Wonderland Trail in 4 days
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Tom and I put in for permits for the Wonderland Trail in March and were unsuccessful, they eliminated walk up permits and did another drawing, came up empty again (despite mid September and mid week dates). Got lucky and talked to a very nice ranger over the phone and with a slight change to our itinerary, secured a permit :)
With a full days drive on each end and both of us shy of available time, we decided to give it a whirl in 4 days. We’ve been doing a fair number of 20+ mile/day trips, but none with this much ascent/descent- roughly 27,000′ (we decided on the Spray Park alternate to take in more high country, at the cost of more climbing).
When we drove over on Monday (9/16) we drove almost entirely in smoke from Missoula all the way to the White River campground- not overly encouraging to say the least. But upon rising (early) I saw stars above and had some renewed hope. A big climb right out of the chute (which would be almost everyday) and we arrived in the Berkeley Park area to clear skies (save Rainier itself with some cloud cover). This was a gorgeous area and well worth more exploring in the future.
We soaked in some great views, but were soon descending quickly (losing preciously gains elevation) down Granite Ck and around Winthrop Glacier. The glaciers around Rainier are massive and extend miles downward, covered with rock and dirt and to the untrained eye, simply a finger ridge. But water rushing out near the bottom reaches reveals their true nature.
We quickly learned with every descent, there followed a tough ascent. Up to Mystic Lake we headed and took a much deserved lunch break. Met a few different folks that were headed in the opposite direction (it became evident over the next couple of days that the most popular way was to travel clockwise). When talked turned to logistics, we got some odd looks when they discovered we were attempting the trip in four days :). Interestingly, we would end up meeting a couple of these folks again later in our trip.
A short climb and a loooong descent, found us traversing around the Carbon Glacier and across the Carbon River.
My first suspension bridge crossing. The bridge was rocking back and forth and up and down, I was certain Tom was following closely behind me jumping up and down. When I reached the other side I saw Tom instead waiting patiently for me to finish crossing- yikes!
As mentioned above, we were taking the Spray alternative- heck it’s only 5 1/2 miles :) This was a tough climb! ~3400′ of gain in 5 miles, relentless.
Sadly on our climb up the smoke started to filter back in, I’m sure we missed some stunning views on top. But still, the views we had weren’t too bad.
AND the upper mile of trail was loaded with blueberries!
We decided supper was in order when we reached the top. Our secret weapon visible sitting on the rock- Fritos!
A steep descent had us headed for our first camp at Eagle’s Roost. We decided to take a short detour to Spray Falls, definitely worth it!
We arrived at Eagle’s Roost just in time to don headlamps to setup our shelters.
Day one done- 25 miles and ~ 7400′ of gain.
We woke early, eating breakfast and breaking camp with lamps on. Eagle’s Roost was definitely a misnomer, decent site, but tucked into the trees w/ no view whatsoever- no eagle would be roosting there :)
Further descent down into the Mowich drainage, first crossing the North Mowich River
and then with information from the ranger we met on the trail, we knew the South Mowich bridge was blown out and instead follow marking ribbon to a natural bridge (downed tree)
What goes down, must go up (on the Wonderland anyways)- long climb up to the Golden Lakes area where we grabbed lunch near a patrol cabin that was getting a facelift.
I should mention that the smoke while not thick, was definitely back. Obstructing any longer views.
We climbed a bit more than dropped again towards the North Puyallup River. We actually enjoyed a couple of miles relatively even terrain, sidehilling through some neat PNW old growth forest.
And then another another long climb up to Aurora Lake and our next camp, Klapatche Park. We had gotten information that Aurora Lake was now dry and to water up earlier, which we did. We made camp before nightfall which was kind of nice. Found a couple of sites, setup shelters and ate much anticipated supper :)
I’m using a TarpTent Aeon Li, Tom a Zpacks Hexamid
After supper and chores I walked towards the lake (dry lake) and was rewarded with a view (albeit hazy) of Rainier
Day two in the books, 22 miles and ~6300′ of gain.
