one mountain. four people. forty-eight hours. ninety-three miles.
that is all i knew going in to this adventure. the
wonderland trail has a total elevation gain of about 5000 feet, various terrain such as rock, glacier, mud, river, forest, suspension bridges... you name it.. it had it all. and the best part, this trail gives a nice tight hug to mt rainier. complete with some of the most lovely views i have ever seen of a mountain.
DAY ONE: jordan, michael and i woke at 3 am, packed up the car, ate some muffins and hit the road for box canyon. it took about and hour and a half to get there.. i had taken nyquil to sleep, and had the weird sensation of not being able to keep my eyes open during the car ride... heh
at 5:30 am, kirk met us in the parking lot. after some quick intros and last-minute gear check, we hit the trail. watches in sync. the sun was just coming up. it was chilly, but not cold. a perfect time to climb!
about two hours later, we found ourselves in indian bar... wildflowers galore. oh, and, yes, mount rainier oversaw our enthusiastic steps as we barely finished 4 miles of our 93 mile journey.
shortly after leaving indian bar we were surprised to stumble on the first life we had seen that day (other than nature).. a herd of mountain goats! just chilling in the glaciers!
possibly the best part of the day was our pit crew. these great people met us at summerland around noontime with a great lunch spread of salami cheese rounds and bread. yum. not to mention, they brought smiles and encouragement!
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| power pose.. rainier has my back on this one... |
this is one of the many cool bridges we crossed. but this river was the coolest. it is called the white river because the water is this milky-white color from the glaciers.. and remains that color all the way to the ocean! i don't really know what though...
this waterfall almost made me trip going across one of those handy-dandy bridges. so amazingly beautiful.
at about 8 pm we hit mystic lake. probably my favorite place on the hike. behind us, rainier is towering a lovely.. the moon was just peaking over it's peak. and ahead, the sun was setting. the lake was like an oasis from the rocky trail ahead of us... though, to my understanding.. it was only one small climb, a big descent, then a larger climb to camp mowitch, where we planned to sleep that night. ten more miles to our resting point.
for some reason, after mystic lake, we kept stopping and taking pictures.. snacking.. resting.. our motivation was waning.. but we knew we had to forge onward. and we did. we had not seen other hikers in quite some time and realized they had all probably taken refuge in their tents by now to rest up for the next day's hike. we took a sad detour around the suspension bridges, which i looked forward to a great deal. after a long while, we began to wonder if we missed the turn. we donned out headlamps and kept moving, though, not before noticing how amazing the stars looks. i have never seen so many starts in my life. finally, after what seemed like ten hours, we reached a sign telling us we had only five miles to go. after the forty plus we had accomplished already, this was nothing! so, with enthusiasm, we hurried up the trail. after hiking another two or three miles, we realized we had not been climbing. after consulting the map, we saw we still had about 2000 feet of elevation to go and only a couple miles left. how is this going to work out we wondered? but.. it was getting cold. we were exhausted, a bit hungry. but mostly just wanted some rest. and to answer our question, we found the climb. it was probably the steepest climb of our day. and it was dark. and i could not keep up with those strong men. i wanted to cry, but i knew that would only drain my energy and probably freak out my trail mates. i knew i had no choice but to keep moving. if i stopped, i would freeze. and be alone. so i kept on moving. i just kept thinking of where i was headed, and it gave me enough strength to move faster. we took one quick break on this insane hike, but for the rest we moved like machines. we just wanted to get to camp. at the top, we were elated to see a mere one mile hike to camp. we stumbled in to our tents around 1:30 am. 47 miles completed in 21 hours straight. mike and marianne had set it all up for us and emerged from their tents to greet us. i was grateful for marianne's willingness to guide me to the bathroom. i was so disoriented i probably would have gotten myself lost in the woods. after we were settled, we crashed. five solid hours of sleep.
in the morning, i woke up and tried to stretch out my body. surprisingly, it was not too sore. my knee felt a bit tender, but the rest of me was ready to keep up the hike. i could hear others moving around outside and decided to get up. i walked around a bit and realized i was so tired. my body was pretty beat. i considered hiking on, but thought back to how tough it was mentally on me to climb. i decided not to risk it, not to be a burden on my trail mates, and opt out of day two. i was sad to admit it to my new friends, but not ashamed. i still think hiking 47 miles in one day is pretty amazing. my only regret is that i did not get to finish giving mount rainier that hug. someday soon, i will have to hike the other 36 miles to complete the hug.
to rainier i say- i will return. i will finish what i started. and thank you for the challenges. to my friends i say thank you for the support. and to myself i say good work. never be afraid to try things.. you may surprise yourself with what you can do!
