Wilderness Ranch

Holy Ground

The Story of Wilderness Ranch

Day 1

The Adventure Begins Day 2

Setting Out for the Unknown

Ranch Reﬂection: A Watching World

Day 3

A Walk by Faith

Ranch Reﬂection: The Lower Village Day 4

Peak Day, A Window Into Life

RMR Backcountry: A 25-Year Adventure

Day 5

Adventures: Wilderness Ranch and the Camp Within the Camp

Ranch Reﬂection: Fire Summers

Day 6

Celebration

Ranch Reﬂection: Christmas

Day 7

Changeovers and Changes to Come

By: Stacy Windahl,

Betty

Wyatt, and the Story Keepers of Wilderness Ranch

Design: Kristen Ward

Proofreading: Jessica Williams

Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Trail Markers 50 Years at Wilderness Ranch 2 4 8 10 13 14 16 18 24 26 28 30 32 34 36

HOLY GROUND

In 1972, two good friends sat around a campfire nestled in the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. The first, Will Wyatt, owned the property. The second, Bob Mitchell, was a senior leader and future president of Young Life. The idea of introducing backpacking programs as discipleship experiences had already captured Mitch’s imagination and ministry heart. As a result, backpacking trips based out of Frontier Ranch had been piloted.

Through conversation and prayer, the two friends agreed to dedicate that sacred space with its lake, cabins, and land as a base for future Young Life backpacking trips. Could there be a better backdrop for teenagers to grow deeper in their faith? Their vision, still guiding today, was born there. In 1973, kids began to come and experience Wilderness Ranch. Five years later that campfire contract was formalized when Will and Betty Wyatt with two other partners gave the former fishing camp to Young Life.

This is the story of how that gift came to be a God-sized legacy that will continue beyond the 50th anniversary celebration of Wilderness Ranch.

THE STORY OF

by Betty Wyatt

Igrew up on a cattle and sheep ranch 30 miles northeast of Colorado Springs. Although my husband, Will, and I lived in Southern California, we visited my folks as often as possible. During the 1970 Independence Day holiday, we discussed what to do with the few days my mother had off from her rural mail-carrier job. Some of their friends had ﬁshed in the Creede, Colorado, area and my folks had wanted to try it too. I got on the phone and called ﬁshing resorts in the Creede area. Each call resulted in, “We are completely booked, but try ...” I was about to give up when the

person on the phone said, “Why don’t you try Billy Wills’ place?” Billy had two cabins available for us! You couldn’t beat the fishing. It was our first experience with lake fishing — a lake that Will said you could walk across on the backs of fish. (And no wonder. Billy also had a small fish hatchery in Creede and used the lake as part of the process.)

My mother passed away a month after our trip to Creede. But the next summer, 1971, we met my dad and his friend for a few days of ﬁshing in this incredible lake. Before we left, Billy conﬁded in Will that he needed to sell the place and move to a lower

elevation due to a heart problem. Will asked Billy the price and then asked for a couple of weeks to put something together. That fall a small group pooled funds to buy the property. Will went with Billy to a lawyer in Creede to sign the papers. In front of Will the lawyer said, “Billy, you didn’t have to sell to an outsider. Any number of local people would have bought the property!” We realized that Billy likely sold to us to avoid choosing among local friends. This was deﬁnitely something arranged by the Lord.

For years before the purchase, we had told my folks to let us know if they ever heard of a piece of property in Colorado that had a stream on it. We didn’t want Mark and Christy, our two children, to grow up on the beaches of Southern California. Billy Wills’ place offered not just a stream, but also a lake, cabins, simple furnishings, and outhouses! What more could you ask for? Mark and Christy have fond memories of summer weeks at Wilderness. We put whistles around their necks to blow if they ever found themselves hurt or afraid, and then sent them out to play.

The cabins at Billy Wills’ were rustic, but they had cold running water and a kitchen sink. Most cabins also had a two-valve butane burner, a butane refrigerator, and a wood stove. There was a small shower house right in the middle of camp — close to the ﬁrepit that guests sat around after dinner. It had separate sides for men and women and you hoped no “peep holes” between.

of his Sunday School class to Wilderness. After we’d returned to California, Mitch called and asked us to return. “I’m bringing some more people. I want to see if the magic happens again.” Magic seemed like an appropriate term. Adults wound up tight would come, relax, and have conversations with others in the cabins, in the dining room, or while ﬁshing around the lake. New friendships were formed. New ideas were heard, and a new awareness of God’s involvement with us was the magic Mitch spoke of.

