Thanking God for anwsered prayers. Long

[Cutter]

I thought I would share this with you. Last summer my wife and I really started getting into hiking. We had done several day hikes and had a lot of fun, but I wasn't getting the challenge I was looking for. Talking with a friend from work, he suggested the Elk MT. trail off of highway 6. Pretty good hike he says. Just grab a map. Great!

I checked on the internet about getting a map. They listed a few places, two of which just happen to be on the way there.

So on a Tuesday, I grab the dog(a deaf Dalmatian) water, powerbars, ect, and head out. The first store was closed, and the second store was out of the maps, but told me the trail was pretty well marked.

I get to the elk creek camp ground and there is a prison crew working on the direct trail to elk mountain, so I go the other way. Over active imagination, but prisoners with picks and shovels in the woods are best avoided.

Hiking up I missed the first turn off for the trail. A brand new treated 4X4 sticking in the ground, no sign attached. I hiked over 2 miles passed this before a forest survey crew got me turned around. Back down and onto the right trail. Then another fork in the road, another brand new 4X4 sticking in the ground, no sign just like the first. Although this time there are rock arrows pointing in 2 different directions, neither of which was the way I came. I make my choice and head off. The trail starts rising, then tops out and head down pretty fast. Hmm, this must be the top, nope after a little while the trail climbs back up the steep ridge to another top. This has to be the top this time, it's a rocky outcropping and the trail drops off even more steeply. Wrong again. After a few more of these, each a steep climb followed by a steep drop off, I'm getting pretty discouraged and running low on water and snacks for both myself and the dog. Each time I would hit the low end of the trail and it would start back up, I wished I had that map. Each time I would make a rise I would be glad I don't have to do that again, I hope. I was starting to worry this trail was not heading back to the camp ground and that I had taken another wrong turn. Maybe I should just head off trail down hill. I'm sure to hit the road or river eventually. I started to pray about this time. "God, please give me a sign this is the right trail, please let me know if I reach it."

The next bit of trail comes out on another outcropping, high above highway 6 and the Wilson river. But no trail. Instead there is a hand over hand climb of about 30 feet or so to the top, I really hoped this is the right trail. Because after this there would be no turning back. So I put my 70lb dog in front of me and push her up and hold her so that I can climb up a little, over and over until we get to the top.

There is a sign at the top, Elk Mt. and a climber sign-in log. I've never been on a hike before where there is a sign in log at the top. And I've climbed St Helens. St. Helens' is at the bottom. In the log the last day anyone had signed in was last Wednesday, and it appeared the only days that had more than one group signed in was on the weekends. But no one had signed in this last weekend. I figured it was due to the hot weather.

God had answered my prayer though, and that made me feel great. We both rested and I'm thinking it's all down hill from here. So we finish off the last of the powerbars and drink most of the water, I never drink all the water until I get to where I'm going.

The tempurature was toping out in the low 90's, so we didn't stay long on the top.Just enough time to eat and drink a little.

Following the top is another series of ups and downs. I really wish I had that map. I'm pretty sure this is the trail down, but I'm tired now, really tired. The dog is even looking pretty bad, head down, tongue hanging out. I know now that there is no way I can go back the other direction, I just was not physically able to and I'm not sure I could get the dog to go. About the second or third time the trail dropped down and started to go up, I sat down, legs shaking, throat sore and dry, the dreaded feeling of being lost was creeping in on me. I really wish I had that map, I wish I new where this trail came out. I may have rest up, what if I have to spend the night. I can keep going up and down. Then I prayed again. "Lord, I really need your help here," I believe I even said this out loud. "I'm stuck, I can't go back, there's no way, unless I really have to. Lord, please give me a sign, let me know where this trail comes out." I layed back and waited. After about five minutes I get up and start up the other side. This is the really good part. Half way up I meet this young guy coming down the trail, no water, no backpack, just a dog (a black lab pup), and a disposable camera. To look at this guy you would think, runaway street kid, ratty clothes, long dark dirty hair (some in dreads), scruffy beard and mustache. My first thought, was to ask where this trail led, my second was wondering what the heck he was doing way up here. If you recall no one had signed the log in a week and it appeared no more than one group ever hike this trail during the week. Now there's this young guy, mid twenties, with no water or food, here to tell me the trail comes out. It was all down hill from there, no more ups, just downs, almost straight down. What a blessing.

When I got out there was no other cars around, just the prison crew loading up for the day. Now this guy may have been from the camp ground, or dropped off my friends, but it just struck me funny in a good way.


Last Sunday in church this memory popped back into my head, and I realized I never offered that guy a drink, I only thanked him for helping me. I really started to feel bad about that. That's when the idea came to me that I should tell somebody about this, and I felt a lot better. I thanked God for answering my prayers again.

This is not the only example I have, but it's one of the coolest.

[FM2]

Very cool experience Cutter. Lives are full of trials and tribulations and you prayed for specific signs and God brought those to you. What I find special about this is you recognized these signs and have given God credit for delivering you from a potentially uncomfortable experience. God is around us giving signs each day in so many different ways but when you can identify these and give glory to where they come from clearly shows your maturity in Christ.

[Private-Aye-Fish]

God is good!