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Arctic Rafting: Returned
Kongakut River, Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, Alaska, United States

After 15 days on the Kongakut river, we’ve returned to Anchorage via Kaktovik and Fairbanks. We nearly got stranded on Icy Reef on the shore of the Arctic Ocean as a big storm was moving in, but we managed to squeak out and make it home. Below are some photos and a satellite map of the area with the river route and some of our camps marked.

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View Kongakut River in a larger map

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New Gear & Prep for Alaska
United States

While I’ve spent some time on rivers, including a great 18-day trip down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, I have yet to experience an Arctic River like the Kongakut. I leave for that trip on 19 June and we’ll be on the river for 15 days or so. Follow the adventure LIVE (starting [...]

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Ghost Town Visit
Arkansas River Valley, St. Elmo, Colorado, United States

After a wonderful few days of diving into the Gospel of John, Adventure Unlimited offered a few trips off camp for the boys. One group went to Leadville to check out the mining museum and I took a group to St. Elmo. Just half an hour from camp up a side canyon this little town has mostly been abandoned. Many old buildings still stand, and it does say that folks are welcome to wander down the road, but asked not to poke around in the buildings and someone does actually own them still.

The town didn’t keep the interest of the group much, but a nice hike further into the mountains was perfect after sitting and studying the bible for 3 days. Here’s a few of the shots I got. Click on any of the images to see the rest of the gallery:



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Five Fingers Time Lapse
Adventure Unlimited Ranches, Buena Vista, Colorado, United States

While at Christmas camp, I set up my camera to take 30 second exposures for as long as the battery would last. Then I put another battery in and kept going. You’ll see the frame shift now and then, that’s probably a new battery going in. It’s not the most exciting video you’ve seen, but then again, this is my experimentation laboratory. Welcome to it. I’ll try to get a better one another time. Stay tuned.

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Sierra Adventure: Hwy 395
Sierra Mountains, Mammoth, California, United States

A little adventure up the Owens Valley and into the Sierra Mountains. Mammoth, Devils Postpile & Mono Lake. And some night photography! Click below to see more images.

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Focus UK 2009
Warsash, United Kingdom

Focus UK 2009I’ve just returned from a really great few weeks in England where I was part of a program called Focus. It’s a 10-day camp for Christian Scientists that only happens every four years. I worked as a house parent for the 8 under 18 boys and they were all great.

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Ausangante Trek
Nevado Ausangate, Peru

(c) Cameron L. Martindell/offyonder.com

Our main objective in the two days we were back in Cusco was to get ready for the Ausangate trip. This included getting plenty of rest and getting our gear together. I needed to rent plastic mountaineering boots, crampons, an ice axe and a harness. Martin found Alfredo, a guide with Andean Destinations, who had [...]

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The Inca City
Urubamba, Machu Picchu, Peru

(c) Cameron L. Martindell/offyonder.com

There are only two ways into Machu Picchu. By train and bus or by foot via the Inca Trail. We went with the former option and were on a 5.15am train from Ollantambo to the portal town of Aquas Calientes. If you’re taking the Inca Trail, there are a few options. Either way, you get [...]

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Lares Trek
Urubamba, Lares, Peru

(c) Cameron L. Martindell/offyonder.com

The Lares Trek was a short and sweet start to our adventure in the Peruvian Andes. It was just three days long and with the elevation only between 3,500-4,500m it gave us a nice gentle chance to acclimatize. We started with a three hour drive with a short stop in Calca to hit the market. Our guide, Guido, suggested we get some small toys or trinkets to give to the kids we’ll come across along the way. This was good advise as it provided a chance to give the kids a bit of joy and some nice photo-ops. The trek did start on a peculiar note however… we started at a hot springs. Usually, I would think this to be something to put at the end of a trek, but we didn’t put up much of a fuss.

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Fountain of Youth
Antankallo Falls, Matucana, Peru

(c) Cameron L. Martindell/offyonder.com

The next morning, Sunday, was an early one as we were due to be at the Church at 7.30 to receive the nearly 30 people, mostly kids, joining us for a hike to a beautiful waterfall up in the Andes. This was the inaugural event for the Peruvian DiscoveryBound Chapter started by Giorgio and Brenda. [...]

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