Back in Michigan

Well, Joe and I have found ourselves back in Michigan by this time...and boy it has been a while since we have blogged anything. Sorry! We are working on retrieving many of our pictures... much to our dismay, our external hardrive has been scratched, and is no longer accessable. We are hoping it send it away to a retrieval service to get back our some 3,000 pics from the summer :( Bummer, we know. But we did save pics elsewhere, so i will have to get those on here. The evacutaion from Clydehurst was such a crazy time...forest fires can be so hazardous and quick. They rushed us out of our beloved valley on August12th....we only went back once to camp to clean up and get the rest of our personal belongings. Smoke hung in the air...the Hicks park fire was only about 10 miles away! Sleeping at the fair grounds, at Emily's house....taking shelter in the Civic Center of Big timber...it was all very surreal. Joe even got to live out an adventure, as he was asked to go back into camp the night we were evacuated to retrieve our horses from camp, so they would not be harmed in the fire, should it get that close to camp. Boy was he a happy camper! Rescue!!! So we belive all is well with camp...we haven't hear otherwise. A great trip back to Michigan helped relieve anxieties about leaving early. We stayed with good friends Michael and Liz in Kansas City, and then with Derek and Sam in Iowa city. So much fun at each house!!! We are so blessed to have good friends, for sure. Well, it is late, and I must get some sleep tonight. Tomorrow we are doing High Ropes with our staff here at Michindoh...yesssss!

Goodbyes...

Well, today is the day my friend Jana Lynn leaves for Georgia. She has been my bestest friend in the kitchen ! But school starts soon for her, and she must go! It is making me realize how short our time is here in this beautiful place. We took pictures in the kitchen to commemorate our last day together. Wearing our homade aprons and picking out the craziest utensils from the kitchen, we posed for a pic. Funny stuff!
Well, this past weekend, we actually made it up the mountain at Blue Lake...talk about amazing. The off-road trip up the mountain was an adventure all in itself! We piled into the matress-clad back of 4 camp pickups and drove about 2 hours up the mountain. These roads were 'primative', and so not maintained. This equals many boulders, mudholes, divits...you name it! And so we would rev up the engine, and fly through! I guess it is tradition to stand up behind the cab, hold on to whatever you can, and scream your way through the mud holes and everything else...needless to say we were covered in dust and mud! But it was a blast. Except for the part when Old Blue broke down on us b/c too much water in something-or-other parts of the truck. So we got out, split our selves up between the other pickups, and took off! We ate lunch at Solomon city, and abandoned mine city waaay up in the mountains. Broken down buildings and shacks scatter the landscape..very interesting. 8 more miles and we were at Blue Lake...just beautiful. We didn't want to waste any time, so we hopped out onto the rocky ground, cinched up our packs, and headed up the steep mountainside. Mounument loomed before us...i actually couldn't believe the feat we were about to tackle. Within the first few moments, my lungs started to hurt...oh no..not a good sign! Well, we were at about 10, 000 ft above sea level...of course the burn is going to happen!! Slow and steady, we crept up that mountain face. There were some meadows along the way, which were actually full of flowers and grass. The high elevation parts of these mountains are actually in their late spring/early summer season. After about 1 hour, we finally reached the top of the mountain. 10, 995 ft. But Greg says with our heads we hit about 11,000 :) Being up on the top feels like no other thing in the world....all i could do was just sit in awe. And praise the Lord for making that creation! We could see for miles and miles...just more mountains! We even caught sight of the tallest point in Montana, about 15,000 ft. There was a book to sign, saying that you had been to the top. I guess Joe can now check off one thing on his "life's to -do list": climb a mountain. We will try to post pics soon...although they don't do justice!

Stefan

This is our good friend and co-worker Stefan who also hiked to Steeple with me.

Me On Steeple

This is proof that I actually made it to Steeple...it is an incredible experience!!!

On the Way to Steeple

This a another view awesome view on the way up to steeple.

Steeple

This is and amazing view from the top of Steeple. For those of you who have never been to Clydehurst and don't know what Steeple is...It is a really hard hike to a rock that is at the top of the mountian right above camp. It is pretty amazing to be up there!!

The Family

So we hiked up to Trinity falls while everyone was here...and took this great picture. Ben was quite the acrobat, as he had to balance the camera on a rock, hit the timer, run across a few boulders, and then jump into the picture. We had a wonderful time...especially dad!! Lets just say he was brave enough to jump into that freezing water! Mom did very well, as we had to cross the river twice, over 2 logs and everything...she was a trooper!!