In the cabins, one light bulb hung on an old cord and dimly shined over a table until it blinked at 10:45 p.m. Guests now had 15 minutes to get in bed or get the kerosene lamp lit because at 11:00 p.m. sharp, the off-grid power plant turned off. Will later asked Billy if he could get electricity. “Yes,” Billy had replied. “The electric company would hook up to a barbed-wire fence. But it’s too expensive.”

We found it was no longer terribly expensive, and getting electricity was an early improvement. Will’s ﬁrst project was to take an existing three-sided shed, turn it around and enclose the open side for a kitchen and dining room. The second project was to build the “barn,” used for men’s housing in the early years.

As we sat around the campﬁre at the end of that summer, Mitch asked Will what he was going to do with the place. Will’s ﬁrst reaction was, “We’re just going to enjoy it!” Mitch shared that Young Life was trying to use Frontier Ranch as a starting location for backpacking but it wasn’t working well. The forestry department had only a few trips available in that crowded area of the mountains. When backpackers returned to Frontier Ranch they were often critical of the “luxury.” Will said, “Why don’t you use this place?” Mitch replied, “Really?” “Sure,” said Will. And that was our contract.

Early in 1972, Bob Mitchell, his wife, Claudia, and their children had visited. Later that summer Mitch brought members

That second summer when we arrived my father met us in his pickup. Shortly after Chuck Cory, the camp manager, came to our cabin. Knowing that every reputable ranch pickup held a gun rack behind the seat, he asked to borrow my dad’s riﬂe. Chuck had his favorite horse at Wilderness and before we had arrived a bear had injured it and Chuck had to put it down. Chuck spent several days with camp staff digging a hole in the rocky terrain big enough to bury his beloved horse.

The next night, we heard the bang of a riﬂe. Chuck warned cabin guests to stay inside because he thought he had only injured the bear as it tried to enter the little kitchen-dining room. After a period

of searching, the dead bear was found near the back door of the dining room, shot through the heart. The bear’s pelt was tanned and hung on the wall of our adobe home. Every Christmas, his head was adorned with a red ribbon.

Back home in Escondido, the pastor of our church died of a heart attack just as we were to start construction on a new church building. For the next four years the assistant pastor kept the pulpit filled and oversaw the construction of a new campus. Upon its completion the elders gave him a four-week vacation. He loved trout fishing and we tempted him with photos of fish from our own lake and nearby Regan Lake. He planned to spend one week with us at Wilderness and then go on to the Northwest. He and his wife stayed all four weeks.

Before they returned to their home, our pastorfriend asked Will what he planned to do next for the property. Will said he hoped to add a dining room to the present kitchen-dining room (the original three-sided shed). Just weeks later men showed up at Wilderness Ranch. There were carpenters with tools, plumbers with pipe, and electricians with spools of wire. The small staff remaining watched in amazement while years-old wiring was replaced, a dining room added, and tables and benches were built. At the end of the week, the men left having accomplished a great addition to Wilderness Ranch at no cost to us.

It was now 1978, and the second year of Young Life’s Silver Dollar City Discipleship Experience which Will and I had introduced. (Later, to become Discipleship Focus.) It was time to give the property to Young Life. The guides and camp staff at Wilderness Ranch had displayed a genuine love for the Lord and for younger high schoolers who came on trips. God was at work and something important was happening. A new method of reaching high schoolers for Christ was born in Young Life.

The Adventure Begins DAY 1

For 50 years, Wilderness Ranch has called high school kids away from the pressures and distractions of their daily lives to grow in their faith through a life-changing wilderness adventure. Here, they encounter God in new ways. Through relationships and honest, unhurried conversation, they are offered hopeful and God-centered insights into core issues of identity, belonging, and purpose. Nothing matches the small-group adventure experience for going deep with kids on the issues they contend with, the hidden questions on their hearts, and ultimately where they stand in their relationship with God.

Welcome to Wilderness Ranch, where the women are strong, the men are goodlooking, and everyone is above average!” With that greeting, Skeet Tingle (and David Cowles before him) welcomed tired, excited, and often frightened campers to Day 1 at Wilderness Ranch. Skeet was camp manager at Wilderness from 1990 to 2005, and for him and camp managers before and after, Day 1 club talks centered on two targets. The ﬁrst was safety. This inaugural club talk set up the guides as experts on the trail because, in truth, it’s risky out there. Altitude sickness, hypothermia, and injuries are ever-present concerns. For campers, their lifelines are their guides. “I mean, have you seen those mountains?” With those words, Matt (Izzy) Ismert would direct camper attention to the trails they were about to climb, inspiring and further frightening most campers.

