Hiking News - Broken Ankle but not a Broken Spirit

Hubs stumbled across a story about a 21 year old girl who was hiking with a friend in Wyoming recently. After they saw a gorgeous sunset, they started towards their intended campsite. On the way, they came across a deep trench - 6ft wide and 8ft deep. As Lexi attempted to jump across she slipped, fell, and broke her ankle (pretty severely).

As her friend rushed off to get help, she made a video to try to keep herself positive and to take her mind off the pain. It's pretty awesome! Take a look!

Keeping your fear at bay is so important to be able to survive in an emergency situation. Whatever situation you find yourself in, take a deep breath, let go of the "what ifs", and allow yourself to think in terms of survival. 

And like I seem to be saying quite a bit - Always be prepared!

Way to go, Lexi!

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Wolf Rock - Catoctin Mountain Park

All last week I was singing "On the trail again! I just can't wait to get on the trail again"! Saturday we finally did! Due to problems with our GPS logger, I'm unable to show you a map of what were we hiked =[ but I imagine in the not too distant future we'll be back up at Catoctin Mountain. It was just that beautiful!

We set out intending to do 8-Mile Loop. Unfortunately, the 'bugs' we thought we avoided from the Dominican Republic picked Saturday to bite us, so we only did about 3.5 miles of 8-Mile Loop. Believe me, nothing is worse than trying to push through a hike when you stomach is screaming "NOOOOOO!!! Stop moving!!" However, we're both feeling a lot better now, and we're hoping that our energy will be back up for this weekend's adventures!

So, on to the good stuff!

Catoctin Mountain is so incredible! The area that we hiked in was rocky, and there are large rock formations jutting out of the mountain. It's so cool!

We started our hike from the visitors center heading towards the Park Headquarters. If you do this, pay careful attention to the trail. Catoctin does not blaze the trails, and we ended up getting a little lost when the trail made a sharp turn to the left that we missed.

You'll know you missed it when you come across this big "rock field"

If you see this, turn around. DO NOT go down the hill like we did.. oh my were we lost..

On the trail, we came across some Fairy Houses! I first saw a Fairy House when I was in Maine for the summer with a friend. I love coming across them! They're so whimsical looking =]

I have no idea why people make these (or should I say fairies?), but they're really neat to look at!

As we were walking up the mountain, we were feeling pretty out of it. So we stopped for a minute to rest up. The dogs were none to happy.

 Can't you just see in Cocoa's eyes "COME ON, Mom! I want to keep moving!"

And really, who can resist those eyes? So keep moving we did.

 The best part of the hike was obviously Wolf Rock. I've heard people say that they were unimpressed, or that the views weren't great, but I think it's amazing! You have to do a bit of rock scrambling to get to it, but it is so worth it. We stopped there for a long while to eat lunch and just to enjoy nature.

Cocoa decided to take a nap while we were eating lunch =]

Sprocket laid down, too.

And of course, I couldn't just sit there for too long. I had to go explore the rocks! The formations were so neat, and some of the splits were really deep. I'm sad to say I noticed a lot of trash at the bottom of the crevices. If you're hiking, please remember to pack out your trash. Let's not ruin the beauty of our trails for others.

After we were done hanging out on Wolf Rock, we headed back to the trail. The trail was really busy! I couldn't believe how many groups of people we saw! A lot of the groups had children with them, too. I was really excited to see so many families out enjoying the day with their kids.

Of course all the rain that we've gotten recently left it's imprint on nature. Anyone know about mushrooms? I know zilch.

There were mushrooms all along the trail, but this double mushroom was definitely the coolest.

Even though it was a short hike, it was so nice to get outside and get moving! There's something about being outside on the trail that speaks to my soul. It's peaceful, invigorating, and so awe inspiring to see God's beautiful creation. It preps me for the long week ahead, and helps me relax from the week I just had. There's nothing like sitting under the trees on a sunny day =]

I have to leave you with this adorable picture of the pups. They were all tuckered out after our hike =]

I hope you had a chance to get outside last weekend. Been anywhere fun recently? I'd love to hear about it =] Feel free to leave a comment here, or on Facebook. And when you get a chance, please pop over to Facebook and Like my page.

