Together is a great place to be: Big Sky Mountain Ranch Adventures!

Written by Andrew
Here is a little about my awesome adventures at a two week camp at Sky Mountain Ranch. I was excited to take my first airplane ride by myself to Utah. It got delayed out of Oakland, but then made it just fine to Salt Lake. I spent the next day with my Grandpa and Grandma Price. We saw a movie and also surprised my Aunt Kristin and stopped by to say hello to her. The next morning I caught an early ride with my Dad's cousin's son, Joey to Victor, Idaho. It was a car full of boys (all Utah fans) also going to the ranch, which took us about five hours to get there.

I had a great time at sky mountain ranch!
I stayed in the middle cabin on the left side of the picture below.
It was a really cool experience to even walk to the cabin because they had built a fort above the trail. It was a great place for scripture study.

This was the inside of the cabin, it got a little messy.

This was the amazing view we had just behind where I was standing to take that picture!

So in the mornings we would wake up at 6 a.m., do a half hour scripture study and get ready for that morning's chore which could be milking the goat, making breakfast, or weeding the garden.

After that, the bell would ring to tell us that breakfast was ready. Meals were always pretty spiritual because we would sing all four verses of a hymn. Than we would have a small devotional

about that days theme such as beauty, joy, balance, order, or peace. After breakfast we would have about a hour to get ready for that days activity which could be horseback riding, mountain biking, exploring, service or kayaking. My personal favorite was the mountain biking activity were we went on a nice 3 mile ride with some cool jumps to go off of at the end. After our activities we would eat lunch and do a chore after such as cleaning up lunch or cleaning up the entire lodge. Than after a little bit of free time we would go to our classes which were two hours for two days, and than we would rotate to our next class on the third day. My first class was harmonica, I thought it went well because we learned how to play, demons, I Am A Child Of God, and Come, Come, Ye Saints which we later performed in the ranch talents show. My second class was mountain biking where on the first day we rode the trail that we did for the activity. Twice. And than came the second day... our view:)

We started at the base of Sky Mountain and started a 13 mile, 5 hour ride to the top. Once we were there we had a amazing view of the Tetons.Of course you would think that its an easy downhill from than on, right? WRONG! The trail was a foot and a half wide in a ditch so you couldn't peddle without hitting the sides, with rocks that were about the sized of a football the entire hour down. We finally got to the bottom road that we rode back to camp on. It was a extremely hard ride but I loved it so much I would do it again. I learned through this that I CAN do hard things. The sense of accomplishment at the top felt so good!

These pictures my counselor sent my mom, she was so grateful to see my face:)

The next few days we made some crafts in the wood lathe shop such as a mini light saber and a

yoyo. Each day we had to do all the cooking. There were recipes that we followed and some were ok, but sometimes I survived on graham crackers and a few of the snacks I had brought.

They had a piano there and sometimes I would just sit and play around. One guy really wanted me to teach him "100 Years", but he had never played. I told him it would be nearly impossible.

On Sunday we went to church and sang a song we had been working on all week, "How Great Thou Art". I loved learning all the words to every verse and got goose bumps every time we sang it. The arrangement was awesome and we really sounded good! That night we had a testimony in a place called "chapel in the pines".

The second week we spent the night at the "observatory". This has been here for years and was built by the fort building class (which I really hope I get into next year) and was a really cool night. We saw the milky way, lots of constellations and shooting stars that were so close! It was a pretty warm night, but I woke up about two inches from falling off! I am on the top right.

We also played spike ball, ping pong,and prepared for our three day hike.
Bummer is I got a pretty bad cut on my foot before we left. They just tied it together.

We packed all our bags, grabbed our top ramen, and started driving to Lower Palisades Lake.
Once we got there we strapped on our bags and began the brutal hike. We stopped once for lunch and continued on till we got to a open campsite which was literally a stones throw away from the lake.

We had smores, dinner, and a devotional that night until about 10. The next morning the rest of the group set out for the day hike to Upper Palisades. I had to stay behind due to a deep cut on my foot.
Once they cam back, they shared stories of back flips off the rope swing and a thirty foot back flop. We had another devotional that night and a huge bonfire.

The next morning we had breakfast and immediately started the hike back. We got there much faster than when we came up and began the drive to the legendary, world famous, Victor Emporium. They are world famous for their huckleberry shakes and they were so good!!

After we got back we began to prepare for the Ranch Olympics. The events were piggy-back riding, three legged race, carrying a mattress (really far) and swimming through a pond. I did piggy backing with my friend Nate and we did awesome. My cabin got second place, but we are going for gold next year for sure!

Than we drove a little ways back to the ranch, welcomed others that were arriving, and started packing the entire camp. We said our goodbyes the following day and began to look for our rides.

Once all the parents were there, we surprise sand them How Great Thou Art, took a few pics, said our thank you's and left Sky Mountain Ranch.