The second and more important target of the Day 1 club talk was to direct attention to the adventure God has called campers to, the adventure that beckons us all. Yes, listen to your guides, but more, listen for the voice of God. Skeet would tell campers about Elijah and his mountaintop encounter with the Almighty. God could have been in the awesome thunder and light storm, the earth-shaking quake or the consuming ﬁre. But He wasn’t there. “In these mountains,” Skeet would say, “you’re going to see and experience amazing things! And if we begin to pay attention … if we quiet ourselves, like Elijah, we begin to hear the voice of God.” And then Skeet would slowly, quietly speak the promise as eternal as the mountain trails campers were about to hike. “If you listen, you’ll hear the gentle whisper of God. He’s trying to tell you that He loves you.”

Whether campers are backpacking or off on a day-trip adventure, Day 1 looks much like it has for decades: kids meet their guides, pack up, enjoy club, have lunch, and depart for their adventure. Few would realize their names have already been committed to prayer by those who will lead them into the quiet and outside their comfort zones, so they might hear the still small voice of their Creator. to

you’reInthesemountains, goingtoseeandexperience amazingthings!

“ 9

DAY 2

Setting Out for the Unknown

When Wilderness Ranch began its ministry in the 1970s, there had been a growing national interest in the environment and outdoor adventure. The ﬁrst Earth Day was observed in April 1970. John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” was released in 1972. Throughout the nation, wilderness camping experiences like Outward Bound became popular.

still is designed to extend a warm and familiar welcome to campers who are about to step into the unknown. Club is familiar and so is the shared meal. By Day 2, though, the familiar fades from view and campers encounter God in ways most have never experienced. One of those campers was Greg Stone.

Out of Malibu Club on the West Coast and Saranac Village to the East, Young Life began offering its own adventure camping programs, informally at ﬁrst. Later, the programs formalized and the Wyatts and Bob Mitchell dreamed about backpacking opportunities in the San Juan Mountains, using the surrounding beauty as a platform for presenting the gospel, and the challenge of wilderness camping to help kids grow deeper in their faith.

the San Juan

In 1981, on nothing more than his leader’s phone call and the surprising consent of his parents, Greg, a rising high school senior, left Missouri and his job at McDonald’s for Wilderness Ranch. He remembers hiking in the rain almost every day, carrying 50 to 60 pounds on his back. “I wanted to quit, wishing I was back home with my Camaro and friends.” But, like other campers over the Ranch’s 50-year history, he labored on, because “at each campsite hearing the stories of Jesus, smelling the sweet fragrance of the pine, and sharing the adventure with my friends, my heart was slowly changed. Forever changed.”

In 1973, the ﬁrst trip departed Wilderness Ranch. Day 1 was and

An expression often shared at Wilderness is that “Life is like the trail. And the trail is like life.” For Greg and others like him, that expression holds true. “Life has been a journey,” said Greg. “At times, fatiguing, difﬁcult, but at other times exhilarating as I follow not a Wilderness Ranch guide, but the Shepherd of my soul.”

Ranch Reﬂection:

A WATCHING WORLD

David Cowles, Wilderness Ranch’s fourth camp manager, recalls that for the ﬁrst decade of Wilderness Ranch’s operation, its surrounding neighborhood wasn’t quite sure “who we were or what we did.” That neighborhood was the Upper Rio Grande Valley between South Fork, Colorado, and Sky Hi Ranch at the head of the valley. “Since, for the most part, we moved in with the other tourists in May and left as the fall school year began, we were outsiders,” according to Dave.

There were exceptions, like the ﬁsh and game warden, Glen Hinshaw; local grocery store owners, Ron and Val Fief at K-Belle; and Hank and Mildred Chaﬁn, caretakers of Sky Hi Ranch. The rumors about the Ranch ran the gamut. “Hippie commune” and “religious cult” were some of the more popular misnomers. It was not uncommon to show up in May and need to repair the Ranch mailbox and road sign from having been a target during hunting season.

This began to change in 1978. Blue Creek Lodge, a family-owned summer guest facility “down valley,” had suffered a major ﬁre that burned the main lodge to the ground. That year the Ranch had a larger-than-usual guide staff, so each week a team from Wilderness showed up to help rebuild the log lodge. The relationship with the owners, Bill and Thressia Philbern, and their children grew, and with it, the word got around about what we were doing. The rumors quieted.

About that time an annual tradition started that continues to this day. The “Valley Bar-B-Q” started in 1984, with invitations sent to every ranch in the valley and every shop owner in Creede. Folks in South Fork and Lake City were invited too. Today, Wilderness Ranch hosts its own version of this event known as the “Friends of Wilderness Ranch Dinner.” Neighbors are invited to come and see camp in order to thank them for the many ways they help to make the Ranch’s ministry possible. The good will and conversations that have taken place on these special evenings through the years have created wonderful, lifelong relationships among neighbors who eventually became friends.