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! Please take a moment and like me on Facebook. Happy Trails!

The High Heels Side of Life - Missions Work

Hi Everyone! Did you miss me?? I sure missed all of you!

Hubs and I have just gotten back into the country from the Dominican Republic. Remember a couple months ago when I posted about a fundraiser for our missions trip? Well we've just returned from the trip late last night! What an incredible experience it was!

In a city called Pimentel, we support a church/school ministry called MIVA - Ministerio Infantil Viva el Amor. This year, the trip was a special Anniversary Celebration for 15 years of MIVA. Hubs and I were part of a 20 person team from the Baltimore area, and we were lucky enough to be there during the celebration week. Every day was filled with activities and work projects and the whole trip was such a blessing for all involved!

After a long day of traveling on July 30th, the team dove right into working. The construction team worked on assembling a stage that would be used throughout the week's events, and the VBS team started organizing supplies. Tuesday was filled with more organization and VBS prep, with the construction team moving on to more projects. Throughout the week, the construction team replaced all of the mechanical pieces in the toilets throughout MIVA, cleaned the fence line from overgrowth, rewired a church member's house, repaired the generator used when the city has no electricity, built a back drop to be used during Friday night's rap competition, and built stands that the church could use as "lemonade stands".

Wednesday was perhaps my favorite day of the trip. MIVA held a special Olympic Games day, where the children of Pimentel could participate in Olympic style games. The day was kicked off with a Torch Race through the city, and had perhaps 75 people running through the city by the time it reached the final pass-off location.

The white flags are the front of the Torch Race line heading towards our pass-off location 

Kids running at the front of the Torch Race

The race started at the outskirts of the city, and finished as we all ran into MIVA. 

After the Torch Race, the kids broke out into groups to do the games and the Americans went out to help them! I got assigned to go with the dodgeball group, and I had fun entertaining the kids that weren't playing at the time!

In the afternoon, the older kids did a scavenger hunt through Pimentel, and we got to run with them as they completed their tasks at each location! I spent a lot of time running around trying to keep up with them! Wednesday was an awesome day! 

Thursday and Friday we did VBS. The kids got to do a craft (that they could take home with them), play games, and hear a bible story. During the lessons, the kids learned about Nehemiah rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. After the lesson was complete, the kids "built" a wall of gratitude to God, to thank Him for what He's done in their lives.

I brought the fabric home with me and I will quilt it to look like bricks, then next year I'll take it back down there and give them the finished wall. 

Thursday night MIVA brought in two comedians for a special show, and they had over 1000 people in attendance! Friday night there was a rap competition where the youth from Pimentel competed in an "American Idol" fashion (with judges). After the competition a popular rapper in the Dominican gave a performance. What an incredible experience! It was so powerful to see the young people show up in such numbers! 

Saturday was the day we'd all been waiting for: Celebration Day. People from all over came to celebrate MIVA's 15 year anniversary, and I've never seen the church so packed! All these people walked through the streets praying over families, businesses, parks, and many other things. Then we all gathered back at MIVA to release the balloons. Around 1500 balloons were released into the sky, each with a message inside: Jesucristo es el Senor de Pimentel - Jesus Christ is Lord of Pimentel!

It was such a sight to see! The atmosphere was electric! 

Every time Hubs and I go down to work with these people, we come back feeling so blessed. It was spirit renewing to see old friends, to see the smiling faces of the kids while they were playing games, and to work together as one body of Christ regardless of language barriers. I love the people of Pimentel, and MIVA is like a second family. If you have any questions about the work we did, I would love to answer them for you. Feel free to leave a comment here or on Facebook.

Thank you so much for visiting My Journey from High Heels to Hiking Boots! Please take a moment and like me on Facebook. Happy Trails!

P.s. I'm super excited to tell you that Hubs and I are back to hiking this weekend! I promise a blog post featuring a new trail will be up before the weekend is over!