View Full Version : Wonderland Trail
I was poking around on the NPS website for the Wonderland Trail today. http://www.nps.gov/mora/trail/wonder.htm
Then I see the trail mentioned in another thread. Man, I'd really like to do this in '06. Anyone know the best source of info for this trail?
Jeffrey Hunter
Pencil Pusher
05-24-2005, 19:35
Ask and ye shall receive (compliments of Google):
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=wonderland+trail
I've only hiked a portion of it in the north, and a little in the south. Elevation change is pretty extreme. 95 miles or so in length. Permits can be a little tough. Supposedly, you can cache food at a ranger station, but this might have changed in the last few years. Backpacker had two stories on it a couple of years ago. In one of them, it won the "Best Long Trail" award, but it is in dispute as to whether or not it really qualifies as a long trail. I might cancel classes on a Friday or Monday in the early fall and give it a shot as a 3 day hike.
tlbj6142
05-24-2005, 21:12
Supposedly, you can cache food at a ranger station, but this might have changed in the last few years.According to the above NPS link, you can still cache supplies at several stations around the park.
Elevation change is pretty extreme.Like how?
I did the WT in 2003 and thought it was the best trail I have ever hiked. You have a very short window to do the hike due to the snow still being on the trail for most of the summer and late fall. I did it in Aug and I think Sep is a good month as well to do it. You should make reservations early for the campsites and you have three opportunities for mail drops (three ranger stations). Just buy those plastic buckets at the Depot and duck tape your food in there. I'll write more later.
I did the WT in 2003 and thought it was the best trail I have ever hiked. You have a very short window to do the hike due to the snow still being on the trail for most of the summer and late fall. I did it in Aug and I think Sep is a good month as well to do it. You should make reservations early for the campsites and you have three opportunities for mail drops (three ranger stations). Just buy those plastic buckets at the Depot and duck tape your food in there. I'll write more later.
Thanks Garlic. That's what I'm looking for. How many days did it take you? How many other folks did you see out on the trail?
It took me 10 days and I started at Carbon River Glacier Ranger Station and had two mail drops (went arou8nd the day before and dropped them all off myself - You can mail them I think). Then went clockwise around the mtn. First toward Summerland, then Longmire. You will trek through snow on the east side arouind Indian Run Shelter. I highly recommend you buy the Guide to the WT. It helped me on the planning.
Oh - I saw a few people doing it, but out west it's less crowded.
I highly recommend you buy the Guide to the WT. It helped me on the planning.
Guide to the Wonderland Trail? Who publishes it? I can only find info in the Thru Hikers Guide to America.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1880405091/qid=1117023129/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-9470169-5167828
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1880405091/qid=1117023129/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-9470169-5167828
Thanks Garlic.
.Like how?
Something like 20000 feet.
tlbj6142
05-25-2005, 14:40
Something like 20000 feet.I looked at the park map and noticed there are probably quite a few short up/downs. They must add up.
Don't forget to bag the mountain sometime during the hike or at the end! :sun
Created by someone that was going to hike the WT in 2 days!
WT Profile (http://www.capitolpeakultras.com/wonderprofiles.htm)
Alligator
05-25-2005, 15:49
If the WT doesn't take you through the Grove of the Patriarchs, plan on stopping there too. Magnificent!
You may want to bring a GPS and extra batteries. I used it quite a bit and plugged in my campsites so I knew the distance I had left. For safety reasons, you will need it as well. Also a good watyer filter - do not filter water from the glacier melt - it'll clog your filter up. Filter water at the water sources near the campsites.
tlbj6142
05-26-2005, 09:06
Created by someone that was going to hike the WT in 2 days!
WT Profile (http://www.capitolpeakultras.com/wonderprofiles.htm)Thanks. Wonder what the footpath is like. Is it a rock-n-root hell like the northern thrid of the AT? Or is a bit more of a level treadway?
Pencil Pusher
05-26-2005, 13:28
I must say that WT Profile is rather odd. Notice the graph does not cover all the miles and how differing the altitude gains are? The top graph shows elevation gain of 11,7 and the bottom 14,7. Though it is funny if one used those numbers... you could claim a net loss of a hundred feet or so for the entire trail, or create some sandbagging statement to that effect.
I must say that WT Profile is rather odd.
Yeah it's odd, it only adds up to 70 something miles of a 93 mile trail. This further proves you can't believe everything you see and read on the internet.
Since you live so close, why not go on a fact finding tour?
Pencil Pusher
05-26-2005, 18:55
Yeah it's odd, it only adds up to 70 something miles of a 93 mile trail. This further proves you can't believe everything you see and read on the internet.
Since you live so close, why not go on a fact finding tour?
Eh...uh... damn. Well my feedback would be more qualitative than quantitative, so don't expect ounces or net gain yadda yadda. I have taken drinks sans filter or iodine from a few of the surrounding runoff streams to no ill effect. And since Chris mentioned doing this in three days, I told him I'd go if he'd be up for trying it in two. So mid-September is about the earliest you'll get an answer, unless I get fired or quit my j-o-b...
