Wonderland Trail Preliminary Planning

Hi Pete,

I've never hiked the JMT but a *quick* glance of the elevation gains/losses of the JMT seemed fairly comparable to what I encountered on the Wonderland last year.

I'm a chubby hiker who averages about 2-3mph on flat ground and I hiked the Wonderland in six days carrying a sub 20lb total weight pack. Longest day was 23ish miles and (off the top of my head) 5500-7000 feet of climbing.

The 10-14 day recommendations are directed at people who are carrying 50+ lb rucks or who can't get their butts out of bed before 10am.

Some of the climbs are humbling but based on what you described, you'll be fine on the Wonderland.

I agree with Ian. There shouldn't be anything too dissimilar.
The biggest thing will be where you are approved for campsites… while they try to do their best, I've ended up with interesting itineraries that had really low and really high mileage days included.

what happens in terms of campsites if you go faster or slower than anticipated?

how hammock-able is it?

Not for me this year, but maybe next.

They expect you to stay where they've scheduled you to be. IIRC there is even something on their website explaining what to do if this isn't possible.

FTMP it is very hammock-able, we used hammocks. Bring looooong tree straps.

I had to stop short of our reserved campsite and found a spot at N Puyallup after my daughter sprained her ankle. They're not inhuman but it's best to do your very best to stay in your reserved campsite.

On short days, just find a side trip or lounge around at one of the many scenic areas between campsites.

On long days, just manage your time and figure out what you have to do to schedule your headlamp hiking for some of the less scenic parts.

Edit: I'd like to go back and hike it again with a hammock. Most of the campsites looked fine but there were a couple that would have been tough.

Thanks, I kind of figured the recommended mileage was very conservative. Good to have some verification.

"The 10-14 day recommendations are directed at people who are carrying 50+ lb rucks or who can't get their butts out of bed before 10am."

I am definitely neither of those. I typically carry under 20 pounds (including food, fuel, and water) and am usually up and going at the crack of dawn. I tend to like to go somewhat fast and as light as I can.

I figure that frequent restock points and not needing a bear canister should make it easier than usual to keep the load light.

As I've posted many times, my family did the Wonderland Train in 13 nights and enjoyed every single moment. This is a trail to savor, it is arguably the finest trail in the US. If you hike for the aesthetics and not for speed, then take a real long time to do this hike.

We had 5 mile days that were totally enjoyable, lounging by a river half the day. We were able to spend time blueberry picking, or birdwatching, or dancing with marmots, or whatever we wanted to since we had few time constraints.

You will not regret taking your time on this trail…

Good point Elliott. There were a number of times where I really wished I had more time to sit and enjoy a view or pick more blueberries (the best blueberries I ever had BTW). But, sometimes it's tough to get away for a couple weeks and the shorter itineraries just make more sense.

Kind of like 10% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

Some day I'd like to hike it over two weeks.

What's the best time window for blueberries? Are they throughout?

My summer diet is usually 1/3 blueberries. So if I only have to bring dark chocolate and sharp cheddar, that would significantly reduce my food weight.

I hiked it this year in early September and they were about perfect. >90% of the ones I found were on the west side. Some of the best and thickest were between N. Puyallup and Golden Lakes, with the area around Golden Lakes being some of the thickest patches. The bears we saw were on a mission to fatten up and didn't seem to care we were there but would lazily saunter off after a while of hey-bearing them.

"As I've posted many times, my family did the Wonderland Train in 13 nights and enjoyed every single moment"

I am curious how many days of food you had to carry at a time to do those short days. I really much prefer to limit how many days of food I carry to 2 or 3 when possible. If necessary I sometimes carry 4 days of food, but avoid carrying 5 or more days of food if at all possible.

Nothing wrong with taking your time. If that pace suits you I am not one to knock it, but I find that I like to enjoy the trail, the scenery, and the wildlife while I am on the move and prefer not to sit around in one place very much. I tend to be hiking at dawn and hike until early evening at an easy pace and with short breaks interspersed throughout.

Ten days is plenty for an enjoyable pace around the mountain.

Good luck getting a permit. Our local local papers – without fail – write up a glowing article around march 11th about how awesome the Wonderland trail is and how it is free to apply. The rangers get around 1500 applications and rising every year.

Consider simply showing up for a walk up permit. many people get theirs that way. Be prepared to be flexible and camp onsite until you get your itinerary. You will also have to spend a day dropping your supplies off around the mountain.

I have gotten walk up permits in Yosemite and it really wasn't much hassle. I figure odds are excellent if I arrive on M-TH and am willing to hang a day (or two) if I don't get a permit right away. I am guessing the Wonderland trail isn't much (any?) worse than the JMT which is also very popular. Is that a reasonable assumption?