DAY 3 A Walk by

By Day 3, kids, guides, and basecamp workers have settled into a cadence, a rhythm to each extraordinary day. Basecamp staff and volunteers are tending to the necessary work of the camp: preparing and packing food for incoming groups, repairing equipment, restocking the store, performing property maintenance and general housekeeping. The morning before, they had spent hours in prayer, in Silence and Solitude, once called Study Morning. After dinner on Day 3 (and in days that follow), those prayers will continue.

Faith

Something signiﬁcant is happening on the trail. At basecamp they know it full well.

Some campers have peaked successfully. Others will summit in the morning. Some campers will be evacuated short of a peak, but they’ll see God’s goodness from a different vantage point. In these terrains and unpredictable situations, servanthood is on display. Melissa, a former Young Life staffer from Indianapolis, remembered struggling on trail with headaches that became more debilitating by the hour. Though she had trained for the Indy Mini Marathon to prepare herself for this climb, the elevation and her asthma were defeating her. But the guides, having considered a possible evacuation with basecamp (without Melissa’s knowledge), found another way.

They quietly redistributed food and gear to lighten Melissa’s load. One guide dropped back to walk alongside her. With a pocket Bible in hand, he prayed Scripture over Melissa, verse after verse, as they walked. The group lingered a day in the same place so Melissa could regain her strength. She acclimated and when her headaches subsided, the guides moved her to the front, because, they said, “the Lord has chosen you to love and lead these kids.”

Guides and basecamp workers will do that. While they could be idolized for their mountaineering skills and the depth of their faith, they weren’t called to Wilderness Ranch to be heroes. They

were called to be servants. And so, they undertake their roles to point out the magniﬁcence of our God and the steadfastness of Young Life leaders who will walk with these kids on the uncertain and sometimes perilous trails they will encounter when they return home.

Ranch Reﬂection:

THE LOWER VILLAGE

The Wilderness Ranch experience has been witnessed by guests in the Lower Village cabins for decades. Friends and families are welcomed as guests with front-row seats to the transformation that happens to kids on adventure, as well as the prayer-infused work that happens at basecamp.

Terry and Suzie Swenson and family have been annual guests in the Lower Village since 1985. Terry Swenson, former vice president of Young Life Communications, has reﬂected on those weeks in this way:

We’ve watched soon-to-be campers arrive — tired, nervous, and welcomed in true Young Life fashion. We’ve watched guides brief and encourage campers and trip leaders (and also help them know what to leave back at camp before hitting the trail). We’ve watched the vans depart for the trailheads … and then we’ve seen them

return, again welcomed and now celebrated and showered (yes, we’ve learned to avoid the bathrooms on return day).

Finally, we’ve sat in the back of the dining hall during the ﬁnal club to hear campers talk about their sometimes hilarious and more often deeply meaningful moments on the trail. And in those “quiet” days with trips out on the trail, our family and friends have had countless moments of our own — disc golf, canoeing, trips to the “White House,” talent shows, adventure races, conversations on the Storm King porch — moments that are woven tightly into the fabric of our own history.

Guests like the Swensons are not only witnesses to God’s work in the lives of campers and staff, they are participants as well. In the magniﬁcence of the mountains, the unhurried pace of the evenings, and the camaraderie of everyone at camp, the Lord calls to each one. This was created for you, too.

DAY 4

Peak Day, A Window Into Life

To great degree, the beauty of the San Juan Mountains is their vastness. With over 300 mountain peaks exceeding 13,000 feet, guide teams have a number of awe-inspiring routes to choose from, each with its own challenge and reward. Wilderness Ranch sets routes based on a number of factors. Among them: the size of the group, time of year, trail conditions, and the appetite and ability of the campers and leaders in their care. The goal is a successful climb for everyone.

For many campers the successful climb is achieved on Peak Day, often on Day 4. From basecamp at 9,600 feet, many have climbed another 2,000 to 3,000 feet toward their shared goal. Above the tree line where the air is thin, the effort to reach the peak has become grueling. It’s made more so by the burdens kids carry with them. Earlier on the trail, guides and leaders may have asked their campers to choose a rock or a small boulder to carry with them to the peak. The boulder represents something they will cast off. It might be a memory, a fear, long-held shame, or nagging regret. That burden will be surrendered at the peak. (And the trick, according to guides, is to select a boulder that is just heavy enough, but not too much so — or a camper’s burden could become the guide’s.)

the east is from the west, so far has he removed our

One route leads campers near the iconic Window, notched out of the Continental Divide at almost 13,000 feet. From this site, kids survey the mountaintops around them and the Rio Grande Pyramid rising above them. Here, high school kids who have traveled farther and higher than ever before release their burden to receive the promise of God fulﬁlled in Jesus Christ: “So far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions” (Psalm 103:11-12).