We’re both early risers and were up well before light, eat breakfast, broke camp and hit the trail with lamps on. Just as it was getting daylight, we were descending a little finger below St Andrew’s Lake and chased a blueberry eating black bear off the trail. This was a pretty decent sized black bear, probably pushing the 300 lb mark- evidently good calories in blueberries :)
More descent, now towards the South Puyallup River. Followed by a steep ascent towards the Tahoma Glacier. This was really nice country alpine country (evidently mountain goats thought so as well) and another area I want to revisit.
We dropped steeply to Tahoma Ck and then as predicted- a steep climb towards Mirror Lakes and Indian Henry’s hunting ground. Cool patrol cabin up top.
We dropped into Devil’s Dream Ck and took a lunch break in the shade. There is a campsite here, but in September anyways, no water very close. Few more drops and a few more climbs and we were headed for Longmire. Just outside of Longmire, we met another ranger and asked if there was any chance of changing our camp tonight from Snow Lake to Maple Ck. Snow Lake is off the Wonderland and roughly a 3.5 mile detour, Maple Ck was further, but kept us on the trail which would help significantly the next day. He said there was one site open and was nice enough to change our itinerary! Maple Ck here we come.
The area around Longmire wasn’t overly exciting, mostly due to the road being close by. We put it in overdrive as we still had a long way to go to Maple Ck. At some point, I got behind Tom a good bit and he didn’t notice when he took a short detour to a waterfall (thinking I was right behind him). Unbeknownst to me, I kept on trucking thinking Tom was still ahead of me. Thinking I would catch up him to on a downhill stretch and not, I kicked in another notch. Went by reflection Lake and Louise Lake and still no Tom- hmmm? I only had one more notch to kick in, so I did. A very steep descent into Steven’s Ck and no sight of him. At dusk I hit the Maple Ck campsite and was greeted not by Tom, but by a gal bathing in the creek! She wasn’t shy and we had a short conversation while she continued to bath. I checked all the sites and no Tom and indeed there was only one site left (unlike the previous two nights where there were only one party at each site).
I was dead on my feet and got my shelter setup and supper going, just before dark. Tom then rolled in and we discovered our snafu. Tom said I was chasing a ghost, I said he was chasing a guy, chasing a ghost :)
Day three in the books, 29 miles 6200′ of gain- phew!
As on previous days we were up in the dark and on the trail with lamps on. We had a long day ahead of us and a lot of climbing, so we kicked it into gear. We were advised to water up at Nickel Ck as it was a long stretch without water, that was very accurate. We climbed steeply and began to notice that it was smoke obscuring our view, but fog. We climbed a steep, long finger above Nickel Ck. I commented that we had seen a lot of wildlife, but no elk. Probably a minute or two later, I saw fresh elk tracks and then we had bulls bugling on both sides of the ridge, pretty darn cool! The higher we got, the more the fog was moving around- first obscuring a view and then revealing it, only to obscure it again.
We dropped down towards Indian Bar and found a great spot to eat lunch. We had been in a lot of nice country, but have to say this was the nicest.
The group site at Indian Bar is an old rock cabin and they actually have wooden bunks in it, not a bad place to spend the night.
The climb out of Indian Bar was tough, tiptoe steep in places, but the views….
At one juncture we spotted 20+ goats on a steep, grassy knoll. The basins below looked very elky and with time I’m sure we could have found some.
We went through Panhandle Gap on our way to Summerland.
Summerland also has a neat group site, no bunks, but a nice roomy wooden floor
We weren’t a couple of hundred yards from Summerland when it started to rain (well actually gropple at first). This wasn’t a quick Montana afternoon storm rolling through, this was a honest and goodness set in hard rain! We quickly donned our rain gear and headed down Fryingpan Ck and a good clip. The heavy rain kept me interested in making good time, evidently Tom too, because we were flying down the trail :). As we neared the White River there was a sign advising traveling the last couple of miles on the road due to severe conditions crossing the White. Not sure why road miles are so much slower and longer (it seems), but eventually we made it to the campground- 23 miles and 6800′ of gain to finish our last day.
On our travel home the next day, were in rain most of the way and all the thick smoke from days earlier, was gone- nice way to finish up a trip.
Thanks for reading.
Plain = ‘secret weapon’?? Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.
Say hello to my little friend.
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