Begin at the beginning and go on...

Of all the trails one can backpack in the Pacific Northwest, the route that is quintessentially Washingtonian is the Wonderland Trail, which circumscribes the entire picturesque Mt. Rainier. At about 93-miles, it's a longer multi-day trail that can be done by some determined people in as little as three days and as leisurely as fifteen by those who are lucky enough to receive the right permits. Gaining an accumulated total of some 22,000 feet, the Wonderland is sometimes used as training for the 14,411' tall Rainier, and, given the variety of views from lush flowered valleys, huckleberry studded forests, and enduring snow fields, hiking here means monotony is never a concern.

I became interested in the trail during the summer of 2009, when I picked up a copy of Bette Filley's guidebook (Discovering the Wonders of the Wonderland Trail: Encircling Mount Rainier) at a local library. Although my hiking experience had consisted of day hikes up and down the I-90 corridor with small backpacks weighing fewer than ten pounds, I felt that the Wonderland was a 'reasonable' hike with a plethora of potential sights and experiences to be had. I read the old edition cover to cover and felt perfectly able to deal with whatever the trail could throw at me. One thing to realize, if you are an inexperienced backpacker like I was, is that reading about elevation gains and mileage is significantly easier than actually conquering the distance with weight strapped to your backside. Although this seems plain as day, I say it with only minimal sarcasm because as honest as Filley's trail book is, backpacking the Wonderland feels more difficult than you'd expect if you carry 40+ pounds.

This doesn't mean that the trail is unforgiving – there are a number of opportunities to turn off the trail if necessary due to illness, fatigue, or injury. Mowich Lake, White River, Sunrise, Paradise, and Longmire all provide access to the road, and ranger stations are available along the trail for weather reports and chats. There are campgrounds spaced approximately every six miles that can be used if you have the appropriate permit. Lakes and rivers are bountiful before the heat of September and their use as drinking sources are really pleasant with a reliable filtering system (note: don't skimp on your filtration devices! There is no access to purified water on the trail and ‘beaver fever’ is something that can bring a trip to a premature, disastrous halt). The wildflowers were bursting at lower elevations like Spray Park during our early August trek but this year's late summer meant that places like Summer Land were predominately emerald rather than faceted with jewel tones. We were able to see plenty of wildlife, too, with marmots, elk, deer, ptarmigans, black bears, and frogs along the way. We were told there were mountain goats stalking us, but we never had the opportunity to spot their herds (see Day 9).

We were actually quite lucky to get permits at all for this popular time of year. I submitted a permit request on the first day the reservations were accepted by fax but didn't get anything (the permit requests are not filed in the order received during the first few weeks), which actually turned out to be advantageous for us. Initially I had planned for a group of three starting at Mowich Lake Campground and working clockwise around the trail, but we ended up getting a walk-in permit at 7:30 am on a Monday morning at the White River ranger station and starting the trail on the same day. The downside of this was that our party had lost a person because of the uncertainty of permits, but our starting point changed to Longmire which, in our case, eventually meant that we avoided almost all of the rainy weather. The change also meant we could cache our supplemental food buckets at White River campground but carry seven days worth of food to begin with… bringing our packs to about 45 pounds each (I had hoped for a max of 35! Ha!).

Heading clockwise from Longmire brought us to the most difficult trail sections first. I had originally planned to build towards this section like Bette recommends, but we threw ourselves in and decided to take the challenge willingly. Katie and I laughed at what we thought was an overly optimistic ranger’s interpretation of our abilities – a fifteen mile day after 3 consecutive six mile days along Rampart Ridge and Emerald Ridge; snow fields at Spray Park (rather than the steady forest of Ipsut Creek) – but it was honestly a relief getting over the ‘difficult’ part first and being inspired by the amazing views on the west side. Stopping at Mowich Lake rather than starting at it was actually advantageous to us in other ways as well (see Day 4).

What follows here are my free form journal entries from every evening during our excursion. Personal details are withheld but the rest is true to life. For those interested in the Wonderland Trail, this isn't intended to substitute a guidebook or actual trail experience and shouldn't be used as such. What I hope any reader will attain is a sense of the trail from the mind of a mostly prepared, multi-day hiking novice and convince those who are in the position I was in of the worth of the experience by showing the reality of backpacking the entire Wonderland Trail.