The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 7.7

Mile Marker: 767.2

I woke up at midnight and again at around three or four. So when my alarm goes off at 5:00, I’m ready for it. 

Electronics, clothes, sleep set: I feel like I’m becoming more efficient at packing, but I still manage to barely be on time every morning. 

Rafiki walks by my tent and scratches it, which momentarily scares me and causes me to swear aloud as I jump. 

We were supposed to hike half a mile further last night but didn’t. Bumper did, so we hike through the woods along the river until we see him.

Bumper is leaned over his bag in his blue shorts with cookies on them. “There’s a log over there you can cross at,” he tells us. 

We’re next to a white-water creek that is rushing over rocks. Savannah and I follow Dad to the fallen tree about thirty feet away. 

Dad crosses it by putting one foot right in front of the other. He’s careful, which means I have to be really careful. Savannah crosses next. She slides a little. Pausing at the midway point, she holds onto the branch. 

She pauses here for a minute. Dad coaches her across it until she sits on her butt and scoots across the log. Dad grabs her pack and passes it to Bumper. 

Me next. 

I step up onto the log and put one foot in front of the other like Dad did. My steps are too big at times. I get to the midway point that Savannah stopped at. I think of the show Limitless where they measured their heart rate and perspiration rate as they climbed a tightrope. I think of jiu jitsu and how the way I respond to stress in the gym is the same outside of the gym. 

I take deep breath. In. Out. 

I take a misstep and wobble as my gravity is off balance. 

Another couple steps and I reach the end!

Luxy and Rafiki took their shoes off and walk through the river. 

We keep on walking, going up a very long and extensive incline that is only rocks. 

I come up on everyone identifying a tree. The ground around us is pure white with rocks and scattered with tall trees. 

I walk alone for a bit, praying about how I want this trail to go. The things I want to work on, how I want to be me, be free from anxiety, learn what I need to learn. I sit on a rock to look out at the view of rocks and trees. My heart beats fast in my ears and my breath is heavy. It finally calms down. I hear my blood rushing through my body. I hear the birds chirping. The wind blowing. 

The sun is shining. It’s so peaceful out here. I can just exist. 

I keep moving and come up on everyone. We end up practicing squat form, over head squats, and talking about other gym stuff. Luxy has the biggest muscles by far. It’s all that wood chopping she did as a child. 

We continue on. Dad is looking at all the mountains. He points them out to us. Whitney. The others. We descend a rocky terrain. It always feels silly to climb up a lot just to go downhill. Dad says he just doesn’t think of it that way. 

We come to a grassy meadow where a deer drinks some water. He’s pretty far from us, but drinks the water carefully while keeping an eye out for us. 

We pass through a quiet creek crossing. I just soak my shoes. I see a snow flower on the way to our campground. We walk along the rushing river bordered by trees. 

Again, we walk through a river. Dad goes up to the campground and the rest of us follow suit. We go back down to the river to wash up and do laundry. I also use a Pitt toilet that has three wooden walls. The fourth wall is missing and overlooks some trees. My favorite Pitt toilet so far!

I lay around for a while. It’s only one o’clock, but we’ll be summiting Whitney tomorrow morning. The sun beats down on my tent. As I lay on my sleeping pad, my skin grows sweaty just from the plastic of the pad. 

I try to sleep but can’t. Dad sleeps for two hours, and the rest for half an hour or so. 

We all eat dinner. Rafiki eats a delectable spam patty. The girls try my ram bomb and are underwhelmed, as am I. I need to do something about that!

I pop a couple Benadryls to help me sleep. I’m in my tent and it’s only 5:30. I’ll be getting up at 11:00 pm tonight, so I need to get some good rest!