Wonderland
a little about what I learned on my walk
I just (3 days ago) got back from a hike around Mount Rainier on the Wonderland Trail (map here). For those interested in the trip report, here are the basics. Skip past the photos for the rest of the article.
Thursday: Left Longmire around 10am - easy six-mile hike to Devil's Dream.
Friday: Thirteen miles from Devil’s Dream to North Puyallup - lot's of (big) ups and downs, and probably the hardest day of the trip.
Saturday: North Puyallup camp to Mowich Lake. This is a public campground - and it was full, but I had just hiked 15 miles, so I slept through everyone’s shenanigans. I saw my first bear on this day.
Sunday: Took the Spray Park alternate route to Mystic camp. saw another bear, an owl at Mystic, and ten million chipmunks. Lots of day hikers clogging the trail, but lost them at the rock crossing in Spray Park.
Monday: Legs felt great, so I was semi-trotting down from Mystic...and just about ran into a bear in the trail. I stopped, talked to it, and it eventually strolled far enough away where I thought I could pass. Got to White River camp around 1:30pm and grabbed my food cache. I really wanted there to be some electricity there to recharge, but instead I learned that I should pack two battery packs (or get a phone that isn't 6 years old.
Tuesday: was supposed to just go to Summerland camp, and from there to Maple Creek the next day. Got to the campsite at Summerland, and a couple other hikers there offered to let me stay in their camp site at Indian Bar. Turns out that they had the group site (aka the big cool cabin). Hiked in the clouds most of the day, so visibility was poor, but it rained and snowed sunday night, so was super happy I slept on a bunk inside.
Wednesday: Slept in hoping the rain would go away. It didn't, so I took off at 8am. Within 30 minutes, I was getting snowed on, I was soaked, but my legs felt great, and hiking was fun. I got to Maple Creek around 1:30, and decided that I felt good and that I'd just loop out to Longmire. I made it to Longmire around 7:30pm to finish my first ever WT loop in 7 (or maybe 6 and a half?) days. Would totally do it again.
Lessons Learned
Other then the practical lessons (e.g. get a better phone / bring more charging capacity), my 90ish mile walk had a few other insights.
Routine
There’s been a lot going on in my world recently, and I forgot how centering a solid routine is like. I started every morning by lying awake for a few minutes pondering whether I wanted to leave the warmth of my quilt - and then forcing the matter by releasing the air from my mattress. From there, I packed - everything in the same order, in the same places in my pack - both for easy access on the trail, and to make unpacking easy, even when fatigued. This was not my first backpacking trip, and I know my equipment, but I was surprised how efficiently I could go from full backpack to full campsite and back.
It reminded me that keeping some regular routines in place at work, at home, or in life is hugely underrated, and that I need to be more conscious about establishing and sustaining routines.
Tenacity
I am in nowhere near the best physical shape of my life. I do walk a lot, and did another long hike earlier this summer to train - physically and mentally. My legs and feet felt great every morning, but inevitably, after ascending and descending thousands of feet while walking ten miles, things start to hurt. I knew every day that I was physically capable of getting to the next camp, but the challenge was to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.
Again - there’s a parallel to life. I moved recently, and still have a dozen unpacked boxes in my home office. I just need to do it. One item at a time, until I’m done.
Anti-Flow
Michael Lopp (aka Rands) wrote about Anti-Flow. Anti-Flow, as Rands describes, is “discovering hidden potential in the strange mental crevices of your mind”. Rands talks about doing this on a long bike ride, but I found Anti-Flow a lot - especially on 3500 foot ascents that took hours. Rands goes on to say:
On a long ride, there are no rabbit holes or keyboards. I can’t engage a random idea because I’m sitting on a bike which means the high entropy state of Anti-Flow persists.
I had more ideas over those seven days than I remember having over the past seven months. I figured stuff out. I made connections between things I’ve done before and things I want to do. I had discoveries that I shouldn’t have to go on a ninety mile hike to have.
The problem is, that I - like a whole lot of other people in the world, are so plugged into screens and people and engaging activities, that I just don’t spend enough time thinking. Because my phone is a piece of crap, I didn’t distract myself with podcasts. I just walked and thought - and I loved it.
There was a time when I did more meditation or unplugging. Just sitting in a quiet room for an hour has been hugely beneficial for me in the past. I need to do that more. My career relies on be being plugged in, but success likely requires that I unplug in order to think. That’s a point for me to ponder and discover where I can find balance.
Finishing the Loop
it was pretty cool finishing the Wonderland loop - in my head, I was celebrating with confetti, but in reality, I just walked off the trail into a mostly empty parking lot in the dark. But maybe the biggest lesson learned is that we need to celebrate our victories. Finishing the WT, especially in seven days isn’t easy, but it was fun, and full of lessons. I’m looking forward to seeing how I can take what I learned and keep it going.
Happy trails.