The Wonderland Trail

I was fortunate to thru-hike the Wonderland in 2009. I took five days and I have to agree that it is quite simply stunning in every way and definitely worth the effort. Having done it once, I have a better idea of the "best" campsites but there really aren't any bad campsites. Go light but bring rain gear. Great pictures.

Nice report. We had a great day hike from Lake Mowich to the Tolmie Peak lookout in early September (http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/tolmie-peak). In fact, my current avatar was taken from the lookout. There are some snowshoe trips possible as a winter option too: http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/seasonal-hikes/hp/go-hiking/hikes/mowich-lake

The reservation system for the WT can be complex, but it keeps the traffic down and improves the experience. It is possible to get walk-up permits, but it is a dice roll. Also, keep in mind that sections of the trail are often snowbound into July.

thanks

it's on my bucket list for either a two or three day run/hike- looks absolutely gorgeous!

The food cache sites are Longmire, Mowich Lake, Sunrise Visitor Center, and White River Ranger Station.

From the horse's mouth: http://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/caching-food-and-fuel.htm

You have to catch Longmire when it's open so make sure you time it right if you pick up your food there.

There's a food box at Mowich Lake. The box fills up quick and they don't like to drop your bucket off there until right before you are supposed to pick it up. The Carbon River Ranger Station is responsible for this food box so make sure you stay in constant contact with them to let them know when you intend to pick it up. It should be marked on your bucket when you mail it so this is more directed at those who have to reschedule their hike (like I did) or mail it in anticipation of getting a walk up permit.

Sunrise is a popular food cache because they have a cafeteria and it's a great place to grab a burger. The only problem is that like Mowich, the box fills up quick so they keep the overflow in the ranger's office which is below the snack bar. I won't bore you with the details but I had to reschedule my hike. Even though I called them in advance and the rangers at Longmire assured me that my food bucket would be available in the box, it wasn't. The ranger's office is only used on a as needed basis and was empty when I tried to retrieve my bucket. There was plenty of food in the hungry hikers box if I would have needed it. I was fortunate that there was a ranger making an unscheduled stop who was able to get my bucket.

White River campground is a couple miles downhill from Sunrise. They have a staffed ranger station there so there's a really good chance that you can talk to NPS staff if you don't find your bucket in the food box. I'm going to use this for my cache site next year instead of Sunrise.

I recommend the following books and videos for those who like to research their hikes.

Hiking the Wonderland Trail
Author: Tami Asars
Published 2012
ISBN# 9781594856549

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Chapter 1 covers weather conditions, bears, rodents, etc.
Chapter 2 covers permits, food/fuel caching, and other topics like LNT that most BPLers should be knowledgable of
Chapter 3 discusses start points and alternate routes

The next four chapters will explain trail conditions as if you are starting at Longmire and hiking in a clockwise direction
Chapter 4 west side
Chapter 5 north side
Chapter 6 east side
Chapter 7 south side

Chapter 8 covers section hiking the Wonderland and hiking the northern and eastside loops.

Appendixes covers possible itineraries, camp to camp elevation gains and losses (carried a copy with me on the trail), camps, and resources.

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Discovering the Wonders of the Wonderland Trail
Author: Bette Filley
Published 1998
ISBN# 1880405091

There's a lot of overlap between both of these books but I'd recommend reading both of them. Discovering the Wonders of the Wonderland Trail has some nice information about the variety of volcanic ash and soil you will encounter and a cliffs notes rundown on the geology surrounding Rainier.

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Willis Wall Media (aka Steve Burgess)
URL: http://www.williswall.com/filming-the-trail/

Steve Burgess is not only a Gossamer Gear Trail Ambassador, a Wonderland Trail subject matter expert, but he is a BPL member as well. The quality of his videos are excellent and well worth the low price.

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I did the Wonderland Trail in mid-September of this year with a couple of fellow BPLers. We did it in 6 days, starting at Mowich Lake and caching food at Longmire and White River. The food caching went smoothly and was awesome, my pack never topped 15 pounds including consumables and a liter of water. A good thing too, it was pretty physically demanding. We had warm sunny weather, rain, hail, and snow, with temps from the upper 70's to the 20's. The gear, wisdom and tips I have picked up here at BPL really helped make it a safe and comfortable experience. My fellow BPL partners were inspirational, supportive and helpful.

Good campsites: Mystic Lake; but here's the deal. You can go just past the lake and camp on a ridge overlooking a glacier…it's truly spectacular, fronting the mountain. The only thing is, there's a lot of rock/icefall going on. It's not dangerous at all, but the sound is a bit unsettling. I didn't camp there myself but wish that I had after seeing the site. It's limited and sort of kept under wraps; you might have to ask about it.

"Do any of the campsites have trees to pitch a rain tarp with?"

I've only camped at 5 of the campsites and walked through a few others. Trees were plentiful and I doubt you'd have problems hanging a tarp.

I keep hearing rumors that you aren't supposed to tie anything to a tree at Rainier NP (which is why I didn't go the hammock route) but I saw people tying tarps to trees; I've yet to see an official policy on this.

Are there any public transportation options available between seatac and the park?

We stayed at Klaptche Park, Paradise River, Indian Bar, Sunrise, and Carbon River. Klaptche Park was very nice and I had nice Mountain views out of my shelter. Indian Bar and Sunrise are also nice. Paradise River was OK, Carbon River sucked. If I could do it over, I would have stayed at Dick Creek instead of Carbon River. They are close and Dick Creek has a great view of the Carbon River Valley.