by Jess Connell · October 13, 2016

{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. 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, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, and now… Day 7.}

Wonderland Trail, Mt. Rainier
 Saturday, 8/19/2016: Nickel Creek to Paradise (10.4?/9.9? miles)
Elevation changes: -500, +2000, -1000

JOURNAL ENTRY:

“Today we’ll pass some portions of road… a trash can to empty our trash (diapers!)… and Maple Creek. I’m hoping we can at least snack there– it looks beautiful and shallow. We’ll also pass Reflection Lakes. Something like a 9-11 mile day… I’m not sure cause the maps aren’t super clear. Hopefully another good, if long, day. Super glad Michael L. is with us for these long days. He’ll be here thru tomorrow.

—

Turned out to be a 9.9 mile day. Hard. tiring. With a wonderful break @ Maple Creek and an amazing dip in a pool at Martha Falls. Soooo refreshing. Still, I kept feeling like “maybe we should quit.” Cut out at Longmire, etc.

Talked to Doug about it 2x– especially hard for me cause I am pregnant… so I think my blood sugar tanks fast than everyone else & I go from feeling fine to feeling on edge and completely hopeless. We talked to the kids about it, between Louise Lake & Reflection Lakes, and said for them to think about which option they’d like, and we’d discuss again at dinner.

Lo and behold, it was Ethan who 1st talked me into staying– “we’ve worked so hard, planned so much, given up writing retreat & debate camp… we only have 1 more hard day, then 3 easy ones– let’s not quit now.” Then MeiMei said whatever we do, we should do as a family. Then Moses said he loves rubbing my feet and would do it every night for the rest of the trip. WOW!! These kids. Theo said he wanted to go home, but then once we made it to camp, he said he wanted to do the biggest bridge and get to play at more lakes and rivers.

So…. we decided, together, over mac & cheese & tuna, to keep going and finish strong. They also like these benefits:

  • eat lots of candy
  • get Wonderland Trail patches on their packs
  • go out for celebration dinner after
  • do the “Indiana Jones” bridge
  • get to say we’ve done the whole Wonderland Trail.

I’m amazed. I think they’ve all come to embrace it in their own ways. The big boys are hoping for a Northern Loop trip with Doug next year… it’s so neat to see them take on this vision and journey as their own.

My feet hurt. — moleskin & footrubs

I’ll have snacks with me so I don’t tank-out so fast.

but WOW. We’re really gonna do this thing.

What we need to do at Longmire:

  • pick up our food cache
  • sort it — snacks, B, L, D, consumables
  • sort into bags– D: snacks, E: dinner+cookpot, B: lunches, S: breakfasts, Mo: consumables
  • Any extra food to giveaway box
  • Charge batteries
  • Buy more tylenol/excedrin
  • Ditch all trash
  • Not stay too long

{Note added after–} We did all but the last.” 

(my spot was the tousled spot, there to the left, between Luke & Theo)

(Doug’s spot, between MeiMei & Ethan)

whittling blueberry skewers with her pocket knife

getting ready to soak tired feet

following pink trail markers Rangers had tied up, to get through a part where the trail had been washed out

just before we dipped in the pool downstream from Martha Falls!

A lady we met at Martha Falls, Sun, kindly offered us water bottles (replacing the ones we’d lost!). At 68 years old, she was out doing a day hike by herself. We visited some, on the mile-or-so hike up to the road, and she shared about the importance of staying active in your older years, and not giving in to the pull of the couch/TV combo. Thanks, Sun!!

A rock marmot, unfazed by our family as we walked past

MEMORIES:

  1. Taking nearly 2 hours at Martha Falls made me feel human. The kids got to be silly; Luke got to get out and walk around. We dunked our bodies in a pool; the boys worked on building a dam to raise the water level.
  2. We were literally climbing through trees and brambles for about a mile of the trail near Maple Creek. The trail had washed out, and thankfully, Park Rangers had tied up pink markers for hikers to follow through the brush. It was tricky for all of us, but particularly tricky for me to remember that Luke’s face was back behind me and to crawl/lean down through places and leave enough room for him to get through un-scraped, too!
  3. Reading that list made me remember: by about day 6, Doug and I were using Excedrin for our joints. Doing the Wonderland Trail is no joke. The uphills are hard on the lungs and body in general… but the downhills were often torturous for my knees, ankles, and joints. Even with trekking poles helping alleviate and distribute the weight (which are AWESOME and we HIGHLY recommend them! These are the ones the kids & I used.), from days 6-12, I took one Excedrin at the start of the day, and another in early afternoon. For me, it took the edge off the joint aches.
  4. The Reflection Lakes area was pretty, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I anticipated. It was *weird* to suddenly be around noisy, gawking crowds (with trash on the ground!), after so much solitude, natural beauty, and quiet.
  5. Looking back, we’re all so glad we didn’t quit. But it seemed like a real, and worth-considering, possibility to me at the time. I do think the blood sugar thing was a big factor in my thinking– when my energy levels dropped, I felt fatalistic and could only see the worst… (“I yelled at Ethan… Theo is so little… are the kids hating it?… we aren’t getting to stop and play enough…”).
  6. The hard moments were HARD. But the good moments were GREAT. Glacier water is so refreshing– for drinking and playing and soaking tired ankles. The mushrooms are so varied and colorful– cartoonish, even! The mountain is startling from every angle. The times of singing, talking about life, telling stories, and pointing out what we were seeing to one another were precious and rich. Seeing our kids step up and take on new responsibilities (on their own, because they wanted to!) was encouraging.

Stopping for our Snickers snack at Reflection Lakes

KEEP READING:

Wonderland Trail, Day 8: The Hardest Day We Didn’t Expect

HERE’S HOW WE FIT EVERYTHING IN OUR BACKPACKS:

How Our Family Geared Up for the Wonderland Trail

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Tags: backpackingfamily backpackinghikingWonderland Trail