, I'm gonna enjoy being offline.

From my Instagram Story:  The latest winter adventure I led for NW Wilderness was, ahem, eventful.

Snow on the mountain...

Coming soon: After I return from Italy this weekend after visiting friends for a couple days, I'll upload a follow-up post filled with more snowy neighborhood photos like this of Lena, Levi, and Kathy!

Chairlift photo from Summer's Facebook page

Photo by snowboarder @JonNW, snapped at the highest point of Mount Hood Meadows as we were all about to drop into Heather's Canyon

Snow is a big deal for us in the Portland area. We spend most of the winter hoping for (or dreading) our annual snow event, and then when it finally happens the city essentially shuts down. Meanwhile, the rest of the country laughs at our unpreparedness to handle such minuscule snow accumulation. It's an annual tradition!

A live tweeted photo from my record-long 4+ hour commute home from PDX airport and Warner Pacific College on the first day of the freeze. I-5 south traffic was stopped for so long that I turned off my Jeep Wrangler, safely shot a picture, and tweeted it.

More on that local snow event in my next post...



Another annual tradition (at least we Hamilton kids HOPE it is!) is one of my dad's Christmas presents to Kathy, Mike, Summer, and me: a ski day at Mount Hood Meadows with Bo himself.

Kathy swapped out Bo's ski offer for a shopping day. And it took a tremendous amount of schedule coordination, but last month we found a day where the remaining three of us could snow ride together with Bo.

The Drive

Stopping in Sandy on our way up to Mount Hood, we fed our maple bar addiction at Joe's Donuts.

A painting from local favorite artist Michael Sorensen is on display at Joe's. Come for the donuts, stay for the artwork.

Busy Saturday:  We were herded onto the shuttle bus from Mount Hood Meadows' overflow lot

The Slopes

The sun was shining, the snow was soft, and the clear skies provided limitless visibility to enjoy God's creation.

Our 71 year old dad skied his heart out until lunch time and then set up shop for the afternoon in the lodge. Mike finished up his final snowboard run later, looking to get a head start on our post-slope festivities outside the lodge.


With a little persuasion, I talked Summer into joining me for some backcountry action on Meadows' sole double-black diamond run.  Meadows' regulars know that weather conditions often cause Heather's Canyon to unexpectedly close at a moment's notice.  We didn't want to miss our window.

The melting snow on the more aggressive stretches of Heather's Canyon was soft enough that even the most spectacular wipeouts didn't really hurt.  My little sister overcame her fears and managed the back country terrain like a pro.

And a good Samaritan was kind enough to toss my equipment downhill to me after one spill, saving me a steep climb back uphill to collect my post-wreck ski that was littering the slope above me.

The after party

Live music, variations of pulled pork and rib sandwiches, and a host of other refreshments were served outside the lodge.  It was a call, to entice snow riders as they geared down to exit the mountain.

We answered the call.

Coming next week on Garth's Blog

(or possibly the week after, depending on my overseas in-flight productivity and our WiFi signal in Bobbio Pellice and Torino, Italy)...

Lena and Levi share the spotlight for some never before seen photos in:

...Snow in the yard!

Run - Hike - Climb

Back in my giant beard days (last month, that is): Taking Lena and our newborn Levi on the first hike of his life; More on that in the coming weeks!

The post below is yet another share from my other blog, originally drafted as a response to the U.S.A. athletes competing at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

But no more stalling, and no more slacking...  An original "Garth's Blog" post is finally coming here on Wednesday: A play-by-play of baby Levi's birth!

Barely 30 total miles in January. Pathetic. Recording my hiking and running miles via my preferred GPS sports tracker app last month was quite an eye opener for me. Seems I cover a fraction of the miles that I used to.

Granted, January was anything but typical. A typical month would have fewer missed hiking opportunities due to wimping out in the face of nasty weather. And then there was the minor, itsy bitsy issue of taking a couple weeks off to have a baby boy.

But it's clear that I'll need to step up my game if I'm gonna train this year, as planned, to:

• climb a couple of the Pacific Northwest's highest peaks
• run that marathon relay race with our team in Cincinnati (and maybe a mud run or two?)
• get back in shape for my TV commercial/photo shoots
• carry Lena and Levi on some backpacking trips, and do more hikes with our students
• outperform and outlast my former self on the wake board, surfboard, snow skis, bicycle, kayak, and whatever else I can find the time to ride

So much training to do, so few calories to work with. At least, after my raging metabolism has its way with those calories.  Plus, there's always the matter of hitting the free weights harder to add a bit more meat to this embarrassingly lean body frame.





