Evangel Temple Springfield

Evangel Temple Springfield, Mo host 24 Rangers, Ranger Dads, and Ranger Alumni hike and camp at Buffalo River.

We had been planning the hike for several weeks and the time was here. The weather forecast did not sound good but everyone was excited and planning for a good hike and nobody backed out because of the weather forecast. We just got ready for it. After asking Gods blessing on the trip and weather we left the ET Ranger Lodge about 9:00 AM on Saturday morning April 21st, 2018. The forecast was for rain to start about 5:00PM in the Jasper, AR area and rain hard on Saturday night and continue to rain through Sunday. One forecast was for over 3 inches. Our plan was to drive to Erbie campground and hike the Buffalo River Trail toward Kyles Landing and camp about 3.5 miles down the trail on the bank of the River. The weather was great for hiking and the sun came out and was actually hot for a while. We hiked West on the BRT to the sign that read .1 mile to ORT to the right. We went right and crossed the ORT and bushwacked to the river and found a great place to camp across from a tall bluff. We all worked on getting our shelters setup. About half of us were in hammocks.

I made a 15x20ft tarp out of Tyvek for a group rain shelter and got it set up. Several guys were rounding up firewood. We got everything set up by 5:00 and there was no rain yet. A few of our older Rangers decided to cross the river and climb up the bluff all the way to the top. They did it and everyone was preparing their dinners. One dad showed us all up with ribeye steaks, fried potatoes and sweet corn. Most everyone else had dehydrated meals, some brought ravioli cans and of course

Justin Ready brought peaches. After eating we gathered for our devotional and prayer and the rain started about 9:00PM when everyone decided to get undercover. We thanked God for holding off the rain for a while. It lightly rained all night with periods of heavier rain and one time I heard thunder. A couple of our boys got wet and decided to finish the night in the tyvek rain shelter.

Activity started to increase in the shelter about 8:00AM and one by one we saw people getting out and started fixing their breakfast while it was raining. There was a small fire built in the rain shelter and people were warming and drying out shoes that didn’t get covered very well. About 10:00 the rain was letting up and we started to see some blue sky. Again we thanked the Lord for answered prayer. There was more rock throwing and challenges to see who could throw rocks more accurately or farther. Some others swam, crossed the river again and climbed the bluff. Everyone filtered some more water and started to pack up for the trip out.

We got all packed up, still no rain. We gathered about 12:30, sang a song, heard some scripture and listened to Pastor Issac’s devotional. After making sure we had left no trash or anything behind we got on the trail. Some of the older Rangers decided to trail run back. The weather was still beautiful, sun shining and warm.

We all got back to the vehicles and left for Ozark Cafe in Jasper. Much food was eaten. Several of the boys had these outrageous sandwiches made with two grilled cheese sandwiches as buns and two half pound burgers in between. After eating we left Jasper and it rained all the way to Springfield.

God blessed us and we grew closer to Him and to each other. One of the young men that hiked with us had never been to a Ranger meeting and now wants to start coming on Sunday nights to Expedition Rangers.