The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: Zero

I sleep in until a glowing 6:30 AM — something that is quite the accomplishment considering I’ve been waking up before the crack of dawn and have a hard time sleeping in. It’s freezing in here and I have two blankets stacked on top of me!

Soon Rafiki walks into the living room, then Denis. It’s not long after we’re all awake that Denis is clanging around in the little kitchen preparing breakfast. 

I’m working on my blogs while all this is happening. 

“It’s hard to get everything to come out at the same time,” Dad says to Denis. This was no large undertaking for Denis, and soon he had pans of cheesy potatoes and onion, sausage, and chorizo and eggs. It was so tasty. I was quite impressed with Denis’s cooking skills! 

Although, based off of what he said previously on a hike, I knew that he was likely a better cook than me. Denis knows some stuff! 

Rafiki cleans the dishes and the three of us spend a lot of the day on the couch. I spend most of my time setting up my blogs. 

Later comes some chores: cleaning tent zippers with a toothbrush and chapstick, packing my food away, more laundry, replenishing the first aid kit. Then poké bowls for lunch again!

I feel like I can’t really do much with my bag since I have to have everything ready to go in it for my sleeping bag to properly compress at the bottom. 

Dad makes a delicious pasta with Italian meatballs, feta cheese, and cherry tomatoes. The bread was crispy and buttery. By now, the house is so hot that everyone is taking off their fleeces. 

Once I finish the dishes, Rafiki helps me put them away and we move to the bathroom to find the holes in our sleeping mats. 

We first try the dawn dish soap method: rubbing soapy water all over the mats and pressing on it to see where the bubbles pop up. 

This process probably takes 45 minutes between the two of us, with no luck. Rafiki is talking to the invisible hole, quite frustrated. 

“Did you submerge it in water?” Dad pokes his head in. 

Next thing I know, Rafiki is calling me back into the bathroom. His mat is submerged and a stream of bubbles is exploding out of his bag. 

Mine next! It takes a couple tries, but we find it!

We dry off our mats and read the instructions to the repair kit. We have to rub the spot with alcohol and then let it dry. The glue dot that goes on is so gummy our fingers get stuck to it. The piece that goes over the glue isn’t really sticking well either, since the glue is so sticky. 

Dad tells me to massage the glue to the mat. He brings out his repair kit and is disappointed that both of his sticky covers are ruined because they are sticking to each other!

Dad says he hasn’t had this happen before. I’m not sure what it is that we were all struggling so much with our repair kits!

“Please don’t let me forget to get my uncrustables out of the freezer tomorrow!” I remind both Denis and Rafiki… at least twice each. 

I convince Denis to sleep on the couch so I can take his bed — not that it took much convincing. His only request was that I sleep next to a bag of night Fritos (an open bag of Fritos, yuck!)

“No!” I say. “The smell is going to waft into my nostrils as I try to sleep!”

He comes in twice more to either put the Fritos back if I moved them or check that I hadn’t moved them. 

This bed is so comfortable! I’m happy I get to sleep in it. Denis likes the couch or floor, after all. 

Our last night in Big Bear will surely be a good night of sleep!

https://thetrek.co/pacific-crest-trail/day-17-double-zero-in-big-bear/