The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 20

Mile marker: 1119.7

What comes after a rainy day is wetness and dirt. 

I feel like I’m on an advanced scavenger hunt as I gather my things from three separate tents. 

It’s a perfect morning that’s neither cool nor warm, and the mountains are lit up behind a still lake. We’re supposed to leave at 6:00, but with the struggle of managing all my things, including rinsing my brown Tyvek in the lake, we don’t leave until 6:45. 

We begin our hike with heavy packs. Everything is wet! 

We’re about five minutes into the hike when we reach 1100 miles. 

Dad was right when he said after 1,000, the numbers don’t feel so big on each hundred. This is the first hundredth mile marker that doesn’t feel so big. 

I guess I’m just used to it, by now. We hike past a beautiful blue lake surrounded by mountains and puffy white clouds. 

We walk through rocky terrain, then through a little tree archway that leads us into an open field. It curves a corner and now I can see the mountains ahead of us. What a cool walk!

We stop for an early lunch at about noon in a rock field. The sun beats on my back as I lay out everything in my pack, including my first aid kit that got wet in the rain somehow!

Luxy’s groundsheet that goes under her tent is drying out in the sun. Our friends have stopped to say hello when a huge gust of wind blows through our lunch spot. It catches the ground sheet and sends it high into the sky! The black ground sheet floats like a kite. 

“Oh no!” we all shout. 

Our friend Babu sticks her trekking pole high into the air. It catches the middle of the ground sheet and she pulls it down to safety. 

What a save! That was the most impressive ninja move I’ve seen on trail!

It takes me a long time pack my things. After almost two hours, we’re off again. 

We reach a lake and walk past, but Luxy stares longingly at it. 

“I’m going in,” she says. 

Soon, Rafiki walks in to his belly with his shoes and everything on!

Luxy and I swim out to a rock to perch on. It is cold! But I dunked my head as soon as I could to get used to the water. That was refreshing!

We keep moving on. 

We’re resting with some other hikers when Connor walks up!

“Hey Connor!” I say. “It’s good to see you!” 

We haven’t seen him since Father’s Day in bishop! And the others, since when Luxy hurt her knee a while back. 

We walk through the woods a long while. I ate a good portion of my snack stash already. 

We reach our destination! It’s full of mosquitos. 

“Do you want to stay here? I’m fine to do stay,” I say. Rafiki and Bumper don’t care. Luxy prefers a view. “Let’s go to the lake, then!”

We walk on, with some back and forth conversation about whether to stay or go. 

A half mile later and Rafiki and I are down the hill in the trees looking for spots. We walk toward the lake and are soon joined by the others. 

We finally find some spots! I eat some disgusting Mac and cheese for dinner. I need to get the Annie’s brand from now on. Kraft has failed me two nights in a row now. 

The only thought tonight (outside of the best flying over my head) is to make sure my bear can is sealed tight. 

 We saw bear scat earlier and read a lot about bears in this area!