Theboulderrepresents castsomethingtheywill off.

somethingtheywill

As much as they might like to stay and savor that sweet mountaintop moment (or set up camp like Peter had suggested millennia ago), no one tarries on the mountaintops. The changing weather with threat of lightning is too great. Besides, descending the peak back into the valley requires no less strength than the upward climb.

Having reached the summit, the mood is celebratory on the descent to basecamp. The campers’ successful climb is a high point in every way imaginable. But sometimes a successful climb doesn’t result in a summit. Sometimes success looks quite different, and more like life experienced in the valley. Don Glassett, Wilderness Ranch’s second camp manager, said there are equipping life lessons that are learned short of the summit. “One of the harder things,” he said, “is when you try two or three times to reach the summit but weather, sickness, or bleeding blisters have hindered the trip. How do you deal with this?”

Often, it’s one or two members of the group who are unable to ascend and the group agrees to abandon the goal. What they abandon is not lost. It’s a memory and a lesson they’ll carry through life. “There’s a great ‘aha’ moment in talks around the campﬁre that night,” said Don. “This is a picture of the Christian life, when we are called to set aside our ego and ambition for the love of those around us.” In these apparent failures, a higher goal is achieved. “We help kids get ready for the truth of life in Christ. It will not always be comfortable. He bids us come and die.”

“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this:

‘WHAT IS ABOVE KNOWS WHAT IS BELOW, BUT WHAT IS BELOW DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IS ABOVE. ONE CLIMBS, ONE SEES. ONE DESCENDS, ONE SEES NO LONGER, BUT ONE HAS SEEN.’

There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”

— René Daumal

A 25-Year Adventure

RMR BACKCOUNTRY

Everyweekweareabletobe vulnerableandspeakabout thingsthatusuallyaren’t talkedaboutathome.

In 1995, Young Life began guiding teenagers into remote areas of Wyoming and Colorado through a new wilderness adventure program called RMR (Rocky Mountain Region) Backcountry. The program was founded in response to the needs of Colorado Young Life areas for additional, affordable adventure camping opportunities to both challenge and encourage kids in their faith. Every year, RMR guided as many as 500 campers through unique wilderness experiences.

RMR grew over the years to include backpacking, mountain biking, houseboat and sea kayaking trips. Though it grew in size, RMR operated with a guiding “light and fast” philosophy. Operational overhead was managed to a minimum to allow RMR to adapt nimbly to shifting camper preferences.

One camper who later became an RMR guide described his experience this way: One of my favorite things about being a guide is the vulnerability that being in the backcountry brings … Every week we are able to be vulnerable and speak about things that usually aren’t talked about at home. God’s grace, mercy, and love show up abundantly in these spaces.

When Izzy Ismert left Wilderness Ranch after the 2018 summer, Young Life Camping leadership saw an opportunity to merge RMR into Wilderness Ranch programs. RMR’s founding principles are evident in Wilderness Ranch, and its impact is far reaching for the thousands of campers and guides who ventured into the backcountry to ﬁnd a closer relationship with Jesus.

DAY 5

Adventures: Wilderness Ranch and the Camp Within the Camp

As campers on trail continue to make their way back to basecamp, adventure campers have chalked up a number of adventures of their own. And each adventure has illustrated a truth about life with Jesus that campers experience personally. On their day hikes, campers see God’s handiwork. On river rafting trips, they recall how the Lord calmed the roaring waters, and how our reliable guide, Jesus, will always deliver us safely to shore. On a day of slower adventure on kayaks and paddleboards at the Rio Grande Reservoir, they experience the Jesus who leads us to still waters. And on OHVs (off-highway vehicles), they ascend to vistas never seen before, and then, like their backpacking peers, consider how they cannot stay on the peak forever.

Ranch basecamp team of summer staff, interns, guides, and assigned teams are deep in their own discipleship experience. This “camp within the camp” is vital to creating life-changing experiences for campers. As a unique group of servants, they are loved by camp managers and administrators, manager wives, and others who witness their efforts. They’ve also been loved well by Ron and Pat Morgan.

For 28 summers beginning in 1994, Ron Morgan has traveled from Midland, Texas, to care for this camp within a camp. (He did so together with his beloved wife, Miss Pat, until she died in 2009.) Hot chocolate in Ron’s cabin is a treasured memory for many. People recall cramming into a small cabin (before it was rebuilt) for hot chocolate, coffee, or tea. They empty their mugs while Ron ﬁlls their cups with laughter and encouragement.