I will apply for an August or September permit in March and hope to not have to rely on a walk up, but don't think I will sweat it if I need to rely on getting a walk up permit.

I hiked the JMT a few years ago maxing around a 50 lbs pack and took 19 days. I found it strenuous but very manageable and actually ended up ahead of schedule by the end. I did the Wonderland Trail in 9 days in October last year with no resupplies, starting with a 35 lb pack and found it much harder. The grades are much steeper than the JMT and you are always going either up or down. The downhills reminded me of the perpetual drop down to the Woods Creek bridge, except they were pretty much every day. We were a bit rushed given the short days that late in the season, but I think 10 days is very doable with the longer summer days.

"I have gotten walk up permits in Yosemite and it really wasn't much hassle. I figure odds are excellent if I arrive on M-TH and am willing to hang a day (or two) if I don't get a permit right away. I am guessing the Wonderland trail isn't much (any?) worse than the JMT which is also very popular. Is that a reasonable assumption?"

Yes exactly. Give yourself a few days leeway to loiter onsite and to drop off supplies. Word is that if the rangers are aware you are waiting onsite for a walk up permit and are pleasant and not pushy or entitled, they try hard to help you out.

Whatever you do, do not only rely on getting your permit through the mail, as this is now essentially like winning the lottery.

And who knows, you may get lucky…

I did the walk in thing after it was recommended by several locals. It wasn't a problem at all. Ranger said counter-clockwise from Sunrise gives you the best options, as it offsets the "Clockwise from Longmire" masses. That worked out great.

I like to move all day, carried 15 lbs, and I found 6 days to be more than enough.

Take the Spray Park alternate.

The side trip up Tolmie Peak was worth doing.

Forgot to add, the crowds generally decrease after Labor Day, thus making walk-up permits less of a hassle

Ditto what Ozzy said. Try to reserve your sites but don't sweat it if you don't win the lottery. I've done the walk-up permit thing a couple times. If you're flexible, they will help you get on the trail.

This year we took care of our walk up permits at Longmire and left a bucket with them. We then dropped off our second bucket at white river and started the hike at Mowich. Our first night was at Carbon river which is a fairly easy hike coming from Mowich regardless of which route you take. As mentioned, if you're only going to hike it once, take Spray Park alternate route.

"Give yourself a few days leeway to loiter onsite and to drop off supplies. "

That is one big advantage to being retired. I have no problem hanging out for a few extra days. I'll plan on that if doing a walk up.

"I am curious how many days of food you had to carry at a time to do those short days. I really much prefer to limit how many days of food I carry to 2 or 3 when possible. If necessary I sometimes carry 4 days of food, but avoid carrying 5 or more days of food if at all possible."

We mailed food to two ranger stations, Longmire and Mowich Lake. Thus our longest time between caches was 4 days, and there were five of us to split all tarps and stove. Our packs were pretty light for the time (2006) but we made the mistake of carrying too much water…seems like you cross streams every 20 mins on the Wonderland Trail except in a few sections.

Also, take the Spray Park alternate, as many have suggested.

I actually did the trails in opposite order (Wonderland 2013 and JMT 2014), and I did the JMT at a pretty comparable pace.

The one thing I'd note with the Wonderland is that, as noted above, it is very much a rollercoaster style trail. What this means from a practical standpoint is that the question when planning isn't so much "do I want to go an extra five miles today?" as it is "do I want to add on another 2000-foot climb today?". I don't think that there's a huge difference in difficulty between the two trails, but the difference in flexibility re: campsites does mean that these decisions will come up- on the JMT, you can basically just throw down wherever's usable/legal.

The Wonderland Trail was my first "long-ish" backpacking trip, and I wound up doing an 8-day itinerary (12ish miles a day) because I wasn't sure how I'd hold up hiking day after day. The trip was absolutely magnificent, but I will say that I finished an awful lot of days very, very early in the afternoons, even with late starts- I often started well after 8AM on a lot of days and often hit camp in the 2:00 range. (For perspective, I had enough time to get through 1.5 of the Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) books, which are massive.) The downtime actually was quite enjoyable and led to some of the more fun moments of the hike, but it definitely wasn't terribly taxing.

Finally- this isn't super related to the OP, but I found this planning tool super helpful:

http://www.wonderlandtrailguide.com/wonderland-trail-itinerary-planning/

Willis Wall Multimedia aka Steve Burgess just posted some video of the western portion of the trail for those who are interested. Looks like a good year for a July hike.