My family goes on an annual backpacking trip in the summer. In 2018, we went into the wilderness surrounding Mount Rainier on a trail known as the Wonderland Trail. It is ninety miles of steep hills covered in Douglas Firs and beautiful reflective lakes sitting at the bottom of flowered valleys. Even through the stunning beauty of the wilderness around you, it can get very quiet and sometimes might I say—boring. My mom and brother brought books to help them through the various resting points during the ten-day trip. While my dad and I thought we could make it without outside things. Obviously, I was wrong. My mom offered me one of her books to read. At first, I was hesitant to take the thick red book, I even said no. As the four of us went our separate ways and everything quieted down, I got anxious and needed something to do. My mom offered me her book again, this time I took the red book and read the title, “A Handmaid’s Tale” and continued to read over the summary. I left the river bed I was in with this book in hand.
As I laid in my hammock looking towards a rushing glacier river, I read the first page. The words drew me in like no other book has. I could only see the words on the page and the images they created in my mind. The light fell from the sky and as soon as I knew it I was three, four chapters in and day was gone. I fell asleep, thinking about this story and what was happening in these women’s lives. And, when I woke up the first thing I did was grab the red book and read more. My family was just as shocked as I was when the saw how much I read in the past 12 hours, my mom was just happy I was reading something. We had a conversation over breakfast about “A Handmaids Tale” since my mom had already read the book. It was thrilling to be able to talk about something different like a book with my mom, it’s something I normally don’t experience.
I had no more time to read that morning as we off hiking again, some six miles or so, my mind was racing thinking about the next twist in the novel. I plopped myself down on a log as soon as the hiking was done for the night, trying to squeeze in as much time with this book as I can. I read while I waited for the water to boil, I read when I was eating, I read every chance I got, and in the woods, there is more than enough time to cuddle down with a book. My mind flooded with thoughts of how the main character was feeling and what would happen next, it was utter joy reading.
The time in which I finished this novel was blur, it could have been two days or three, but it was an experience I hope to find again. When I got to the last page, I felt an almost emptiness, disappointed it was over, I’ll have to read it again. I looked at the book and noticed how worn it had gotten over the past few days, the edges were waved from water spilt on it, there was pieces of paper used for bookmarks scattered throughout. I felt bad giving my mom her book back in such poor condition, but she didn’t mind.