“THERE’S A REASON TO LIVE WAY DOWN IN THE VALLEY THAT ONLY THE MOUNTAIN KNOWS.”

— Noel Paul Stookey

While adventure campers experience this range of discovery and backpackers continue their descent, the Wilderness

Since Ron’s cabin is the ﬁrst house as kids enter the Ranch, Ron considers himself a gatekeeper of sorts. “I’m so honored to do what I do, recognizing how unique each person is and to imagine what God has in store. In my small space, I simply make space for kids to have an encounter with God. I am so grateful.”

And the Ranch is grateful for Ron as a cherished part of Wilderness Ranch hospitality. It’s no surprise that he and Miss Pat have a place in Wilderness Ranch history and in the hearts of the extended Wilderness Ranch family.

Ranch Reﬂection:

FIRE SUMMERS

As droughts and summer heat waves made kindling of neighboring forests, Wilderness Ranch was vulnerable to approaching wildﬁres twice. The ﬁrst threat was in 2002. In the Missionary Ridge Fire nearly 73,000 acres of Colorado forests burned. For about one month, Wilderness Ranch shut down.

while coming closer to Wilderness Ranch. Air quality deteriorated and evacuation seemed likely. On a Thursday evening, Hinsdale County Sheriff Justin Casey estimated (almost too calmly) a threeto four-day evacuation window.

The Papoose Fire of 2013 was more menacing. Together with two other ﬁres occurring at the same time (West Fork and Windy Pass), the three combined to become the West Fork Fire Complex, which, at that time, was the second largest wildﬁre event in Colorado history. Nearly 110,000 acres were torched, and very nearly, Wilderness Ranch.

Izzy was camp director at the time and he relied on frequent reports from authorities for safety guidelines. The ﬁre, started by lightning, was spotted on Wednesday, June 19. The next day it exploded and moved quickly in dry, windy conditions, all the

Wilderness Ranch and Young Life leadership proactively accelerated evacuation. That night by radio, basecamp arranged for all groups to meet at the trailhead by 6 a.m. Friday for pickups by Ranch vehicles. Providentially, campers were only a few miles out, and not 14 or more as could have been the case just days earlier. Even so, one trip was not at the trailhead. Their radio battery had died, so they’d received no basecamp communications. The van drivers ran up the trail more than a mile until their campsite was found. They quickly moved the group off the trail.

Buses had assembled at basecamp. After hurried showers, campers quickly loaded

up and headed home, driving through worsening wildﬁre smoke. Basecamp believed the ofﬁcial evacuation order would be given the next day, Saturday, allowing the assignment team a window of time for a meal and departure preparation. But federal agencies closed that window. The camp was given an evacuation edict. Five hours — max.

Food Manager Tom Adler remembers, “As we were all sitting down to lunch, Zach Walters (guide team leader) came through the front doors of the dining hall, stood on a table, and said, ‘DON’T PANIC, but you have 30 minutes to gather all your belongings and get out of here. We’re being evacuated.’ Of course, everyone panicked. I went and grabbed the journals out of the White House and Mitchell Plath grabbed the framed staff pictures off the wall.”

Basecamp emptied. Lunch had been left on dining hall tables.

What followed was a monthlong Rocky Mountain staff pilgrimage to Trail West, Crooked Creek Ranch, and even to private homes around Colorado Springs. Despite the upheaval, the Ranch still guided backpacking trips by meeting groups at trailheads or by partnering with other adventure ministries, all of it owing to the expertise and support from Young Life ﬁeld and Service Center staff, trip leaders, and the Wilderness Ranch team.

From their scattered locations, team members waited, united in prayer that Wilderness Ranch would survive. It did. Newspapers later reported that the efforts of forest ﬁreﬁghters and helicopters saved over 100 at-risk structures in the San Juan Mountain area. The only structure that burned was an isolated pumphouse.

Psalm 84:5: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.”

DAY 6 Celebration

On trail, traversing as many as 30 miles, or out on adventure encountering a new challenge every day, campers have experienced a journey that leads them back to square one — basecamp on Day 6.

It’s the place they started from, but this isn’t a full circle moment. Everything has changed. These are not the same kids who set out only six days before. And with Christmas Eve anticipation, everyone at basecamp awaits the stories of what God has done.

But ﬁrst, showers! And clean clothes. Dinner, or, these days, lunch. Tablecloths, ﬁne china, music, laughter, and gratitude. Then everyone gathers for club. Camp managers historically lead the conversation.

