We began our trek out of camp at around 9am after the boy-scouts. It’s another beautiful, sunny day and the hike to Longmire is broad and a combination of mild downhill and flat dirt trails. We passed a small waterfall and saw a couple of day hikers. Katie and I were chatty and not particularly hurried as we only had to go some 3.5 miles. We met a psychology professor from Gonzaga who accompanied us along the last mile of the trail back to Longmire talking about his research and how he wanted to do the whole Wonderland (we, of course, were very encouraging and cited numerous people celebrating 20th + anniversaries of their first tour around the mountain).
We arrived back at the car at 12:30, surprised and thrilled to have finished the entire trail! How quickly it seems to have flown by. It felt like it should have taken more out of us, made us pant to the finish, and made us beg for an end, but I’ve never felt stronger or braver. So what, that I’d been inconvenienced by bugs and aching feet for the past eleven days? We finished something major, something amazing, something worthwhile and that is all you think about at the finish line.
We toured the exhibit at the museum in Longmire, snapping pictures before heading over to Paradise Visitor’s center to buy souvenirs and lunch. We stuck out a bit, with unwashed hair and ‘eau de backpacker’, but we made sure to enjoy our segue back into crowds of people and car traffic.
At around 4pm, we went to pick up our food bins from the White River Ranger station and started the journey home. We did pass by a group of news vans, which we later learned were there to cover a story about a boy who drowned in the White River - a warning about the dangers of underestimating the outdoors.
Katie and I celebrated completing the trail with avocado smoothies with tapioca bubbles – a perfectly delicious way to cool down and enjoy fresh avocado! Welcome back to blenders and city life!
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