The Wonderland Journal

I slept so well. Must have been waking up at 11:00 pm the other night for Whitney. 

We get moving and hit Forester Pass pretty early. They’re very long and easy switchbacks that have me quite out of breath. 

Altitude. 

We reach a rocky landscape with only dirt and rocks beneath us. A freezing lake sits beneath the mountain. 

A waterfall slides down the wall with patches of grass growing out of it. The rock structure is cracked like a broken eggshell. 

We walk carefully across a snowfield. We hike up and up slowly but surely. Soon, we reach the top! The mountains stretch before us as the sun shines proudly. 

On the descent, Rafiki decides to slide down the snow. 

“You might tear your rain pants,” Dad tells him. 

“Want to use my Tyvek?” I offer. 

He chooses to only wear his shorts. 

He slides down, stopping himself with his ice axe to slow his speed. 

I continue on with Dad. 

As I walk, I see multiple little beetles. “What are these?” I say to no one in particular.

“That’s a tiger beetle,” a ranger says from ahead. 

I reach the ranger. Dad and I put our spikes on our shoes as we reach the first rocky break spot after the first snow. Him and the ranger chat for a couple of minutes. 

The mountains are gray and beautiful ahead of us. I’m surround by a gray vastness of rock and snow. 

A lake beneath us is ice blue and turquoise. Half of it is ice. 

I catch up with the others. Dad and I were carefully navigating rock and ice and the others waited for us. 

We walk a bit until Rafiki joins. 

Oh my. 

They’re looking at an awful snow burn on his butt! Both cheeks are raw and scratched, but the right cheek is pussy and bleeding!

Luxy, a former nursing student, treats it with some Neosporin. Voyager — Savannah’s new trail name — and I giggle the whole time as we assist. 

We keep moving. 

We walk through the beautiful rocky terrain. The trees are brindle colored with silk that slides down their trunks. 

Barbie pink wildflowers with lime green buttons in the center and antennas have stick up out of them. 

We’ve entered into the woods. We reach trail magic. They haven’t started yet and the mules delivering the food should be here in an hour. 

Meanwhile, we write the provided postcards. They will ship them home for us!

I write to several people, as do others in my group. 

We end up laying down next to a tree. It’s chilly here, so Rafiki pulls out his sleeping bag. 

It’s not long that I steal a corner of the bag. Immediately Voyager does the same thing. 

Soon, there are five people under here. 

The mules arrive! There as an accident and one mule was randomly spooked. She found herself stuck between and log and a boulder. They waited a long time for her to get herself up. 

Fortunately she wasn’t hurt, but the mules were delayed a long time because of this. 

They provide salami and cheese quesadillas, snickers, and hot chocolate. 

Around the fire, the party group, as we call them, fill the seats. My group lingers a little then returns to the tree. 

“Have you heard of the Zenbivy sleep system?” Rafiki says in his TV advertisement voice. “It sleeps up to five people.”

It’s not long after that we’re being grown-up kids and annoying Rafiki by tickling him, or the others. 

We’re laughing loudly as we hold Rafiki down. The party group looks back at us and we simmer down. 

We call them the party group yet we’re the ones being rowdy!

Dad hikes on. Soon Voyager does too. The campfire smoke isn’t her happy place. We hang a little longer then follow suit. 

If we had skipped the trail magic then we would have got into town earlier, but we had a good time. 

However, as we walk through the woods, my stomach is angry. Maybe it was too much heavy food for what I’ve been eating, but I have to stop a few times. 

I’m not the only one either. A lot of us had upset stomachs. 

Rafiki and I walk together. I’m not sure where the others are, and we keep on walking and walking. 

I see a trekking pole stabbed into the ground next to a smiley face. That is Dad’s symbol! Maybe this is Bumper or Voyager’s pole?

They must be here! We turn into the lake. We walk on and find an arrow of rocks pointing up with another trekking pole. Our group isn’t in there. 

“If we don’t find them, we’ll just have to find somewhere else to camp Rafiki says. 

I hate parting from the group. 

I prefer when we’re three or more. 

I keep walking. And walking. 

“I don’t think they’d be this far down,” Rafiki says. 

“Hi!” Bumper shouts. I see his bright blue shirt in the gray colored evening. 

We found them!

“I couldn’t find anything else that would fit all of us,” Dad says as we approach. 

We set up and take a dip in the lake. A fog settles over the water. Fish jump in and out. The mountains are before us. 

It’s so cold that when I get dry, my hands are still freezing! I go to bed cold. No matter where I put my hands — under my hips or in my pockets — they’re ice. 

Oh well. It’s going to be a cold night!