Did God whisper your name on the mountaintop? Did you meet Him there? Like Peter, did you want to set up camp? Lord, it’s good to be here! You didn’t want to leave. But did you look around? Nothing grows on the mountaintop. Life is lived in the valley. For 15 seasons, campers heard those words.

For 12 seasons they heard something like this:

Did you really take that little backpack out to those mountains? It’s bigger and heavier than your school backpack, but, still, compared to those mountains ... Have you seen those mountains? That backpack isn’t so big.

Sometimes what we think is big isn’t really so. It’s a matter of perspective. And very often we need to let some things get small

And every week, kids were invited to share about their encounters with a big God in Wilderness Ranch’s version of Say-So. (Psalm 107:2)

in our lives to grab hold of something bigger. Life is too precious to lose because you are hanging on too tightly to something that can’t give you life in return.

Let’s hear from you. Some brave soul go ﬁrst.

And they did. Life would not be the same for them.

For 50 years at Wilderness Ranch, kids by the thousands have learned to push themselves beyond what they thought possible. And though they have every reason to leave this place more conﬁdent and self-reliant than they were on Day 1, instead, they leave understanding something Will and Betty Wyatt had hoped to impart with the gift of Wilderness Ranch: They are, as we all are, desperately dependent on God. Grasping that is what we need for every mountain climb that awaits.

Ranch Reﬂection:

CHRISTMAS

Among the treasured memories of Wilderness Ranch are the Christmas celebrations. In the Ranch’s early years, these occurred in mid-summer. In later years, the celebrations happened at the end of the season, after the last trips had departed.

Skeet would say that those mid-summer celebrations were incredibly costly but the payoff was “off the charts.” “Christmas,” he said, “was a divine interruption to invigorate everyone for the rest of the summer.”

Based on timing, not everyone who served at Wilderness had a Christmas celebration. But they knew about it. For those who experienced a Wilderness Christmas, or several of them, the memories remain a keepsake of the heart.

When the last campers departed on “Christmas Eve,” 24-hour Christmas chaos commenced. Teams that formed to create Christmas with all its trimmings got to work. David Cowles remembers the raised eyebrows the tree team would encounter at the U.S. Forest Service when requesting a permit to cut down the perfect Christmas tree. In July.

Skeet recalls the “annihilation” of the woodshop as Secret Santas ﬁnished personalized gifts for their intended recipients. One team baked cookies. Another set what would be a candlelit dining hall for enjoying an elegant holiday dinner. Others decorated the fresh-cut tree with handmade ornaments.

Christmas tree lingered in the air, and with

it, a memory that everyone seems to share: the story of how the Christmas tree came to be. A simple story and reminder of why everyone at Wilderness Ranch rallies to their posts for work that is sacriﬁcial for a Savior worth celebrating in July — and August, and every day for the rest of their lives. They recall this:

And after dinner, with many in their pajamas, everyone sang familiar carols and watched a Christmas movie. By ﬁrelight, with cocoa and cookies, the celebration continued with a story of Jesus’ birth.

In the early morning, Santa’s elves would awaken the camp for freshly baked mufﬁns and coffee. Santa would distribute wrapped treasures to all assembled. And just hours later, with a snap of Santa’s ﬁngers, Christmas cleared for incoming campers. But, somehow the scent of the

At the very time when people are remembering that Jesus was born in a little manger in Bethlehem, in the middle of their homes stands a copy of the tree that God had planted which was to be cut down to make a cross for Jesus to die on ...

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been able to look at a Christmas tree with shiny wrapped presents beneath without wondering, “Are all traditions really man-made?”

DAY 7

AChangeovers and Changes to Come

fter campers depart, basecamp exhales, replenishes, and rejoices — but for just a moment.

In the 1970s, there were several “long” changeovers each summer which meant that campers left for home after breakfast and new campers weren’t greeted until after lunch the next day, 28 hours later. Some weeks, changeovers were breathlessly short. Campers were bid farewell in the morning and new campers welcomed hours later. In recent years, that welcome break is approximately 42 hours, from Friday afternoon until Sunday morning.

Regardless of their length, changeovers are designed to give guides going out “back-to-back” a break and also to give time and space for the basecamp community to reunite and prepare for a new group of campers. During this time the entire staff can worship and pray together, share trip reports and God sightings, catch their breath, and simply have fun.

It’s a sacred time to reﬂect and prepare. The occasion of a 50th anniversary is itself a changeover, a time to remember and prepare for the next season in the continuing ministry of Wilderness Ranch. This new season will see Wilderness Ranch open its doors to even more kids. During the summer of this golden anniversary, Wilderness Ranch will have hosted a diversity of campers:

a Capernaum trip (our friends with disabilities), a WyldLife trip (middle school students), a father/son trip, and several multiethnic trips — from all over the country.

