The photos from our 2008 High Adventure are now available on the web here. We had such a great time, and great experiences during this year's trip to Downieville!

Wednesday - After arriving at camp, we headed out on our bikes up the North Pioneer Trail from camp for some awesome single-track riding. The young men instantly proclaimed that mountain biking was their new favorite sport. The ride consisted of a ten mile out & back trail along Highway 20 starting at the White Cloud Campground up to the Skillman Camground. It was at the Skillman campground where we found water that tasted like "pennies & nickels."

Thursday - In the morning the young men downed an entire bag of Marshmallow Maties, and relaxed until our big afternoon on the Glacier Lake Trail. After a 2.7 mile climb up the road to Carr Lake, we traversed some technical sections on the trail and made our way to the perfect swim spot at Island Lake. Afterwards we made our way down the hill and headed back to camp for bean burritos and tacos. The campfire that night consisted of a story that made no sense as we went around the circle to add one word each.

Friday - We woke up early to ride our bikes down the Lower Pioneer Trail to Harmon's Market and back. The trail consisted of very cool singletrack downhill with some jumps and was forgiving enough to ride at fast speeds. After some delicious burgers for lunch, we went to the river to wash off and go for a swim, and did a little rock jumping while we were there. After that, we headed over to the Malakoff Diggins mine to explore some old drainage tunnels in hopes of finding Ryan Seacrest. Jared & Matt led us in an inspiring devotional around the campfire that night about personal revelation, and the power of revelation in our lives.

Saturday - Good thing we packed up camp early this day, it took us over an hour to drive to Downieville, and get on the trail at the Gold Lake Campground. After 500' of climbing, we descended the rocky OHV trails to get to Gold Valley. We missed a turn and ended up climbing another ridge, and experienced first hand the power of prayer after finding a camp for disabled children that had both water and a staff to point us in the right direction. The trail was ambitious and pushed the abilities of everyone on the trail, but was well worth the fun and provided beautiful scenery. Almost all said that they'd do the trail again and had a new found love for mountain biking.