The Big Outside Complete Guide to Backpacking the Wonderland Trail in Mount Rainier National Park © 2020 Michael Lanza/The Big Outside All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying or other electronic, digital, or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, contact the publisher at the address below. Michael Lanza/The Big Outside 921 W. Resseguie St. Boise, ID 83702 TheBigOutside.com Hiking and backpacking is a personal choice and requires that YOU understand that you are personally responsible for any actions you may take based on the information in this e-guide. Using any information in this e-guide is your own personal responsibility. Hiking and associated trail activities can be dangerous and can result in injury and/or death. Hiking exposes you to risks, especially in the wilderness, including but not limited to: • Weather conditions such as flash floods, wind, rain, snow and lightning; • Hazardous plants or wild animals; • Your own physical condition, or your own acts or omissions; • Conditions of roads, trails, or terrain; • Accidents and injuries occurring while traveling to or from the hiking areas; • The remoteness of the hiking areas, which may delay rescue and medical treatment; • The distance of the hiking areas from emergency medical facilities and law enforcement personnel. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY: TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, NEITHER MICHAEL LANZA NOR THE BIG OUTSIDE, THEIR AFFILIATES, FAMILY AND FORMER AND CURRENT EMPLOYERS, NOR ANY OTHER PARTY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING OR DELIVERING THIS E-GUIDE IS LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF A USER’S ACCESS TO, OR USE OF THIS E-GUIDE. Cover photo: Jeff Wilhelm and Todd Arndt backpacking through Moraine Park on the Wonderland Trail in Mount Rainier National Park. Title page photo: Jeff Wilhelm enjoying a vista of Mount Rainier from near Skyscraper Mountain on the Wonderland Trail in Mount Rainier National Park. Dear Backpacker, Congratulations, you have just downloaded the most complete guide you’ll find to backpacking the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park, a path that possesses nearly all of the qualities of a great multi-day hike—most conspicuously the countless, inspiring views of glacier-clad, 14,410-foot Mount Rainier. (This photo of me was taken near Skyscraper Mountain on the Wonderland Trail.) I’m confident that, like me, you will consider this trip one of the best you’ve ever taken. This e-guide will show you how to plan and pull off one of “America’s Top 10 Best Backpacking Trips” in way that’s safe, appropriate, and enjoyable for your group, whether it’s highly experienced and fit backpackers pounding out long days or friends or a family following a more leisurely itinerary on all or part of the Wonderland Trail. My recommended Wonderland Trail itinerary—one I believe most backpackers would find perfect—completes a 90.3-mile loop in nine moderate to strenuous days, places you in several of the best backcountry camps along the trail, hits many of the best vistas at ideal times of day, and spreads out the miles and long ascents and descents as evenly as possible. It is slightly shorter than the 93-mile full Wonderland Trail because of a few diversions off it, including a common alternate to one section of the Wonderland on the higher and more-scenic Spray Park Trail. In the pages that follow, I will describe this trip’s character and highlights, and provide details on its total distance and elevation gain and loss, difficulty, and the degree of solitude you can expect to find along it during the peak season. I will give you extensive advice in Section 1 on how to plan this trip, including tips about seasons, getting a permit, travel logistics, gear, and what you need to know regarding safety and other issues specific to this trip. Section 2 lays out a daily primary trip itinerary, with key route details, as well as alternate itineraries for the entire loop or taking shorter backpacking trips on the trail’s best sections. A few points: • I’m a big believer that much of the success of any outdoor adventure is determined before you leave home, so you’ll find abundant information in Section 1: Planning the Trip. I think you will find that my unique and thorough trip- planning advice is what most distinguishes my e-guides from other guides. • I don’t rate trips for quality or scenery. Instead of a dry, numerical rating, this e- guide will describe for you the trip’s unique character. Plus, every trip that I’ve created an e-guide for is excellent and highly recommendable, period. • I don’t provide GPS waypoints or tell you precisely where to take photos because I believe that excessive hand-holding sucks the mystery out of the wilderness and robs you of the joy of discovery. Instead, this e-guide suggests itineraries and describes the various designated camping areas and other highlights, with specific tips on how to maximize enjoyment and safety. • Please be aware of and always follow low-impact backpacking guidelines; learn about them at lnt.org. They ensure that we all have as pristine a wilderness experience as possible. Also, respect park regulations, they exist for good reasons. • Hold down your keyboard’s Control key when clicking on hyperlinks in this e- guide, and the link will open in a new window. If you don’t hold down the Control key, any link will open in the same window. (You could then click the back arrow in the upper left to return to the e-guide.) Alternatively, open this e- guide twice, to keep one copy open while clicking on hyperlinks in the second copy. • If you find any inaccuracies or typos—or to simply drop a note to tell me what you think of this e-guide—please email me at [email protected]. • Lastly, you have purchased one electronic copy of this e-guide for your personal use only. I retain all rights to its content, and I ask you to respect my legal rights and not distribute it by any means or for any purpose, including for illegal profit. Thanks again for purchasing this e-guide. I hope it helps make your backpacking trip on the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier very special. If you would like my personalized trip-planning help, or you have questions about how to safely and successfully pull off this or any trip I’ve written about at my blog, I can help you. See my blog’s Custom Trip Planning page for more details. If you want personalized help with this trip, I will deduct the price of this e-guide from my fee. Please be sure to follow my stories about my adventures at The Big Outside, and join The Big Outside for full access to all stories at my blog. Have fun and be safe out there, Michael Lanza Creator of The Big Outside CLICK HERE NOW for a full menu of my e-guides at The Big Outside. Jeff Wilhelm backpacking the Spray Park Trail in Mount Rainier National Park. Backpacking Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail Location: Mount Rainier National Park, Washington Primary Route Distance: 90.3 miles/145 km (approximately) Approximate Cumulative Elevation Gain and Loss for the entire Wonderland Trail: Over 44,000 feet/13,400m Difficulty of the Wonderland Trail, on a scale of 1 (easiest) to 5 (hardest): 4 Strenuous, with significant elevation gain and loss, steep terrain, possible severe weather (mostly rain or thunderstorms in summer, possibly snow in September and October), and remoteness—but no navigational challenges, elevations over 6,800 feet, or need for technical skills. Lakes and creeks are often frequent along the Wonderland, although you may hike two hours (or more) between water sources on some sections. The trail is well-maintained and well-marked and often consists of a soft treadway of packed dirt in the forest. All significant river and creek crossings have bridges (unless any have recently been damaged or destroyed by high water). Good fitness and intermediate-level backpacking skills and experience recommended. See the Need to Know section below for specific details and my blog story “Training For a Big Hike or Mountain Climb.” Todd Arndt backpacking over Emerald Ridge on the Wonderland Trail. Overview There simply is no multi-day hike in the contiguous United States that compares with the Wonderland Trail around Mount Rainier—in no small part because there’s no mountain in the Lower 48 like Rainier. The third-highest U.S. peak outside Alaska at 14,410 feet, Rainier is the most glaciated in the Lower 48, and ranks third among all U.S. mountains—behind Alaska’s Denali and Hawaii’s Mauna Kea—in topographical prominence, a measure of how high a peak rises above its surroundings, which for Rainier is 13,210 feet. Hiking on the Wonderland Trail, one repeatedly sees Rainier fill the horizon at a seemingly unbelievable scale, a sight always thrilling and inspiring. The wonders of the Wonderland extend beyond vistas of Rainier. You’ll walk through meadows choked with an abundance and variety of wildflowers matched in few places and cross numerous crystalline creeks and frothing rivers gray with “glacial flour.” Roaring waterfalls leap off cliffs and cascades plunge for hundreds of feet.