Turbulent Waters

"We're going to climb to the top"

Recently I spent a week in Pagosa Springs, Colorado with my best friend Steve Potter and his wife Anja. Flying into Durango from Denver in a two engine prop plane. "Can this thing go that high?" As we sit on the tarmac awaiting take off I am seated next to a young man that is a college student at Colorado state, his father leans across the isle and says to his son, " the rubber band is winding up". This along with what sounded like the buzzing of bees was coming from the engines. I chuckle to myself. In the navy I flew in many aircraft as a aerial photographer but still to this day I really get apprehensive when I get into an aircraft. I despise takeoffs.

But anyway the flight was uneventful and quite beautiful as we flew over the Rocky mountains. Rising up from the 5200 foot elevation of Denver to the mind numbing elevation of some of the mountain peaks. Can we really fly that high?

My friend Steve has invited me out to Pagosa to bike ride the Rockies. " We will ride to the top of Wolf Creek Pass". 10,856 feet. "You are insane". One afternoon as Steve is busy with work, I take a car for a reconnaissance drive to the top. "This isn't so bad". As I drive along route 160 motoring towards the mountains I stop to take several pictures.

This day the Aspens were glowing like gold!

Wow is it beautiful out here! 

But after reaching the parking lot that is at the Treasure Falls altitude of 8300 feet I find the road does nothing but tilt upward from there. The pass is a full eight miles from Treasure Falls. The next 2 miles are in an area where the road is so steep that it has several switch backs. In the switch back areas my guess would be that the road twists up at possibly 12-15% grade. Maybe even a little more. Ouch!!!!! Another few miles and I crest the mountain at the continental divide. 10,856 feet. No fanfare. Just a couple of trucks drivers stopped to look at the sign explaining where we were. 10,856 feet up in the air. That's almost two miles high. And I'm gonna ride. Well if the ride up wouldn't have been enough the ride down may even seem worse. 45-50 miles per hour on a 1 inch narrow strip of rubber pumped up to 115 pounds per square inch. Pop! Road rash to the bone!

Wednesday comes and Steve and I take a drive into New Mexico along the San Juan river to the quality trout waters for a day of fishing. The drive was gorgeous. As we drive through canyons for approximately one and half hours I am amazed at the stark beauty of the countryside. We traverse a Navajo Indian reservation. Climbing one final hill to the top of a dam, at the crest the road sharply turns down to the river floor below. In a short time our guide, Steve and I are on the San Juan river in a boat large enough for three people. No motor. Fly fishing poles. The guide and two oars.

For the next eight hours we float with the currents down the river. Our guide, Mike, stopping the boat at times in the current by way of an anchor that he can release and pickup from his seated rowing position in the middle of the boat. In fact the oars are really only used as a way for Mike to steer the boat from one side of the river to the other looking for "holes" where the fish may be feeding. There are few times that Mike uses the oars to paddle us back up stream, against the current so we can drift along with the current. Somehow Mike new exactly how to control the speed of the boat so the flies that we were using would travel along in the water looking natural to the fish. During this drift fishing trip that we were taking, I would often look at the river and the current driving us along. The surface of the water at times having a glassy appearance, but at times as I would look ahead I could see the waters in the river becoming quite turbulent.

God would speak to me along this trip. I have been following along in a book by a christian writer by the name of Henri Nouwen and in the book he speaks much about anguish and embracing it. Learning to accept it. This trip along the river that day spoke to me. In a dream I had recently I dreamt of myself in a boat floating along a river much like my trip with Steve that day on the San Juan river. In my dream there were periods in which the boat that I was in there was a current driving the boat. A current that was almost imperceptible as the surface of the water was smooth and glassy. But at times I could see the waters becoming more and more turbulent. The funny thing was the day that we were fishing, Steve in the back of the boat and I in the front, we could and would stand for a great portion of the day. It was at the these times when we would approach these turbulent faster moving waters that I would brace myself. At the position where is was standing there was this "C" shaped attachment part of the boat that you would stand in and brace yourself with your thighs. Feet spread as wide as possible. All the time casting our flies. Hoping for a bite. There where these floating things on the line, Mike called them indicators, I would have called it a bobber, that as soon as a trout would in any way touch your lure we were to react quickly. Mike would yell, many times I was looking around at the beauty of the scenery. "Terry! Now!" No matter how the water was moving, NOW! And if the reaction was not quick enough or the correct way there would be no chance of catching a trout.

