Months of training were now under my belt. I felt strong, not quite a lean, mean machine but I was ready and I felt I was able to put in the miles on what would soon be the longest hike of my life, my first backpacking trip; the Wonderland trail. I had read many accounts of others who had traveled the same miles I would soon travel. I learned about the possible challenges, and to the best of my ability, I had prepared for them all; swarms of bugs, contaminated water, bears and bad weather.
All that was left to do was carefully load our backpacks and drop off our resupply buckets at the food cache locations around the park. Emily and I had meticulously planned our meals down to every snack so as to keep the weight we carried to a minimum. We had a variety of freeze dried meals, instant oatmeal, protein bars, beef jerky, our favorite German sausages called landjaegers, Top Ramon, instant coffee and ice tea mixes, hard cheese, salami and pita bread. We carried small packets of almond/honey butter, trail mix, Bit o' Honey (my favorite), and a bunch of Hi-Chew candies. Emily had tuna fish, crackers and applesauce. No, starving would not be a challenge we would face on this mountain. The challenge came in figuring out how much we would carry before we reached our first food cache, and what we would need to pack in the resupply buckets.
There are four food-caching locations in Mt. Rainier National Park; The Longmire Wilderness Information Center, the Mowich Lake patrol cabin, the Sunrise Visitor Center, and the White River Campground. We would be starting our adventure at Sunrise and hiking past White River on the first day, so that left Longmire and Mowich Lake. These were perfectly spaced apart for us to use as resupply stations. We had a friend that volunteered to bring us our resupply bucket at Mowich Lake on the eighth day of our hike and so the day before our hike, the kids and I traveled to the Longmire Wilderness Information Center (WIC) to drop off our five-gallon bucket of supplies. We would reach Longmire on the fourth day and the bucket contained a new variety of food and some toilet paper (not something you'd want to run out of in the wilderness). It was fun being there with the kids, realizing Emily and I would be walking into the area after four days on the mountain in less than a week.
While at Longmire, I obtained the wilderness camping permit that we would need to display on our tent each night. It was happening. All that was left to do was get the kids to my sister's house. Tina, by the way, was expecting a precious little girl in four months time, which is why she wasn't able to join us on this adventure. Austin, who in the beginning was also going to join us, unfortunately couldn't get the time off from work.
Saying goodbye to my children was made easier because they were distracted by the company of their best friends, their cousins. They were prepared for my ten day absence with whom they would spend the majority of time with their grandmother at their dad's house. She was driving into town from Spokane to be with them while their dad was out of town. I felt very fortunate to have people in my life who were willing to help me make this dream come true.
Driving away that night, however, I missed them like crazy! It was an emotion I didn't really expect to creep up. With the months of planning and training and the excitement of the very day upon us, I hadn't allowed myself to realize that I would be away from the five people who give my life purpose. A wave of melancholy swept over me, but I reminded myself that they were having fun and would be busy while I was gone.
When I got to my house, it was late in the evening and Emily was there. She was staying the night so we could wake up early and head out. Before we went to bed we laid out the clothes that we would wear on our first day on the mountain as though we were little kids preparing for the first day of school. I think I remember doing a happy dance or two and smiling ridiculously at the realization that our adventure was about to begin. In truth, it had already begun. It began the day I walked into REI and asked for a map of the Wonderland trail without a clue as to what I was doing. The night before we began the hike was the beginning of its conclusion.
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