{NOTE: For those readers who don’t know our family, we’re the Connells. Doug’s my husband and I’m Jess. At the time of this trip, we had 7 kids (Ethan-14, Baxter-12, MeiMei-10, Silas-8, Moses-6, Theo-3.5, Luke-18 months), and I was 6 months pregnant with our 8th child. Over the next 3 weeks, I’m publishing journal entries, pictures, & memories from our 12-day family adventure on the Wonderland Trail, one day at a time: Day 1, Day 2, and now… Day 3.}
Wonderland Trail, Mt. Rainier
Tuesday, 8/16/2016: Mystic Lake to Sunrise (8.9 miles)
Elevation changes: -1100, +2000, -350, +450, -500
JOURNAL ENTRY:
“3:39– 3rd break
Lesson: sometimes pregnant women & heavily-burdened people do well to travel @ the pace of a 3-year-old. (We can’t all be trail runners, all the time.)
Lesson of the morning: “from strength to strength” (feeling empty? it means you need to tank up.)
—-
Whoa. Made it to camp at 6:35pm. Longest mileage so far (8.9 miles) and yet… our shortest day on the trail. I think we’re all becoming stronger, more adroit hikers. The kids seem to be gentler with one another, like they all see & respect one another’s burdens & hard work.