Wonderland Trail in late June / early July

[Miner]

I have a reservation to hike the 93 mile Wonderland Trail around Mt Rainer in Washington, June 26 to July 2, starting at White River Campground, on the NE side, going clockwise.

Questions for those who know the area:

1. I’m assuming patchy snow above 5000ft and solid snow above 6000ft, is that a good estimate for this time of year given this years snowfall?  From what I could find online, it seemed like Washington got slightly more snow than normal this year?
2. Would microspikes be good enough or should I bring an ice axe and my Kahtoola K10 crampons?
3. How bad are the mosquitoes going to be lower down?  Should I assume I’ll be hiding behind netting when not hiking?
4. They accept food caches at a few locations but recommend plastic containers due to rodents.  I don’t want to send a bucket since it is way oversized and i don’t want to deal with disposing of it.  Anyone know if I can use a tuperware type container and leave it in a cardboard box to make shipping it easier?  I want something cheap that I can easily throw away since I will not be able to pick up any container after my hike.

 

A few weeks ago I started to look around for a hike around my July 4th holiday weekend.  Remembered the Wonderland Trail had been on my list to do one day ever since I hiked past Mt Rainer on the PCT in 2009.  Looked at the dates available and discovered I had recently missed the start of the open season and all dates from early July through to the last few days of September were taken.  But there were some dates in late June/early July at various campsites.  After spending a few hours trying combinations from every trailhead in both directions, found exactly 1 reasonable itinerary the week before July 4th and reserved it.

I reserved for 2 hikers hoping my friend O’Dark from the PCT will go with me since he will be hiking with me next week on the High Sierra Trail. We will have to see if he hasn’t tried of my company by then and if his girlfriend hasn’t killed him playing racquetball despite him being in his mid to late 50’s (an injured shoulder, bruised ribs, tweaked ankle, all since he met her in January).

This is my itinerary, any comments about it that I should consider?

1. White River CG to Nickel Creek (~15 miles)
2. To Pyramid Lake (~17 miles), though I’m going to try to stop 5 miles early at Cougar Rock Campground.
3. To Devil’s Dream (~2 miles), I had to take this short day to make something work, hence the reason I want to stop early the previous day to make this day longer.
4. To N Puyallup River (~12.5 miles)
5. To S Mowich River (~12 miles), though I’m thinking about going 3.5 miles further to the walk in campground at Mowwich Lake Campground.
6. To Mystic Camp (~17miles), though if I hike further the previous day, this day won’t be so long.
7. Back to my Car at White River Campground (~15.5 miles)

 

[jscott]

It’s been a big snow year, but I can’t speak to conditions at Rainier. When I did part of this route, there was a big wash out on a steep slope that made it into a cliff overlooking a river. It was passible because of bushes and no snow. My point is that sometimes things wash out in winter on this trail which might change calculations about microspikes, etc. I would imaging the latter would be fine, but others may know more.

there’s a ridge leading up to the glacier just west-ish of Mystic Lake that allows some camping. It’s quite spectacular and safe, but there can be the sound of ice and rocks calving off the glacier and tumbling down. that’s a bit unnerving. again, the site itself if safe. Mystic camp is not much to speak of, except the lake itself is magical. You can'[t see it from the camp.

[Link .]

This does not answer your questions but you might find this Stephen Burgess site interesting and or informative Wonderland Trail: Complete Video Series

He has hiked the Wonderland Trail over 30 times (33 as of 2021).2012 when he undertook the enormous and unprecedented task of filming (via time lapse and video) all 101 miles, to include the alternate route over Spray Park, and mapping and filming every backcountry campsite and trail accessible year round water source.

[Frederick Hecht]

I’m planning to fastpack the Wonderland trail July 8 – 10 in three days. If you do the trail when you’ve planned, I’d love to hear conditions (you can email me at [email protected]).  I was just up near Mt. Adams June 10th and the snowline is around 4,000 feet. I’m guessing it will be a bit below 5,000 feet in most places by the end of June. There is a snow monitor at Paradise near the Wonderland trail at 5,120 feet that you can use to check current snow depth. I think there are about 100 inches still but it doesn’t look like it reading properly today (went up to 238 inches from 101 inches in one hour).

[William Irey]

Can’t deviate from your permit campsite other than front country campgrounds.

[CheerioCoil]

From the NPS web site, there are several bridges that are out and overall conditions above 5000 ft are pretty snowy still. Pyramid Creek, S. Mowich, Stevens Creek, Nisqually River bridges are all heavily damaged/out… It’s probably not going to be a good time. I’m probably canceling my July 4-10 trip at this point. Anybody who is braver than I may be able to snatch it after I cancel in the middle of the week…

[jscott]

I wonder if you could do something like park at Paradise, hike the trail west until a bridge that’s out stops you; hike back (not optimal I know) and then hike south as far as you can, etc. After that you could do the same thing with trailheads from the south of the mountain. It’s possible that you could connect with the road and bus/hitch back to your car in some cases rather than hike back on the same trail.

Jsut throwing this out…I don’t have a map and it may not be worth it. Maybe also depends on if some bridges are damaged but still functional. and how much you’d be in snow.

[CheerioCoil]

In warmer temps, I wouldn’t be too concerned about bridges that are down. With shoes off, right now the rivers and creeks are all ice cold and it’ll take a while to warm up. I know a big part of backpacking is to suck it up but I’m genuinely concerned about safety at over 5000 ft. A lot of unknowns in this case and it’s not wise to go if the planning stage is already this questionable. Double-backing multiple times isn’t an option when there are designated camp sites, that and Steven Canyon Rd will be closed during the first part of this hike.

[DWR D]

There is a reason why the permits were available at that time of year… it’s not optimal conditions that time of year.

Snow is not the only issue. Those bridges being out may be a bigger  problem because the water may be too deep and swift to cross safely.

“there’s a ridge leading up to the glacier just west-ish of Mystic Lake that allows some camping.” Pretty sure this is against the rules. Hikers with a Wonderland permit are not supposed to camp off the Wonderland Trail Camps…

There is a back country ranger number you can call… look on their web page for it… the rangers are very helpful and can clue you in to the actual conditions better than anyone here who has not recently been on the trail

Always assume the mosquitoes will be bad on Rainier.. they may not be, but best to be prepared for it…

Don’t worry about mailing your cache buckets home… the park service will dispose of them for you.. just remove the contents, put in your pack, and leave the buckets… there is usually a stack of them right at the cache location… rangers take care of it…  there is a very specific web page on the park web site that show what they want for a food cache bucket and how to label it… follow it exactly or your cache could be pulled and not their when you arrive… I just drove mine around myself and put them in the cache boxes to that keep the bears out of them… I would not use tupper ware… I used 2 gallon painter buckets with lids… did not need 5 gallon for one person…

“walk in campground at Mowwich Lake Campground.” This is a less than desirable camp as it is  basically a blocked off parking lot just down from an actual parking lot with some tent platforms filled with crushed angular gravel that is not good for the tent floor :((( and lots of tourists walking thru your camp area…

Again… do call the ranger number as they are VERY helpful… and will know the conditions…

 

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