Guided five-day backpacking retreats where pastors trade the pulpit for a pack, walk hard trails with brothers who get it, and meet God above the treeline.
2027 Trips Why we goEvery trip is five days, capped at eight pastors, and includes all meals, permits, group gear, and a guide who has walked the trail and the calling. You bring your pack, your boots, and an honest heart.
Granite canyons, alpine lakes, and long quiet mornings on the Montana-Idaho divide. This is Paul's home range: he grew up in Victor at the foot of these peaks, and this is our flagship route.
Big climbs, bigger views, and nights under some of the darkest skies in the lower 48. For pastors ready to be pushed physically while everything else gets quiet.
Volcanic peaks, obsidian fields, and wildflower meadows in the Oregon Cascades, an easy drive from Paul's home in Medford. Gentle enough mileage to leave room for the conversations that matter.
Jagged granite spires over turquoise alpine lakes in the Idaho backcountry Paul has been walking since his McCall years. We basecamp at a high lake and take day climbs from there, so every evening ends at the same fire.
Stand on the highest point in the Rockies at 14,440 feet. We acclimate low, climb slow, and summit at sunrise. A once-in-a-ministry kind of morning.
Four passes over 12,400 feet in five days through the most photographed mountains in Colorado. Our hardest trip, for experienced hikers ready to empty the tank.
Pastors spend their lives pouring out and almost nowhere being poured into. Out here there is no platform, no performance, and no cell signal. Just miles of trail, honest fatigue, and men who carry the same weight you do.
Every evening ends the same way: around the fire, in the Word, and in the kind of conversation most pastors have not had in years. No agenda to protect. No congregation listening. Brothers get real about marriage, doubt, burnout, and calling, and they pray for each other by name.
Men walk in as strangers on Monday. They drive home Friday as brothers who text each other at midnight for the next decade.
Paul Stevens grew up in Victor, Montana, a logger's son who spent his youth hunting, fishing, and camping in the mountains of western Montana and Idaho. He is the Lead Pastor of Heritage Christian Fellowship in Medford, Oregon, after more than two decades of ministry that took him from Young Life in McCall, Idaho to lead pastor and multisite roles in Wisconsin.
For 17 years Paul has been leading men into the Montana, Idaho, Wisconsin, and Michigan wilderness, including a backpacking ministry for pastors he co-led with his brother-in-law Russ, who pastors in Montana. He leverages the beauty, the challenge, and the isolation of the wild to minister and disciple others.
His heart is a shepherd of shepherds: helping those in full-time ministry find rest, encouragement, and renewed intimacy with Jesus in the stillness, silence, and solitude of the wilderness. Paul handles the route, the permits, the food, and the bear spray. You handle showing up.
"I have never met a pastor whose problems got bigger above 9,000 feet."
Every participant completes these before the trailhead. Ten minutes of paperwork buys five days of freedom.
Reserve your spot with a $300 deposit. Applied to your trip total.
Health history and emergency contacts, kept confidential with your guide.
Standard wilderness activity waiver. Required for all participants.
Exactly what to bring and what to leave home. Rental gear available.
Questions about fitness level, dates, or whether this is for you? Ask. If God is nudging you toward the trail, that is usually the answer.