Sandra and I have hiked portions of the Wonderland Trail and have some information on it. Warren Devine hiked part of the Wonderland Trail last summer. Warren will be at Cumberland Trail's Big Dig this week. We will be there too. Drop by and we can tell you our experiences in Mt Rainier.
Yeah it's odd, it only adds up to 70 something miles of a 93 mile trail. This further proves you can't believe everything you see and read on the internet.Not so fast, grasshopper.
When you run a cursor over an electronic topo, it never comes out as long ast hte actual trail because small twists and turns of the trail aren't always captured on the map and even the ones on the map may be cut straight by the cursor. Generally, my experience is that the shortening factor is .8, but that of course would vary by how twisty the trail is.
Where the hell is the edit button? I never see mistakes until AFTER the message is posted!
"ast hte"
should have been:
"as the"
A must read guidebook is Bette filley's "Discovering the Wonders Of the Wonderland Trail" That is the best Source of info for planning and getting an Idea of what you are in for. The wonderland trail pieces that I have been on on the south and west sides of the mountain are excellently maintained and pristine. with great hiking conditions on the slices I have hiked. Mt Rainier is a spectacular mountain and you will never get tired of looking at it. It Is alot of Ups and downs, in fact most of these "hills" are what people on the east coast consider mountains, Big Mountains. They go all the way around Mt. Rainier radiating out. There is plenty of water. you'd have to check on river crossings just before your trip because every year snowmelt wipes out the bridges and they have to be rebuilt or forded. As for the garden of the patriachs , I wouldn't "blue blaze"there, it's quite out of the way (from the WT , it's right off the road in ohanepecosh and its real easy to get to ). Also it's only about 2 miles long and there are only really a couple of trees there that are bigger than anything you would see on the south side in the ohanepecosh area . there will be lots and lots of HUUUUGE trees on the WT. The trees aren't like on the East coast , somthing that gets in the way of the scenery, sometimes they are the scenery. Grove of the Patriarchs is definitely a must see but it's a real real quick dayhike. you would have a hard time making 2 hrs out of it. I spent an hour on it and was looking through my audobon guidebook most of the time. you will spend alot of time stretching your neck back and scooping your jaw up. One of the pain in the ass things about the WT is the whole permit system. Get the book by Finney it explains how to do it. Permits are a fact of life out west at the really really nice places especially where they want to minimize the hiker footprint on a fragile ecosytem. Some things that may also surprise you out west . forget about campfires , we just don't have them and we sure don't miss them. Camp fires are banned parkwide except in designated campgrounds , I.E. car camping sites. SOmebody else mentioned "bagging the summit" while you were here. If you have plans on that then thats a whole nother permit system . and you won't get a solo climbing permit unless the park superintendant issues it. keep in mind that it's not just a matter of turning right on a day you are feeling strong and walking up the hill. it's over 16,000 ft! there is snow on it year round. it's an active volcano , it has the most glaciation anywhere in the continental US it GENERATES it's own weather. you need specialized equipment and training to do it safely. If you show up at Camp Muir without a permit , and the right gear you're gonna get turned around by the rangers up there and probably get quite embarrassed in the process. The NPS has this system in place to keep Mt Rainier a safe mountain to climb , tons of people climb it every year that have never been above 10 grand before but they usually use a guide service. Food caches are how people do the trail . There are no "Towns" to cross . the entire trail is in the national park. there are a few options on where you can schedule drops at .all of them dicussed in finneys book. one thing unique to the trail is that these drops have to be in "Rodent Proof containers" you can't just mail Lipton noodles in a box to a drop. the container of preference is a plastic bucket that you can get at a hardware store , you don't need to get 5 bear canisters. Also one last thing. If you plan on stealth camping on the WT , good freakin luck. This is the Pacific Northwest , it's really hard to stealth camp because of the vegetation and and terrain . you'll have to work extremely hard to find someplace flat enough. Also above 5000 ft you must camp at a designated camp site , you see we have actual alpine species of plants not just some dwarfed trees that grow really slow. we have fragile and slow growing alpine species of plants and most of them endangered. Stomping through a meadow off trail is just bad manners and pitching a tent anywhere you please in an alpine meadow is an outrage.
I know it seems like I am dwelling on the hardstuff but I am just trying to soften the blow. I used to live on the east coast and had a little hiking culture shock when I got out here. don't let the small permit stuff discourage you. Just be Early ! like the day they open next year and FAX! if youre flexible you'll have no problem. most people take between 9 and 14 days to do it. people I know that did it in 3 days (2 army rangers) said that they developed whole new levels of profanity while hiking the WT. some others I know considered the 5 days they did tiring and took away from the experience. people I know that took 7 days thru 9 days had a really good time but they knew the Park very well and knew what to expect. If you are experienced and hiking and are fit and up for a challenge it is definitely doable in 7-9 days . Just don't be overly ambitous about mileage. The Pacific Northwest can be brutal.
A quick computation has the Wonderland Trail on par with the Long Trail as far as vertical gain for the lenght of the respective trails.
WT 23,000 ft- 93 miles=247 ft per mile.
LT 66,500 ft- 273 miles=243 ft per mile.