Sun Set

Here is one of the many beautiful sun sets that we get to enjoy on a regular basis here at Clydehurst. We can't actually see the sun set because the mountains are in the way but we do get to see the beautiful effects of it.

Benjie and Kate

Here is a pic of Ben and I hanging out on the porch at camp....pretty cool brother, if you ask me

It's Friday!!

Well, it is hard to believe, but we are ending our 3rd week of family camp, and only have 2 weeks left here in the wild wild west. Sigh....but exciting news is that this weekend we have an amazing adventure planned. We are taking a staff trip to the famed "Blue Lake"!! Basically we all pile into camp pickups and drive about 2 hours south until we get to the end of the dirt road...the end of the valley, i guess! And then we go up...and up...and up! Supposedly, we will be venturing up roads that seem impossible for a vehicle...but little by little our trucks inch up the mountain. Then, we get to the 'above the tree line' lake (Blue Lake) and we have the opportunity to climb Monument Mountain, or even do the "loop". This would include scaling Monument, as well as Haystack, another neighboring mountain. Whew! We are pumped to go...we will have to write and tell all about it. Yesterday I signed myself up for the all famed 'facebook'. yahoo! But i can't seem to change my name to katie hughes...it keeps coming up as katie brown. oh well...i will figure it out. We are trying to sort through all of our pictures and put up some new ones on this blog...we have so many!! Joe thinks we have probably taken 2000 pics so far this summer. Geesh. Libby...thanks so much for the pics and cd you sent me! I loved getting them...and your wedding dress is soooo pretty!! You are going to look beautiful and i am going to cry!! Well, maybe I will try and put up some pics. hasta la vista, mis amigos!

Just another Manic Monday...

What an amazing weekend...my family just left this morning from here at Clydehurst. In fact, they should be in the air on their way to Denver, CO right now. It still is sinking in, I think. They came to visit for a long weekend out here in Montana, and we had sooo much fun!! I tried to do a little bit of everything, so they could experience life at camp. And now I am sad...I miss all of them (if you are reading this mom, dad, libby or ben...hi! and I love and miss you!) We went for a hike, a few horseback rides, tubed down the river...you name it! In fact, Libby and Ben tubed even farther than Joe or I have ever been on the river...brave little munchkins :)hehe. I think this trip took my dad back to his college days, as that was the last time he had been out west. (right, dad?) It was just wonderful to see each of them, and to go on adventures here at camp. I loved it...absolutely loved it! And we even got to sleep outside for 2 nights! I guess we really had no choice, b/c the cabins were all full Friday and Sunday nights. So mom an dad slept in our cabin, and all the kids slept on matresses on the campfired platform. We couldn't have a campfire, though...as we have risen to a level 2 fire hazard here in the valley. Oh well...we had plenty of other things to do! The first night they arrived, we all enjoyed steak night dinner (yum!) Then it was off to the "Front Porch", which is our camp coffee house, and we each got a coffee (Crazy Horse seemed to be popular, although Lib had a TurtleDove...very good..and Mom had a Rusty Buckey, i think..yum...oh yes, Chi Tea for dad, too!) Then Joseph took us all on an exciting tour ride in the large golf cart here on camp. Yes, yes...adventures abounded everywhere this last weekend. I can't wait for Libby or Dad to sent me some pictures from their cameras (hint hint ;) so we can post some of the pictures. Well, i should probably go and check the snail mail, to see if we recieved anything. We got a letter and card from the Rashleys' the other day (thank you Anna, Dave, Joshua, Caleb, and baby!) and that was wonderful!! I cried when i read it...we miss you guys!! I know those kids are growing up so fast...i wish we could be around more often. But it was just wonderful to recieve the letter and anniversary wishes. Sigh...alrighty...I am heading out. God is good...all the time!

Us @ Trinity

Yes, yes...we finally made it into the water! We did it, just to say we had been in the waterfall. I guess its the thing to do when you come to camp. We hiked back down and went back to camp to watch the famous movie around here... A River Runs Through It. Robert Redford...gotta love him! That movie was actually filmed right here in this valley, some parts were right accross from camp. We enjoyed the movie, as it has flyfishing as a major theme~

Here she goes!

A very tedious process..getting into the falls! This water is coming straight down the mountain..brrrr!!

Joseph @ Falls

Quickly, quickly, both Joe and I jumped into the FREEZING water at the bottom of Trinity. It took a while to get the nerve to jump in, though :)

Trinity Falls

A traditional hike for campers is to Trinity... a beautiful waterfall about 10 minutes down the road from camp. There are 3 pools and falls (hence, trinity) that cascade down to the pool at the bottom. Beautiful, once again!