But all of this is secondary to what is really important-- prioritizing time with my family, as well serving the needs of the wonderful people whom God has placed in our church and my life. I could definitely stand to spend more time training for both. Couldn't we all?


24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Olympic Mountains, Day 1: Lena's first camping trip

Hiking the Big Creek Campground Loop trail

Our 20 1/2 month old Lena has camping, hiking, and climbing in her blood!  Her other genetically inherited skills like surfing, skiing, wakeboarding, rafting, bicycling kayaking, rapelling, skydiving, and all that other fun stuff should develop in time.

Given my own outdoor tendencies, it's hard to believe that Lena had never been camping before last month.  It took Mommy and Daddy this long to agree on the right timing. However, we both knew it was only a matter of time before Lena would get her first taste of sleeping outside in the wilderness. And the time was right!


Since I was hoping to climb Mount Washington (traversing across from Mt. Ellinor) this summer anyway, Big Creek Campground in the Olympic Mountains would make a perfect base camp/ playground for Lena and Mommy.  The campground is near Lake Cushman and the Staircase entrance to the Olympic National Park.

Other than two other climbing parties, the campground was a ghost town for our entire stay.

Putting up a tent takes a bit longer when distracted by a lovable little thing like Lena!



After setting up camp, the three of us started hiking the short Big Creek Campground loop trail.

It was getting late.  After a while, Mommy and Lena bailed to head back to camp.

Solo, I upped my pace to a brisk trail run and continued on to the 4 mile Upper Big Creek Loop toward the Mount Ellinor trail.

**********

By the time I met up with Mommy and Lena back at the campsite, it was time to start preparing Lena's first campfire meal!  Kathy prepared the fixings for chili dogs while I built up the campfire.

Mommy prepares the fixings, and Lena helps Daddy blow on the campfire

Daddy teaches Lena the fine culinary art of cooking chili dogs over a campfire

As our once raging campfire died down, we laid Lena down in the tent.  Unsurprisingly, she slept like a baby!

Coming this next week on Garth's Blog...

Olympic Mountains, Day 2: Back on the trails!

My Jeep, the Tank

Current scores: 

Crashes/unscathed Jeep Wrangler- 5  Crashes/unscathed cars that smash into it- 0

My at-fault accidents: 0  Other accidents: Ummm...

It must be hard to resist crashing into my Jeep, especially with the soft top down.  And especially when I'm innocently stopped at red lights.

The latest guy to obliterate his front end on my tailgate got off easier than some of the Jeep's past victims, but it was still pretty bad.  His truck is no longer truck-shaped anymore.  I'm glad he was okay, but I feel so sorry for him.  What a horrible way to start out his new year!

Aside from a slightly pinched spare tire, the Wrangler got a clean bill of health this week.  Barely a scratch, as usual.

Why is this not surprising?  Here's why:  My Jeep has been hit in parking lots.  My Jeep was accidentally rammed on Superbowl Sunday.  And my BlogSpot post from July 2009, A Week of Jeep Smash-Ups (link), tells of the 72 hour window in which my Jeep got rear-ended TWICE while I was stopped at red lights. The first accident resulted in a totaled-out Taurus.   In spectacular fashion, the next crash pinned the Jeep near the front of a seven car pile-up!

Seven car pile-up by the Nike World Campus in Beaverton!  My Jeep Wrangler was the fourth vehicle hit by an out-of-control U-Haul van.  This was the second time that my Jeep got hit in 72 hours!

Let's save the Jeep retrospective blog for another time.  After all, you BlogSpot readers need to build up some stamina for the upcoming Lena picture-fest that I'm gonna drop next week.


Suffice it to say that Jeeps take a lickin' and keep on tickin'.  So far, my Wrangler has been rugged enough to:

Navigate rocky, snowy and icy roads to the mountain for hiking, backpacking, camping and skiing

...carry surfboards to the ocean, skis to the slopes, water toys to the lake, and gear to the trails

...trek offroad through mud, water, and an array of obstacles

...haul around middle school, high school, and college students

...appear in parades for WP College and the occasional TV commercial

...and survive the daily commute to PDX airport, church, and various photo studios/sets.

It's been said that Jeep Wranglers have nine lives.  How many lives does this Jeep have left?

Coming next Friday on BlogSpot...

A blog starring 15 month old Lena is long overdue!