Adventures in Wonderland: Day 7, A Change of Mind, but No Change of Clothes

 “What a psalm the storm was singing, and how fresh the smell of the washed earth and leaves, and how sweet the still small voices of the storm!” - John Muir

(Though I usually love John Muir quotes, upon the remembrance of this day his above quote made me want to throw him over a cliff)

Reading my journal entry for day seven brought back every emotion and frustration I felt on that day. Our guide book talked about fantastic views of the mountain reflecting in Aurora Lake and even of sunsets reflecting off the far away Puget Sound waters, we however, had to reach into the deepest reserves of our imaginations to picture those images through the thick whiteness that was all around.

The night before was quite a challenge. The bugs fought us for a dry place to stay and we fought them to keep the tent to ourselves. I wore my maroon woolen hat to bed and remember specifically being in that sweet zone of almost asleep when a drip of water fell directly into my ear. In a fit that was mixed with surprise and irritation I ended up slapping myself on the head pretty hard and after that sleep was quite evasive. I spent most of the night dodging drips that fell, once they condensed largely enough, from the tent ceiling. The rest of the night I spent mentally writing a customer review to the company that manufactured my tent (that night, I was only going to give it half a star of satisfaction, and that half star was only because I would have felt ungrateful for the previous nights when it worked just fine).

The morning couldn't come fast enough. When it did however, it was just as cold as the night had been. The one thing I did not splurge on to prepare for this trip was rain gear. Good rain gear is ridiculously expensive and I thought myself pretty thrifty to purchase a $6 poncho that, when folded, was no bigger than a deck of cards. That was my single biggest regret of this journey. I may as well been wearing a plastic birthday party table cloth covered with My Little Ponies....that is how ridiculous I felt.

'What Not to Wear' Mountain version.

 Luckily, Emily had some decent, if not ideal rain gear, but there I sat in my extra-large poncho and shivered as I ate my warm oatmeal (I think residents of Western Washington should get a discount on rain gear).  We were anxious to get on the trail just so we weren't sitting in the wet camp anymore. Our only reservation was having to pack up the wet tent. Yuck!!  We grinned and bore with the circumstances, however, and soon we were ready to leave.

Right outside of camp we encountered a very narrow trail with high brush on both sides. This brush had been bathed in the previous nights rain and the air that morning was misty so hiking  for the most part of the day was like walking through a car wash. The highlight of the day were the blueberry bushes we hiked through. The taste of those berries beat any I've ever eaten before! I'm not sure if it was because they were nurtured by the purity of the high alpine climate or if it was just that fresh foods had been lacking in our diet, but boy, were they delicious!   We ended the nearly 8-mile day at Golden Lakes. But instead of finding a campground with breathtaking views (with the fog, we couldn't see a lake if it were five feet in front of us) we found the one closest to the toilet. The bugs began attacking us and we were in the tent by 2 pm.

Our waterproof boots were soaked (another customer review was formulating in my mind at this point) and my feet looked like they did when I was kid and would take a bath that lasted until I got tired of playing only to get out and find that my toes looked like little white raisins. We changed into the driest clothes we could find and climbed into our sleeping bags to get warm. I snuggled up and fell asleep listening to the sound of light rain tapping on the outside of the tent. I don't know how long I had been sleeping before the single-most mind changing event took place; I was rudely awoken by some very cold water from my Platypus reservoir leaking out underneath me in between my sleeping bag and my sleeping pad, and therefore soaking both the bag, the pad, and myself!  That did it, I would be heading off the mountain the next day with Emily. At this point, I had no more dry clothes or shoes, not even a dry sleeping bag.

Freezing cold, my teeth chattered and I shivered in a desperate attempt to keep warm. A very true fear of hypothermia set in and I could do nothing but lie on my pad with the only dry part of my bag on top of me. Tears rolled down my face as I struggled with emotions of fear and frustration. Darkness fell upon us and as it grew colder we both worried all the more. Emily and I lie as closely as possible but my body still shivered..not a good sign. I credit my safety that night to Emily's quick thinking and her selfless acts of caring.

Boiling her own water on her portable stove she filled her Nalgene bottle with the hot water and gave it to me to hold closely, she filled another bottle for me to put down by my feet. This did the job of keeping me warm despite the fact that I was sleeping on a wet pad and had only portions of a dry sleeping bag. At some point we just had to surrender the night to God and let Him take care of us, and He did.

Brrr! Nothing like oatmeal on a cold, wet morning.

So thankful to have this girl with me up there!

There is beauty in every situation, sometimes in the most unlikely of all places.