Little Cabin in the Woods

Joe and I hiked up to Trinity Falls on one of our evening off, and found this cabin half way up the mountain. Cool to think of who and when someone lived there...

Watermelon Meg...

Here is our friend Meg. She is hilarious...always making me laugh. We had a watermelon eating/seed spitting contest, and she chose this huge piece of watermelon to dig into. Basically it was everywhere! Meg just graduated from Laurence University with a music major/education. She is going to do her student teaching this fall...cool! She is from Wisconsin, as well....

Firworks!!

Clydehurst put on their very own fireworks show on the 4th of July..it was great! Although we had to be super careful b/c the fire hazard was really high, the crew boys and Joe had a great time firing off the explosives :) Here is Rachel, Brecken, Katie, and Jana...we sat together to watch the show! The coffee house was even open for the night, and many of us enjoyed Italian Sodas or Frappacinos..yum!! Afterwards we were handed out sparklers and ran around like little kids. I love the 4th!

Master Griller

Here he is! We have a cookout on Wednesday afternoons for lunch, and Joe is in charge of grilling the burgers and dogs! The high school crew boys also pitch in, aprons and all. Joe enjoys the chance to grill and show off his skills :)

The Girls @ the Rodeo

Brook, Rachel, Alana, Katie (me), J.C., and Jana...we all had a great time at the rodeo! Alana, and Jana are two cooks with me in the kitchen, and the other girls are crew counselors and assistant program directors.

Sydney

Greg and Michelle Hartman (our program directors) are responsible for this little gal. Isn't she cute! She even had her own cowboy hat for the rodeo. She is a real trooper around camp..we love watching her and playing with her as well. It makes us think of our nieces and nephews back in Ohio (hi guys!!) and miss them tremendously!

Its over...and they are in one piece!

The triumphant warriors...without a cow! When it was all said and done, they boys were tired and smelly...but smiling. Now Joe is one step closer to being in a real rodeo!

Hmmm...

A little blurry, but they were moving so fast i couldn't get a great picture! Here the guys have a hold of the cow and Joe is proceeding to put the saddle on. However, every time he would get close, the cow would thrash away and the saddle fell to the ground. Unfortunately, they never even got the saddle buckled....and then the cow ran away. Good try, boys!

On your mark...get set...

These are our 3 Clydehurst teams preparing for each of their cow rides. When the music started, they whipped open the gates and grabbed onto the rope tied to the cow. The object then was to successfully saddle the cow and have another team member ride the cow around some barrels and back to the start. Needless to say..this was a larger challenge than it seemed! Joe even got run over by the cow..yikes! And he riped his pants all the way up his leg...yikes! I think i screamed and laughed the whole time, it was great!

The Cow Team

Here is a pic of Garrett, Jared, and Joseph. They entered into the Big Timber rodeo as one of the competing cow ride teams. Don't they look loke a ferocious bunch??

Swimmin' Hole!

Today was sack lunch day, which means all campers and staff make our own lunches and head out somewhere to eat them. Joe and I hopped in Stefan's jeep today and drove with all of the counselors to a swimming hole down the road. There is a huge rock to jump off of, and we did, of course! We sat and at our sandwiches in the sun...it was glorious. Yesterday was a great day, simply because i recieved two letters in the mail! Thanks libby for your letter...it made me cry! Good tears though...tears of missing you! And thank you Pam for your wonderful letter to Joe and I ...it made us miss you and the family. Being away is an adventure, yet at the same time very hard! Oh well...time is flying by and the end of camp is coming very soon. The family is coming in 3 days though!! I can't wait. We are planning on sleeping out side part of the time they are here...what an experience! Hopefully the weather will cool down a bit (into the 80's). We did get some rain the other day, though...yesterday to be exact. Oh yes....yesterday was also great b/c it was out TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY! We took a trip to Big Timber for a supply run and celebrated with milk shakes. I think this week on thursday (our night off) we are going to go rock climbing and then drive to Boseman to eat out at a nice restaurant and do some shopping. Hard to believe it has been 2 years! Well..i hate to cut this short, but i have to run back to the kitchen to cook some chicken pot pie! Hasta la Vista!

Katie & Em ....rodeo girls!

Here I am with a good friend Emily at the Big Timber rodeo. We went iwith the whole staff a few weekends ago...it was a blast. Being my first rodeo and all...i didn't quite know what to expect...but I loved it! And so did Joseph. Bucking broncos, bull riding, cow roping...and even some cow riding, which Joe actually participated in! Fun times in Big Timber, MT. More rodeo pics to come....

