The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 8.3

Mile marker: 1018.1

My eyes flutter open. The cold hits me, but the mountains are before me. I look to my left and an orange sunrise is cast over the sky. 

I feel like I’ve been dropped into a book, lying before a beautiful mountain scene. This doesn’t feel real! This is by far my favorite morning on trail. 

We make some hot chocolate as we get ready. Normally we don’t have hot food or drink in the morning, but today it’s merited!

Voyager and I start our hike separately. We’re going up a peak, which is only a 150 feet up in about a tenth of a mile. It’s super steep as I breathe fire going up the hill. It’s short though! We drop our packs and begin the big ascent. We take our trekking poles and slowly step up loose, gray rock. 

Wow! Incredible! The sunrise is golden as I look at Yosemite. There’re so many mountains before me. They’re snowcapped and there is layer after layer of mountains. 

The sky is gray and moody over the mountains. Blue skies are over the other side, where we’ll be walking. I can see the striations over the side of the mountain, looking like highlights in hair. The trail is a clear zigzag across the stripes. 

We have a 360 view of mountains!

For some reason, I feel accomplished at hiking one thousand miles. It’s an arbitrary number, so making that marker yesterday didn’t mean much. Today, after taking this side quest with Voyager, choosing to hike extra, hike more uphills, making the choice to do more and getting this epic view, I feel like hiking one thousand miles means something. 

I don’t know what, but I know it’s significant. And this view is showing me that. It’s so big right here. So epic. 

Voyager and I keep moving. 

The weather turns and we stop to pull out our rain gear. 

We reach some snow fields and carefully walk across them. I hit some slipper spots and step more carefully. In the morning, the snow is extra slippery.

If we slip, we will fall a long way down this very steep snow. 

Voyager is nervous on snow, so I wait in the middle and tell her where I stepped. We’re kicking our heels into the snow to create a safe place to put our foot. 

We pass through a few snow fields. The sky is a gray slate. Pink wildflowers I haven’t seen much before border our walk. 

I’m moving fast downhill with Voyager at my heels. I want to catch the others so we can hitch into Kennedy Meadows North at the same time. 

A wet piece of cardboard advertising trail magic is bungeed to a tree. As we descend, Voyager gets a message from Bumper that they’re at trail magic. 

We cross a road and walk on a few minutes more. 

“Are we sure it’s this way?” I say. 

“Yeah, it will follow the road for a little bit,” Voyager says. “I see a car!”

We hike on and, sure enough, swing up the hill and there is trail magic! Even better, Bumper and Rafiki are here!

I hate being split from the group. I really need to work on that. 

Legend is an older guy whose wife is slack packing the trail. He meets her on trail and picks her up. They the sleep in their camper van. Apparently, Legend is well known on trail and has hike the trail a couple of times. 

iPod is another PCT veteran. He’s just here for the weekend giving rides, but I have a memorable conversation with him. 

I’m on my fourth hotdog with cooked onions sitting at the picnic bench with the others. Rafiki and Voyager are talking to Legend next to me as I chat with iPod. 

iPod is a dark haired guy with a friendly smile. He’s also in a choir, which I think is pretty cool.

“What were some things you learned from hiking the trail?”

“People in town would ask me what I was doing, and when I told them I was hiking a long trail, they were in awe. I realize that people liked me. I became more confident. I learned to socialize better. I was 27 when I hiked it.”

All great things. 

iPod gives us a ride to Kennedy meadows north. The five of us get a room above the lodge. It’s all one building with a store, lobby, and restaurant. 

We do our usual town chores and resupply, which has limited and odd options. We end up buying packaged cinnamon rolls, ultraprocessed, pies, and fat sticks of cheese. 

We’ll see how this turns out!

I’m in the bathroom staring around at where to put my coins. I go get Voyager from the laundry room. 

She laughs as she stands in the doorway. “I can see it from here,” she says. 

I’ve never used a coin operated shower. 

I look around the shower head, the walls, then at the paper towel dispenser. 

Only it’s not a paper towel dispenser. 

That’s where I put the coins. 

We both laugh. I put my coins in and wait about two minutes for the water to heat up. 

I’m glad I bought the extra seven minutes for this thing!

I get a steak dinner. It’s okay, but I think I’m just not a big steak fan. Maybe I should have gotten it medium rare instead of medium. This will be packed out tomorrow to be eaten with my cilantro lime rice!

I put on my clean sleep clothes. I think the dryer may have shrunk all my stuff. My wool long John’s now fit me like a kid who is now too big for her old pajamas. 

Rafiki rented The Proposal for me, one of my favorite movies. We push two beds together and four of us lay out pillows against Lucy, who’s lying on one bed. We lean against her.

The phone is on Bumper’s tripod, which is sitting atop two stacked bear cans. The tripod takes us about five minutes to adjust. 

Soon we’re all overheating as the movie begins. Some of us are dozing at the late hour of 10:30 pm, but it’s a really fun time! 

The movie ends, and I’m so glad to have gotten to watch it. I’ve been wanting to see it for weeks!

I push my bed against the wall and try to fix the microfiber sheet. Oh well. I plop into bed and fall asleep immediately. Well, after I change into a cooler outfit. It’s a thousand degrees up here.