The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 17.3

Mile marker: 1336.8

Total ascent: 2500 ft

Total descent: 3300 ft

The morning begins with a yellow glow over blue mountains. Diamond shaped tin signs lead our paths with hand written notes scratched on them that read:

YOU’RE GORGEOUS

YOU’RE SO F-ING CLOSE!

and other such sentiments. 

They’re referring to our halfway mark. 

I hike through loose dirt in a forest littered with ghosts of trees that were killed by the fire. 

I’m walking fast downhill when I spot Bumper and Rafiki sitting on a log, logbook in Rafiki’s hands. 

The halfway marker! 1.325 miles! That’s halfway through the PCT! Oddly enough, I feel like I’m 2/3 of the way through the trip. I feel like the end will come before I know it. While the first bit of the trip went by slowly, time has begun to speed up. The desert is a time warp, after all. 

We walk on for another few hours. I chat with Mom for a bit, and bad news: she broke wrist! 

I found out a few days ago that she was draining the pool and slipped backward and fell on her wrist! Now I’m chatting with her while she’s cleaning up the house, accidentally broke her monitor, and is now in a bubble. 

Rafiki and I wind down through the forest. I pause and listen to some cows mooing in the distance.

The path opens up into a field of cows that stare at us like deer in headlights before bolting through the swampy water to the other side of the long grassed field where the rest of the herd is. 

We cross a bridge through the cows and get to the road. 

A few minutes later the others have caught up to us. We’re at the road with our thumbs out. Another day to hitchhike!

Not a couple minutes later and a big truck pulls over. Luxy is already running to the vehicle. We pile in — Bumper in the bed of the truck — and chat with the couple who picked us up.

They’re an older couple who’ve just sold their vacation home and have a gift they’re bringing to the new buyers. 

“I always heard about thru hikers, but I’ve never seen them until now! I was beginning to think it was a story!” the older woman says with a smile. 

“You guys always look a little dazed when we pick you up!” the man says. 

That’s a good way to put it. We are a little dazed. Tired. Smelly. We hustle to the road and now we get a day in town! The transition from trail to normal civilization is quite disorienting. 

Chester hosts a post office that we pile into for our new shoes. I toss the old ones and put on the new! Rafiki and Luxy are trying to figure out some money transfer business for about five minutes. 

“Should we grab food and we can look at this while we’re sitting?” I suggest. 

They agree. We head over to a restaurant recommended by our driver called Cravings. I order a club sandwich and a mimosa. We’re getting celebratory drinks for making it halfway through the PCT!

We sit outside, order way too many beverages, and ask our waitress if we can move inside as the temperature heats up. It’s 11:30 when we sit down. 

Our food comes out, and we order seconds. I get French toast with real maple syrup! My sandwich is really tasty! Bacon, chicken, avocado! Yum!

International money transfers are proving to be difficult. 

“Why can’t your banks do this?” Luxy says. “It doesn’t make sense. How do you transfer money?”

“We’re not as accustomed to interacting with other countries like Europe,” Rafiki says. 

“You could pay for Rafiki’s lunch. He’ll have spent at least 50 bucks here. And you can pay for his resupply.”

Luxy perks up. “That’s a good idea! Order whatever you want, Rafiki! It’s on me!”

Luxy was also able to get a ride out of town to Chico. This section has been really tough, so she’s going to skip ahead and rest for a few days. We’ll meet her in Burney. 

She’s really happy now because Voyager’s parents are driving out to the trailhead. We’ll pick up Voyager there, and Luxy will hop in the car for the next hour. They’ll be going right through Chico. 

From Chico, after a couple nights rest, she’ll bus to Burney. 

She was also annoyed at our bus system that doesn’t connect from place to place. 

Now she’s happy she won’t have to navigate thorny bushes and fallen logs!

We head over to the store for our food resupply. I put my to-go paper cup of coffee in the cup holder of the cart and look for my four day resupply to Burney. 

We go to the laundromat next. It’s clean and quiet in here! I rinse off Bumper’s socks for far too long until I decide I’ll just put his stuff in a separate load. He’s gone to the library to upload his vlogs and asked us to do his laundry. 

I shower with a Cnoc bag (my water bladder) and spend the whole time packing my food and cleaning out my bag. 

A guy pops into the laundromat. “Anybody need a ride to the trailhead?” He’s a tall, bald, gangly middle aged guy. “Give me a call when you’re ready!”

Before I know it, I’m in his truck with his daughter and Rafiki. 

“Oh, my Dad was here just a few days ago. Journey.”

The teenage girl perks up. She hasn’t said anything but “hello” this whole ride. “We picked up a Journey!”

I show her a photo. Sure enough, it’s him!

“If he’d told me I’d be picking up his daughter in three days, I wouldn’t believe him!” Our driver, Brian, says. 

We get to the trailhead. Voyager is back! Our group and her parents are standing around their car. I catch up with her mom for a few minutes, give Luxy a hug goodbye, and we’re on our way. 

Voyager updates me on her job testing she’s had to do. It was absolutely disorganized! Thing after thing that didn’t go right!

Our hike begins with walking through desert shrubs that feel like a million kittens live inside them and claw at you as you pass. Our legs are all scratched up. Before I know it, both Rafiki and Voyager’s legs have blood dripping down them. 

We camp on a dirt road. Tomorrow is a big day. 30 miles! We need to get through Lassen Volcanic National Park. They require  bear canister, and Rafiki is the only one with that. 

Tonight, we rest!