The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 13.4

Mile marker: 1426.2

Total ascent: 1100 ft

Total descent: 1200 ft

Everyone is moving before me. I start to pack my things and head over to the lobby for a free latte. The church is doing some social event. 

I’m wearing a dust pink tunic type of shirt over a tank top that the church loaned me. 

I chat with an older lady, trial name Spanky, whose handshake is as strong as an excavator. She has the energy of a retired cop, and I soon find out she was a police officer for several months. 

Then she became a therapist. 

She’s super sweet and kind and makes my latte perfectly sweet!

Bad news, Voyager had to go ahead of us for three thirty mile days! Her work stuff is quite demanding and she needed to get off trail again to sort that out. She’ll be taking a bus to Redding to get some screenings done. 

Bumper decided to go with her for the challenge. They left early, and Voyager gave Rafiki and I some goodbye hugs at about six o’ clock today. 

We get on the road and head to Burney Falls! 

On the way there, I chat with my mom on the phone. She just had her surgery for her broken wrist today! I called her, called her older friend Linda, who didn’t answer. 

Linda calls me back. 

“Hey darlin’, they’re bringing your mama out right now. Want me to have her call you when she gets settled?”

Mom is loopy on the phone. They put a nerve block in her shoulder, so she can’t move it at all. 

She’s going home to sleep now. 

We drop our packs behind a ledge and walk into a high volume of tourists and down a long and sloped paved walkway. The temperature drops what feels like twenty degrees. The spray of the water splashes my face as I descend. 

The falls crash into a giant pool of water. Green bushes explode out of the rock walls. The rocks are scattered over the ground so we walk carefully over them, avoiding tourists. 

I empty my pockets and walk into the water, turn, and fall back. Fully clothed, I let the icy water submerge me. As I surface, the current pulls me away from the rocks. I scramble to grab any rock so I don’t get carried away!

I scratch at the algae cover rocks until I grab one. That water is much stronger than I expected! I crawl forward on the jagged rocks like gollum from Lord of the Rings as Luxy takes her shoes off for a swim. 

We go back up the hill for an ice cream sundae over a brownie at the store.  

Now we hike a few more miles on bellies full of ice cream. 

Rafiki is on the phone with his mom when I hear that rattle again. We’re walking on a narrow path with scraggly straw colored grass grazing our legs as we pass. 

“Rafiki! Rattle snake!” I say. We watch it in the grass as we wait for Luxy to make her aware of the snake. 

The harsh sun becomes more tolerable at this time of day. It’s about five o’clock and it eases its heavy hand as we move on

NWe camp early. We’ll be leaving early tomorrow!