Wonderland Trail Early July Advice

Alex,

I'm doing the trail for the first time in August in 5 nights, so I don't have specific experience with the campsites. My itinerary is set by starting at Mowich (closer to home and getting in the miles. I've requested Dick Creek, White River, Nickel Creek, Pyramid Creek, and N Puyallup.

I assume you're ready for snow going that early?

Hey AJ!

Thanks for sharing your itinerary. One of my annual hikes is a 4th of July weekend Camp Muir overnight. So I’m definitely prepared for the snow.

I’m actually looking forward to testing out the Nemo Quantum Elite that I’ll be receiving in time for this trip. I’m going with a buddy so 3lbs is perfect divided by two people. REI Should be getting the XTherm soon so I'm excited to try the new setup.

What made you choose your camp sites? I may actually just copy your itinerary.

Cheers!

I'm sure you'll be watching snow levels, and the projection is for not as much snow as last Spring, but this trip report shows some really tough conditions for early July last year oin the WT. Just a heads up, but I'm hoping for a warm May and June, we deserve it this year in the PNW darn it!

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7992353&highlight=wonderland

Thanks for the link. Definitely a very useful trip report.

http://www.williswall.com/

http://www.nwhikers.net/forums/search.php?search_id=TR&search_author=williswall

http://vimeo.com/12010929

http://vimeo.com/6790503

he has hiked it more than 20 times

Thanks for the info! That guy sure spends a lot of time out on that trail.

Alex,

sorry for the delay. Sunday through Friday was my only option (and the degree of difficulty is just right for me). I chose to start at Mowich since it's only an hour from my front door. The campsites were chosen based on average miles with elevation taken into consideration.

I can't wait to hear a report on your trip.

AJ

I was looking at hiking the Wonderland too, maybe this year but maybe in the near future. I don't want to hijack this thread, but before I can chime in about this discussion, I need to better understand the daily mileage.

Wikipedia says that most people hike it in 10-14 days, even though it's only 93 miles. That's the same timeframe as the JMT, but about 40% of the distance. Is it really more than twice as hard? Without having hiked any part of it before, I would think five days would be pretty standard, and 3-4 days would be achievable for many BPL hikers. Am I way off?

Thanks!

The Wonderland has big daily elevation changes. When I hiked it about six years ago, with more or less traditional gear, my group planned nine days and finished in eight. Since then, I've hiked sections of the Wonderland, with ever decreasing base weight.

Last year, first week of August, I hiked a figure eight loop incorporating part of the Wonderland with BW >8#. Plenty of snow still on the ground. My biggest day, IIRC, was ~17 miles. I felt like I was moving reasonably fast, although I could have hiked longer each day.

Trip report here:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=52349&skip_to_post=441782#441782

Others here have also posted TR from Wonderland and Rainier NP.

I seem to recall reading something from Ryan Jordan, talking about his 3 day WT attempt.

Five days would be v. tough for typical (ie, traditional) hikers, in my opinion.

Edit: Just found the Ryan Jordan thing–he was actually attempting a 2 day hike, and he _did_ succeed "but couldn't stand to eat another macadamia nut for six years.".

if you're really pressed for time you can do it a day like Joe Grant :)

http://www.alpine-works.com/2011/09/a-day-in-wonderland/