The Wonderland Trail is a 100 mile loop that circumnavigates around Mount Rainier.  It has a bit of climbing (and descending) too, to the tune of about 26,000'.  Most folks take 8-10 days to complete the loop.  Tom and I were pressed for time and a full day driving on either end didn't help, so we thought we would try to complete in four days.

We arrived at White River campground Monday evening to a lot of smoke (and had driven through a lot of smoke getting there), not the welcome we were looking for.  But, Tuesday morning we woke to clear skis and started our first of many steep ascents, the steep climb was paid with some great views high.

We made pretty good time and ate lunch at Mystic Lake about 12 miles in.  We had a long descent down to the Carbon Glacier and Carbon River.  The Carbon River was cross via a suspension bridge; had never been on one and was surprised how much bouncing and swaying there was crossing it- yikes!

We has some tough climbs, but none would compare to the climb up to Spray Park (6 miles straight of climbing that never let up!  Again rewarded with some nice views AND supper!

We dropped over the top and a few miles we hit our first camp, Eagle's Roost- we were late enough that shelters were set up with headlamps. 25 miles and 7200' of gain made for a pretty long day.

Day two we were up early and hit the trail by 6:00.  A long drop into the Mowich drainage crossing both the North and South Mowich Rivers.  We got word from a ranger we met the day before that the bridge for the South River was out and to follow flagging to a downed tree and use that to cross.

North

South

A recurring theme, we now had a steep climb up to the Golden Lakes area.  We ate lunch at a patrol cabin that was getting a face lift.

After a bit more of climbing, we had a long descent through some really nice old growth PNW forest- big trees, moist, lots of moss, fungi, etc

What goes down, most go up- so that's what we did, heading for Klapatche Park.  Unfortunately some of the smoke had returned and partly spoiled what would be an incredible shot of Mount Rainier.

It was nice getting into camp with a little light; 22 miles and 6300' for the day.

Day three we were once again up early and on the trail a little after 6:00.  Lots of blueberries and huckleberries up high and we helped ourselves along the way, as did a large black bear doing the same thing . We dropped hard, only to climb hard again.  Got into a really neat area at the lower end of the Tahoma Glacier.  Saw several content mountain goats bedded well above us.  Tom taking in the views.

No sooner had we left this area we dropped hard again (and then climbed again ).  Another patrol cabin, this one in the Indian Henry area

We ate a big lunch and were rewarded with a long descent and even a little somewhat level ground.  Eventually it lead us to Longmire, kind of the center of the park.  We met another ranger and he was able to switch our last night camp site from one that was off the Wonderland Trail to one that was one, this would save us about 3 miles- we were much appreciative.

The terrain became gentler and he were making good time.  We had another climb and Tom got out ahead of me, I figured I'd catch him on the downhill.  Well I didn't, so went a little faster.  Still no Tom, so went even a little faster yet.  After 7 miles with no Tom in site, I hit Maple Ck are our last camp.  I was greeted by a naked lady bathing in the creek, she didn't seem to be concerned and we even chatted for awhile .  I was dead tired and it was dark, set up my shelter and started fixing supper.  About ten minutes later Tom rolled in.  He took a short detour to a water fall and thought I was right behind and saw him detour.  So I was chasing a ghost and he was chasing me . Our longest day, 29 miles and 6500' of gain.

Another dark start to our day.  We meandered along the bottom of Stevens Canyon for a couple of miles and then up and up Nickel Creek.  We gained a finger ridge and followed it up.  The smoke had cleared out and replaced with a light drizzle and fog.  We saw another big black bear (along with some blueberry and huckleberry nibbling!) and we had elk bugling on both sides of the ridge, pretty magical.

We kept climbing and were rewarded with some great views.

It was lunch time so we sat down and soaked it all up; could have sat there a lot longer, but we had a long ways to go.

At the bottom of Indian Bar that was a great old stone cabin that serves as one of the camp sites for bigger groups.

Another super steep climb out of Indian Bar, but more great views!

It was evident a storm was rolling in so we picked up the pace heading for Summer Land.

We made it to Summerland, another neat campsite

But a couple of minutes after arriving we felt our first drops.  We donned rain gear and then proceeded to head downhill for 7 miles back to our starting point- White River campground.  22 miles and 6200' of gain.

I doubt I'll ever do the Wonderland Trail again, but it was definitely sweet.  But I will be back to Rainier, definitely want to spend some more time in the higher country and maybe even give Rainier a go- we'll see

Awesome... thanks for sharing. Sorry about the smoke but still looks great. Love the forest shot the most. Something about trails in forests that I like.

Thanks for the report and pics!  That’s some major hustling to do the whole loop in 4 days.  Did you see many others out there (besides the naked lady bathing  ?

WOW is all I can say.  Great trip and pictures.

We’re going to try and go back next summer with the wives, much abbreviated, but get into that high country- we’ll be at the whim of the lottery for campsites, but we can each put in for a permit for four increasing our odds a bit.

It is tremendous country so it’s no wonder that permits are hard to get.

Wow- good on them; would be a little challenging with young ones to say the least! 

At first Tom and I were like “we’ll have to get the wives out for this loop” (obviously take longer), BUT after doing the loop, we’re like no way in hell would we take them on the entire loop!  But there are definitely some doable routes without risking divorce!

we are told that the South Mowich bridge was out (day two) and they had it flagged to where they wanted you to cross; on the last day we saw a sign that the crossing at White River could be dangerous and advised travel on the road instead (about a mile), so we did

it was raining heavily on Friday late afternoon, but they hadn't seen any measurable precipitation in a long time, so would have to guess that S Mowich was earlier in the year when it blew; what caused the problem at White River I have no idea- couldn't have been the rain we were getting that day as it only had been raining about two hours.  the only guess I had was temps were fairly warm and more melting of the upper snow/glaciers?????

we could see the White River from the road at several spots and it definitely looked a little dicey, reminded of the Bob Marshall Open