Brian Ray, Wilderness Ranch’s current camp manager, said, “Our mission statement is simple: to create a less distracted space for people to meet Jesus Christ and grow in their faith through a guided wilderness adventure. This includes everyone who comes through camp, from our campers and leaders, to our basecamp staff, Lower Village guests, delivery drivers, and friends and family. We are all on a wilderness adventure with Jesus. We’re privileged to guide and be guided by others. As we enter the next chapter of the Wilderness Ranch story, we want to honor and build upon the legacy of the last 50 years, guiding growth and change while writing the tales that will be told at the next anniversary celebration.”

Thanks to the stubborn faithfulness of Bob Mitchell, the Wyatts and the camp’s early leadership teams, and the vision and stewardship of those who followed, Wilderness Ranch will continue to be a bright star in the constellation of Young Life properties. It will never be “fancy,” offering all the resort-quality amenities of other camps. It will be rugged, gritty, and real. And that, by design.

It will stand as the welcoming gateway through which kids will see God’s grandeur, taste His goodness, and hear His gentle whisper.

This is holy ground.

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TRAIL MARKERS

50 YEARS AT WILDERNESS RANCH

1970s

1970s — The Spark

1970: Outdoor adventure draws national interest. “Stress camping” programs become popular.

1973: Young Life takes kids on trail at Wilderness Ranch following Beyond Malibu and La Vida models. Will and Betty Wyatt lease the 80-acre property to Young Life on a handshake agreement with Bob Mitchell, Young Life’s third president.

1978: The Wyatts give the property to Young Life so that kids might deepen their faith in Jesus through wilderness adventure. Traveling tours and slide show marketing stabilize numbers and ﬁnancial viability of Wilderness Ranch.

Camp managers: Chuck Cory and Don Glassett

2000s

1980s/90s

1980s and 1990s — The Surge

1980s: Stress camping philosophy shifts to a small group, spiritual emphasis in a wilderness context. At the same time, property improvements are made with hot water in basecamp, new dining hall/club room, and kitchen.

1990s: Trip numbers increase and new staff dorm and maintenance shop are added.

1995: RMR Backcountry trips initiated out of Young Life’s Front Range Region begin, guiding teenagers into the wilderness areas of Colorado and Wyoming. Other adventure camps over the years would include APEX (Appalachian Extreme) in North Carolina, Medicine Bow in Wyoming, and Snow Wolf Lodge in Colorado.

Camp managers: Kirk Yamaguchi, David Cowles and Skeet Tingle

2000s — The Steadying

2000s: Increasing costs, logistical hurdles, and low trip numbers force the closing of several adventure camping programs.

Wilderness Ranch, Beyond Malibu, and RMR Backcountry respond to changing camper proﬁles and variable trip numbers. Creative camping responses include seakayaking, houseboating, mountain biking, and adventure tour-styled trips.

Camp managers: Skeet Tingle and Izzy Ismert

2010s

— The Second Surge

2020s

2017: The Forward movement (2017–22) brings the mission strategy of Deeper in Christ to which discipleship-speciﬁc, adventure programs align. A need for more options leads to an adventure camping portfolio including: Adventures Baja, Adventures Santa Cruz, Adventures Wild Ridge, Pioneer Plunge (begun in 1973) and Wilderness Ranch.

The original cabins on site, once part of the ﬁshing camp, are torn down and rebuilt as the property’s Lower Village.

National Camping continues to support and streamline processes and offerings to sustain adventure camping.

Camp managers: Izzy Ismert and Brian Ray

2020s — The Pandemic Pivot

RMR Backcountry merges with Wilderness Ranch and Adventures Northbound is hibernated. Wilderness Ranch begins “Adventure Camp” trips and builds an outpost across the lake to attract different kinds of campers who, instead of backpacking for six days, experience a variety of daily adventures over a multi-day stay.

Whatever the adventure, campers who come to Wilderness Ranch return home changed. Most say, “forever changed.” One informal survey suggests that of high school students attending an outreach camp, only

33% are following Jesus three to ﬁve years later. Of those who also experience Wilderness Ranch, that number increases to 92%. The compass of their hearts is reset to lead them ever closer to true north in Jesus Christ.

Camp manager: Brian Ray

“HOW BEAUTIFUL ON THE MOUNTAINS ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS, WHO PROCLAIM PEACE, WHO BRING GOOD TIDINGS, WHO PROCLAIM SALVATION, WHO SAY TO ZION, ‘YOUR GOD REIGNS!’”

Isaiah 52:7 (NIV)

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