Adventures in Wonderland: Part One, Second Post

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it." - Greg Anderson

I left REI with mixed feelings. There was the feeling of let-down in knowing I wouldn't get to hike the trail this year, yet I left feeling one step closer to actually hiking the Wonderland Trail just in having received knowledge of what my next step must be.

I called my sister, Emily, on my cell phone from the REI parking lot to tell her I was going to hike this trail and asked if she would like to join me. I had always envisioned myself doing this as a solo trip, but the truth is whenever I do something exciting I picture my sisters there with me. She was instantly psyched. My enthusiasm was contagious and it was the beginning of many spontaneous planning sessions.

Before long, my youngest brother, Austin, was on board and my older sister, Tina, as well. They both had some things that had to fall into place before it could happen, but they hopped right on the Wonderland planning train and hung on for awhile. We often joked that Tina would be pregnant by next summer and not be able to go, but her biggest concern was figuring out who could care for her diabetic five year-old while she was gone for ten days.

The day my guidebook arrived in the mail was the day that the adventure became truly palpable. Up until now, I knew we could, and would do it, I just had no clue what it would entail. I read the book cover to cover within a few days. Then I began to read it again. I learned amazing details about the geological features of the trail and I also learned some history of the Mountain. To me, it was like hearing childhood stories of the one you've had a serious crush on...like getting a deeper understanding of one you've only been able to gaze at with adoring eyes. 

With steps being taken to achieve my goal of hiking the Wonderland Trail underway, there was one roadblock that was partially out of my control: reservations for the back country hiking permit. It involved a process of knowing exactly where we would stay each night, writing up an itinerary of our campsites, and mailing or faxing a request, along with $20.00 that would be deducted only if you were able to get the itinerary you requested. Apparently, it wasn't easy to get reservations as back country camp sites were limited and the number of requests to hike the Wonderland Trail have been going up every year. 

The first opportunity to send or call in a request was 8 am, March 11. I worked that day so I would have a fax machine available. However, the school day began at 8 am so I would have to wait until recess, two hours later, to fax my reservation request. I remember the anticipation of that morning. This action could either solidify my plans or send me back to the drawing board.

As soon as the kids ran outside to stretch their legs and blow off some steam, I hurried next door to the church office and begged the help of our beloved secretary who is always ready to lend a hand. We faxed the request form and waited....

I don't know much about fax machines but apparently this one prints out a verification that the fax was received. We never got one. I tried again. Same thing. I tried again. I was a little, well, a LOT nervous that my fax didn't go through, but I eventually surrendered and left it in God's hands. If it was meant for me to hike this trail and accomplish a dream that has been building within me for half of my life, then it would happen. I tried calling the next day to see if my fax was received, but not only was it a recorded message, but the message warned against doing that due to the high volume of requests and the small number of rangers handling the reservations.
 
Now I was forced to wait for either a letter of confirmation or denial to come in the mail. The website said it would take at least two weeks to sort through all the requests...four weeks went by and I still hadn't heard. 

Waiting to hear.....

Adventures in Wonderland: Part One

The plan was passionately conceived in my heart in early June of 2012. I was in the local REI store looking at maps of "The" Mountain and books of "The" hike. A friendly salesperson walked up to me and struck a conversation that eventually led to a miscarriage of my summer's intended goal. I was naive about the how-to's and the know-how's of the whole process, but that conversation lit a fire that would lead to a years' worth of burning desire and preparation for the birth of a life-long dream.

The conversations went something like this:

Salesperson - "Hello, is there anything I can help you with?"
Me - "I'm looking for a map of the Wonderland Trail and a good book about the hike."
Salesperson - "Oh, when do you plan on hiking the trail?"
Me - "Probably August." (It was currently mid-June) "Do you know when the best time to hike it is?"
Salesperson - "Well, do you already have your permits and reservations?"
Me - "Huh?"
Salesperson - "Yeah, you need to reserve back country hiking permits usually no later than March."
Me - (Feeling like I didn't really like this guy because he wasn't telling me what I wanted to hear) "Well, I guess I'll buy this map and start planning for next year."
Salesperson - "Make sure you try early to get reservations, I hear they are pretty hard to get."
Me - With my stubborn nature feeling all the more dead set on making this hike happen, "Thank you, I'll let you know how it went."

So I left the store with only a map, a water-proof, tear-proof map that, in time, would take on the feel of a well-worn cloth. I went home and immediately got online to find a guidebook for the 93 mile hike. I found just the one, Hiking the Wonderland Trail: The complete guide to Mount Rainier's premier trail, by The Mountaineers Books. It too, would become well worn and comfortable like a ragged security blanket. The seed of adventure was planted, my mind was set.