The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 20.6

Mile marker: 1412.8

Total ascent: 900 ft

Total descent: 2800 ft

We wake up early for a twenty mile day into town. Our water cache is four miles ahead. When we get there, a giant tank is filled with water. 

A guy there offers to do trail magic. We get sausage and eggs!

It’s just Rafiki, Voyager, and me today. We hurry up and eat. As we chat with the other company, the sun has come out strong and hot. 

We wait a bit for the breakfast to cook, but I can tell Rafiki and Voyager are ready to get on the road. I should have pushed to skip it. We’re all ready to get into town. 

We’re soon on the road again, walking through the dusty path. I’m walking alone when I hear a prolonged cicada. 

That can’t be a cicada. They don’t sound like that. It also can’t be a rattle snake. It’s not loud enough. 

I’m paused and looking into the tall straw colored grass. 

A small rattle snake is coiled up and staring at me with a hissing tongue. 

I wait a couple minutes on the trail for the others to catch up. 

“Rattle snake,” I say, pointing at the snake several feet away from me. 

Voyager, first in line, jumps back. She sees where it’s at and we all goggle at the thing for a couple minutes before continuing on. 

We hike on in the intense heat until we get to a giant river that looks like some type of dam. 

Soon, we make it to the road! Another hiker we were walking with, Half Dump, is ahead of us. A car pulls over for him. We speed our walk and the driver waves us over. 

Easy hitch!

He’s talking so much that he misses the turn into the church. Whoops! He turns around and we get out. 

We walk into Word of Life church. 

A friendly woman named Emily, with long dark hair, thick makeup, and several tattoos gives us the run down.

We set up in a carpeted gymnasium with basketball tape and hoops on the floor and walls. 

After showers, we’re slowly gathering laundry when someone tells us that the laundromat closes at five o’ clock! It’s almost four! We rush off. I forget Voyager’s laundry I told her I’d do for her and my phone, and rush back twice to get them. Rafiki forgets something as well, so we’re a hot mess as we try to get everything together. 

We’re joined by Bumper and Voyager joins later. We grab a six inch sub from subway as a snack before we do a resupply in Grocery Outlet, which takes way longer than it should have!

Fortunately there is a kitchen at the church. We make pizzas tonight and lay down in the gym. Sleeping bags are on all perimeters of the walls! There’s got to be at least twenty hikers in here!

It’s so good that they have showers, too!

This is an awesome church.