The Wonderland Journal

Miles hiked: 28.8

Mile marker: 1478.9

Total ascent: 3500 ft

Total descent: 5800 ft

I don’t like getting up at 4:30. I didn’t like it back home, and I don’t like it now!

We begin the hike in the dark. Luxy and I walk together for a while, as Rafiki was moving slowly earlier and we went ahead of him. 

We camped on a flat area with a view of the horizon. Now it’s glowing orange as we walk. 

The golden sun is casting layers of shadows through the tall skinny trees that are spaced out through the forest. I feel like I’m in Little Red Riding Hood!

I pause to talk with the honeymooners, Radio and Metronome, after I use the restroom in the woods and realized that our married friends were camped right next to the bathroom. 

Whoops. 

Rafiki’s white cowboy hat is visible from afar. He’s sitting on a rock, looking over trees and mountains, staring at the low lighting casting dramatic shadows through the forest. I sit with him for a bit on a rock. 

“This is one of my favorite views on the PCT so far,” Rafiki says. 

I shiver in the cool morning. 

We continue hiking. 

A fallen tree is at the perfect height that we can’t climb over, so I grip either side of it like a sloth to awkwardly scoot under it. Rafiki takes his pack off completely to crawl under. 

Going over the trees is usually easier. 

We lunch at a tent site with our new friends Radio and Metronome. Luxy kindly informs me that I’m adding too much water to my couscous. 

No wonder it had the consistency of grits. 

We keep on walking for a while. I’m surprised when I hear applause coming through the thick trees. I’m on a big descent that zig zags through thick woods. I can’t see what’s below, but now I hear music pumping!

A pale brown gravel road comes into view. Then I see a car. 

Trail magic!?

The applause continues every few minutes, cheering on a hiker that just entered the scene. 

Now it’s Rafiki and I who receive the applause. 

A guy is making spaghetti for us! I grab a coke and sit down with the others. Our new party group — about nine young hikers who like to have a good time but are very inviting and considerate — are dancing with beers in hand. 

The rest of us sit on the ground, chatting and smelling the aroma of good food. 

And it is seasoned quite well! We enjoy spaghetti from our pots before heading uphill another six miles!

Rafiki is moving fast. I listen to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as I push up the hill. Thank goodness for those two Coca-Cola’s! 

Luxy is close behind me. 

The sun sets and we keep pushing uphill. 

I’m sweating and sore by the time I get to the tent site. 

“There’s not enough room for all of us!” Rafiki says. 

We wait a couple minutes for Luxy and deliver the news. We hike another mile to the next site. 

Between here and the next site, I eat three chewy granola bars. 

I’m starving! We had spaghetti at five o’clock and I’m hungry since it’s so late!

At last! We reach our tent site and I tuck into the trees. Bedtime at last!