Sunny Day

Today is very hot and sunny...not very different from any other day this week! We still have not had any rain here in the mountains. It seems as though everywhere else around us has recieved rain! Oh well..for now we will run the sprinklers all day. Last night we had our first week of family camp begin. It was so much fun to watch the families arrive. In tradition, we hosted a HUGE buffet for all to enjoy....it was amazing! Major work for us ladies in the kitchen, though. We prepared for a few day ahead of time to make sure all of the food was ready, but i think everyone loved it! Even Joe got to help out...we will have to post the pictures soon. Wearing a chef's hat and coat, he helped cut/serve roast beef as the families passed through the line. What a ham! He loved it, i think :) After the buffet dinner, a chapel service was held, and Joe and I were able to participate in that as well! We dressed up in our cowboy hats (by the way...i have a REAL one now, from Montana!) and boots, and sang and played guitar as the families joined together to sing the "hash corus", a tradition done for many years here at camp. The chorus is basically a mixture of hyms and songs all sung with a 'country' twang! Then we all introduced ourselves to the crowd, counselors included. Fun times!
Joe and i have also have had the chance to lead worship on sunday mornings for our staff chapel service, which has been fun! Last week, we had Laurel (the wrangler here) and her significant other (his name is Joe, hehe) help us ...they sang and played guitar with us as well! We did harmony parts and everything as we played all hyms...it was amazing! God blessed us with good fellowship and fun as we practiced as well.
Well, it is getting to the point of the summer where i am missing friends and family from home. However, i am SUPER excited, because in less than two weeks, my family is coming to visit us!!!! It will be so much fun to see mom and dad and libby and ben....whoo-hoo!! I hope we can go on horseback rides and hikes and maybe even some campfires in there :) I am also sad to know we will be missing the "O.E. Reunion" summer camp back at michindoh. Many of the kids we befriended during the school year at O.E. camp, will be returning for a super fun week of summer camp. I will miss seeing all of them....and not being able to share more of my faith in Jesus Christ with them! But I am confident that all of the staff at camp will be AMAZING and God will love and use them in amazing ways.
I think i am going to go outside now...i have been inside all day, and it is just way too beautiful out there to be inside any more. Maybe i will go check the mail in the lodge..it only comes in 3 times a week... and today is one of those lucky days! God bless and hasta luego!

Brown Trout

This is Paul's brown trout he caught. It was the biggest one of the day at about 13 inches. Later that night we cooked several over the grill and they were absolutely delicious!!!

Paul's Rainbow

Here is the same fish up close.

Paul with Trout

Here is Paul with a nice rainbow he caught.

Rainbow Trout

This is one of the trout that I caught when Paul and I went. It was about 12 inches.

Paul At The Boulder Field

Last week Paul came on monda to visit. He was able to say until wednesday morning. We had a great time and my boss let be take most of the day off on tuesday. We had a great time and we went fishing all day. We went down to the boulder fields to show Paul around and we fished the river there. We found some amazing holes and caught a lot of fish. It was a very good day.

Mr. Fisherman

A few nights ago, Joe and I drove down the road from camp to a great fishing spot called Aspen. It is actually near a national park campsite. I watched while joe showed off his fishing skills...which proved very good as he caught 2 trout that evening! The river is slowly getting lower, though, because we haven't had any rain for close to a month now. But the fish are still biting, regardless! Pray for rain...the fire hazard is rising and the plants need some water. But we praise the Lord for the beautiful sunshine each day!

Climbing the Boulders

Here is a pic of Katie and another crew girl named Josie. We brought our climbing shoes and found some great rocks to climb around on and challenge ourselves with. Both of us love Josie and her happy smile and attitude...plus she loves to rock climb!

The Boulder River

Joe captured this moment on the river at the boulder fields. Pretty amazing...the water is so powerful...and the rushing sound drowns out all other noise. We love to come and be by the river. Peaceful...and a great place to sit and be still before the Lord.

Katie and Julie

Here is a pic of Katie with one of the high school crew girls named Julie. She has graduated school, actually, and plans to attend college in Arizona in the fall. We have so much fun together in the kitchen...we love to laugh!

Best Friends

Joe and I had a great time out here on these huge rocks. The high schoolers also enjoyed their time here as well. The boys scare me to death though...they all try to jump accross the biggest gap in the rocks as possible. Thankfully, at the end of the trip, everyone was all in one piece.

Kate climbing away....

Another view of the phenomenal boulder field about 20 minutes south of camp.

The Boulder Fields

For a Crew outing we too all the Crew Kids to a place called the boulder fields. It is an amazingly huge field full of boulders the size of a house. We hopped and climbed and scrambled accross the maze of boulders until we reached the river. The whole time making sure we didn't fall down into any cracks between the rocks..yikes!

