The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 17.7

Mile Marker: 1091.9

Today is the day! 

I get to see my brother. 

I remember sitting at a high table in Idyllwild with Dad, Rafiki, and Thomas, looking at the trees and feeling how the smell and look reminded me of Tahoe. 

‘I’ll be at Sam’s soon!’ I thought. 

Today is the day I walk to my brother’s house. 

We begin walking at 5:55 am. We chose to leave early — even though we had ample time — because Voyager wants to hitch into Tahoe early. She will be leaving tomorrow to go meet her mom for a short stint of the hike. 

Our view overlooks mountains as we all compare our tan lines. 

We reach the ranger station, where they provide some trail magic! 

I call Dad at confirm plans. My brother will pick us up, but if we get there early, we may hitch a ride into town. 

I fell on my water bladder the other day, and there are now holes in it. I put some tape over it, but this BeFree filter isn’t working for me. I want to go back to the Platypus water filter. 

We have a quick lunch as we fend off flies. Voyager has hiked on to get into town early. I’m ready to get in, too! I call my dad and let him know that we will be hitching a ride. 

It’s a sunny day as we walk through big rocks and covered forests. 

We keep hiking. 

A burn area is filled with black trees charred to the top. 

“Look how high that fire went!” Rafiki points out. 

That was a big fire!

It feels so strange to be walking into Tahoe. I feel like I walked from Mexico to his house. I’ve never felt this sensation on trail before. I feel like I actually accomplished something, that I’m going somewhere that matters instead of just going forward. 

We walk downhill a long way. 

We finally reach the road!

Not five minutes later and a guy pulls over for us. 

He’s a native Spanish speaker who only started learning English last year. He’s also an Uber driver. He plays us some extremely loud music that he made for a bar. It’s old rock n roll but it’s a lot of fun. He’s also a fast driver, so this is the most exciting hitch I’ve gotten!

He drops the three off at the campground. We go to my brother’s house next. 

I open the car door and see Sam and Dad in the garage working on something. I give my hitch a tip, since he drove us all around. 

“Hey!” I say. 

“Hi!” Sam gives me a hug. He gets me set up inside, and soon I’m scrubbing my dirty toes in the shower. 

He has three wolf dogs, Mogey — mama dog — and Zuka and Eggs — daughter dogs. 

I step outside and find Dad and Sam working on his boat. 

Sam owns a landscaping business and is always working on something! He is very handy and really good at working problems out to find a solution. 

Dad is really proud of my brother and how hard of a worker he is! It’s cool to see them working together. 

If G-pa were here, I think he would like to join in on the boat-fixing activity. G-pa used to be an avid sailor. Him and Sam have that in common. 

Dad makes chicken kebabs and rice for dinner. I make some gluten free brownies (that’s all they had at Whole Foods), so we eat those for dessert!

Sam has me set up on a futon in his office, so I crash there for the night. 

It’s good to be in Tahoe!