The trout we caught that day were all released

The final half an hour on the river as we drifted with the current to our pickup location I would just sit and enjoy. Reflecting. The river represented life, my journey, smooth and glassy at times. Rough and turbulent at others. Rocks along the way. Mike would warn, "Terry we may scrape bottom here". Standing in the front I could see the bottom of the river, the rocks. Some appeared small. Some big. The big ones would cause me to press harder and harder with my thighs on the "C" shape. Bracing for the impact. But even as we would hit these rocks the boat seemed to keep going. At times the river would diverge, separating at points where there were large boulders. But as we continued to get closer and closer to these places Mike would use the oars to guide the boat. Left or right, speeding up as the current separated around the blockage. Converging on the other side. Funny thing was that it was in these areas where these rocks were that there was was a thin sliver of water that actually flowed in the opposite direction. Flowing up stream. Mike would call these eddys. God spoke to me, " don't go back, don't hide in the eddys, continue down stream". God was my boat. The river may get turbulent at times. It may be smooth at others. There will be hidden rocks. There will be blockages. Continue to float. Go with the current.

"Be patient and trust. You have to move gradually deeper into my heart. There is a place far down that is like a turbulent river, and that place frightens you. But do not fear. One day it will be quiet and peaceful." Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love

The next day came the day for our ride to the top. Wolf Creek Pass loomed ahead.

The road towards Wolf Creek Pass. 

Steve and I drove the car to a point on the outskirts of Pagosa Springs, we parked and geared up. Approximately 24 miles to Wold Creek Pass. Mostly up hill in some way or another. Steve leading as my guide. God has given me another guide on my trip to Colorado. Steve pushing through the head wind. As we continue on route 160 the mountain pass looming closer and closer the road begins to tilt up a little more. I have put quite a few miles on my legs this year on my bicycle but this is different. Steve and I completed a 170 mile ride across the state of Florida in April in 10 hours. This was very different. Climbing is not my thing. Especially in the rarified air of the Rockies.

Wow is this beautiful! I have to stop to take a pictures.

The roads tilts up again. A 1.5 mile stretch at 8% grade. I stop about 3/4 of the way up. Steve has made it to the parking lot at Treasure Falls already.

Treasure Falls

My guide, my friend turns around and comes back down the mountain to check on me. As I lean on my handle bars Steve pulls up next to me to see if I'm alright. I'm fine just breathing very hard. We start again, Steve pulls in front, " not sure if you can draft going up hill but get behind me". As we start the rain starts to spit. The temperature has dropped. But Steve is still willing to catch me if I fall, to lead me to the top of Wolf Creek Pass. Steve has only been on his bike one time in the previous five weeks due to a neck injury. But he is still willing to endure the mental pain of this bike ride to get me there. Yes mental pain! This day, September 27th is three days before my 54 birthday. A little over one year from when Steve summited Wolf Creek Pass for the first time. Steve, two years ago had a heart attack and had stints put in his chest. Up to this day Steve have reached the summit nine times. We stop at the falls for a few minutes. Decide it is not the best day to go on further and start the trip back. Sixteen miles of flat out flying. Again Steve leading the way.

Our view across the road from Treasure Falls

My final day in beautiful Pagosa Springs. Whether drifting down a river in New Mexico seeing the current smooth or turbulent. Or riding a bicycle up a mountain. My trip to Colorado has given me an opportunity to see........

Seeing God as a boat keeping me safe in the current. Or seeing God in a mountain speaking through the ruggedness and beauty of it all. Reminding me that God is in control.