Climbing Adventure

Joe and I scouted out another climbing opportunity about 20 minutes from camp. One saturday, we hopped into a camp pickup and took along 3 friends (Stefan, Hope, and Emily...they are all counselors here at camp) to check out the rocks. We top ropped from a few trees..the route was fairly easy but fun. We hope to find time on other days to tackle a few harder rocks. It is fun to find other people who will go out on rock climbing adventures with us!

Yum, Yum!

What is better than eating ice cream when you are supposed to be in bed? These girls were all smiles as they chowed down at the ice cream sneak out!

Ice Cream Sneak Out!

During the 3rd and 4th grade week, we designated one evening as our "sneek out" night and held an ice cream party in the dining hall. The campers were told to sneek out of their cabin after they had been put to bed, and leave their counselors there. These kids loved it...and we were all standing on the porch just watching their grinning faces as they rounded their cabin and ran towards the ice cream. PJs and all.....these kids loved it! Exclamations such as "We did it! We snuck out! Our counselor didn't even move a bit! He fell asleep really fast!" made each of us smile as we ushered the kids into the ice cream feast. What a night of fun!

Bandit

This picture goes out to our friend Liz, who was the wrangler here at Clydehurst in previous years. Here he is, the wonderful horse, Bandit. This guy is one of the best horses we have here at camp, and our wrangler this year loves him as well. Fast, smart and tough. What more could you ask for?

Machines, Machines

Joe is loving all of the time he gets to spend on the machinery here at camp. We have 5 trucks, including a dump truck, 2 vans, 3 buses, a buldozer, backhoe, gator, 4-wheelers, and a superlong golf cart. Whew! Pretty much a sweet deal for any guy who wants to drive things around. We haven't driven this bulldozer yet, but joe thought Doug (Dad) would appreciate a good piece of equipment :) This thing was in it's prime during the 1950's or so. Pretty cool!

Camp Cats

After a long day of playing with kids, these kitties are all worn out. Cute!

Gray

Just one of the many camp kittens we have come to love. It is hilarious to watch the kids play with these poor cats...they get drug around all day long. I am surprised they are still up and moving sometimes! It will be a miracle if they make it to the end of the summer (so thinks joseph :)

Horse Corral

We have about 13 horses here at camp. Our wrangler's name is Laurel..she is great! Joe helps take care of horse feeding as one of his responsibilities. We love going on trail rides up into the mountains or accross the river into the meadow. All the horses are fairly "elderly" trail riders though...they are very used to going everywhere. But we can still get them running at a pretty good pace!

Looking to the North

This is a view of the Northern Boulder river valley while standing on camp property. The small cabins you see are all staff housing. There is a small creek that runs through camp, all the way to the horse corral (this is their drinking water). What a sight!

South View from Clydehurst

Joe took this pic standing on camp property looking to the south. The mountain in the distance is Mt. Hawley. Things aren't as green now, though..we haven't had rain for about 3 weeks. But tonight there is thunder in the air...praise the Lord!

Mt. Hawley

Now we can finally start putting pictures from camp on our site. This picture was taken on a hike just about a half mile from camp. This is the mountain that you can see from camp, it is called Mt. Hawley (pronounce Holly). Pretty amazing huh...

Contact Us

In case you did not get our contact information here it is:

Office Phone: (406) 932-6335 (Emergencies only)
Fax (406) 932-6330
Pay Phone at Lodge (406) 932-9226 (use for normal calls, if no answer try again later only gets answered when someone is in the lodge to hear it.)

Clydehurst Christian Ranch
3319 Boulder Rd.
McLeod, MT 59052

Email: Joe jhughes01@hotmail.com
Katie kbrownie7@hotmail.com


Hope this helps...we would love to hear from you all.

Joe


P.S. We live in the middle of nowhere so our cell phone has no chance of working!!!!

Camp Visitor

So...we are finally to the end of the trip out west!!! This last picture was taken the last night in the park before we arrived at Clydehurst. This female elk walked right through our camp and it came within 20 feet for out camp site. It was pretty cool to see one that close up!!

Ok, so we are finally at the end of the trip out and now we can start posting picture of Clydehurst and all that we are doing here. We will try to get up to date as soon as possible so hang in there!!

Firehole Hot Spring

Another beautiful hot spring!! The pictures don't even do them justice!!

The Grand Prismatic Spring

This is one of the most beautiful and large springs in the park. It is quite stunning with its brilliant colors and Crystal clear water!!

Self Portrait

What a couple of dorks having a picnic by the river!!

The Blister

Katie had a "small" problem with blisters from her new boots!!!