LOC: Various places in Colorado
DATE: July 21-28, 2007

This past summer I went to Colorado with a group of high school guys and gals for a 6-day backpacking trip. We drove through the night and arrived in Creed, CO after about 26 hours.

From the bus, we met our guides, ate some lunch, packed our packs and off we went. Barely acclimated to the altitude, our first day of hiking was mainly an exercise in positive thinking and reminding myself to breathe. There was supposedly oxygen — I have yet to conclude my theories on that.

There weren’t too many pictures taken on our first and second day. There were even times in those first days when I was upset that I had brought my camera at all because of the extra 4-5 pounds it added to my pack.

My body eventually adjusted and so did my attitude toward my camera.

Capturing in a photograph landscapes as beautiful and grand as the ones we saw is hard thing to do. You just never feel that proper justice is given. The same can be said of someone’s heart.

I feel I was blessed with this opportunity not only to see God’s beautiful creation in nature every waking moment, but that I was privileged enough to see his creation of the hearts of the girls that joined me on this experience.

I hope these captured some of that beauty.

CAMERA: Canon Rebel XTi
LENS: Canon EF-S 10-22mm F/3.5-4.5