Johnny Huffman with Michael Callihan, Alex and Chase on the railroad track at the beginning of the trail up Stone Mountain. Rod and Johnny accompanied the boys up and down Stone Mountain.

Chase studies the map of the Stone Mountain trail while standing on the time-worn granite of the mountain.

Chase reacts to the bubblegum post, one of the traditions of Stone Mountain climbers. There is also a bubblegum rock a bit higher.

Alex walks across an area of bare granite with the edge of the mountain in the background. We stop for water half way up.

One our main motivations was to put the boys in places where they might see the intricacy of God's handiwork in nature. We try for the "wilderness illusion", to find places where they can focus on scenes where there is nothing man-made. The hope is that they will reverence the beauty and symmetry and reflect upon the Creator.

The wasp on the goldenrod above and the purple berries at right were sort of unusual sights for them to ponder. Even the poke berries below have a kind of beauty, but we had to constrain them from picking the berries and throwing them at each other.

Lots of rock climbing and jumping were in the order of the day.

Johnny and Alex near the top of the mountain. There were lots of little pools in the granite with plants hanging on at their edges.

On top of Stone Mountain. Michael and Chase had never climbed the mountain before, and Alex had climbed it once.