Wonderland Trail- Day 2, part 2
From that point on the trail climbed a bit more, and yes, from time to time there was more snow. But I was so happy to be on the trail that I didn’t care! Soon I was reaching full-on alpine meadows, the hiking got easy and the world opened up before me. All of the sudden, there were wild flowers everywhere. The
sun was warm and the meadow rolled out in front of me like a carpet of colors with a gentle brown trail running through it. I looked up and saw Mount Ranier hovering above the meadow…the closest I have been to her. I stood there as tears flowed down my cheeks and thought,
“How?”
“How did I get this lucky and blessed?” I tell my traildames all of the time to look at a view and to realize that the only people that get to see it are the ones that worked their way up to it. Well, I had worked hard today, but I didn’t deserve this! It was flat out the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
After a while, I pulled myself together and walked a bit further til I heard a familiar voice calling me. Hiker Biker Babe was laying on a giant, flat rock, basking in the sun. She graciously moved over and we shared our tales of the day. I was right in the middle of telling her my saga when I grabbed her arm. Across the meadow, lumbering along, was the biggest black bear I have ever seen! HBB began
humming “From A Distance”, which is our personal motto for how we would like to view wildlife….especially bears. We watched as he wandered around and she finally remarked that if he came any closer, we would be doing the ‘Dance of the Scared Woman”! But he stayed far
away, enjoying his meadow and enriching our day.
He really was beautiful
The swarms of mosquitos eventually drove us to our feet along with the call of camp. The final 1.5 mile of the hike was beautiful and gentle and we finally settled down at Mystic Lake. Tomorrow’s going to be a hard day so now I am going to sign off.
The marmots are whistling and the creek is singing. Good night.
Anna aka mud Butt