Wonderland Trail

The Wonderland Trail is about 93 miles long and goes all the way around Mount Rainier inside Mount Rainier National Park. The Park Service calls it a strenuous hike: about 27,000 feet of climbing and 27,000 feet of descent, through lowland forest, valleys and high alpine country. It is typically mostly snow-free from mid-July through the end of September. In an average snow year the park says it is not advisable to start before mid- to late July, because earlier trips call for ice-axe self-arrest, expert navigation and fording dangerous glaciated rivers. In some years September can bring snow to the high country. You can hike it either clockwise or counter-clockwise. A wilderness permit is required for every overnight stay in the park, and full-loop hikers may camp only in designated camps, at the camp named on the permit for that night. The loop has eighteen trailside wilderness camps, plus three non-wilderness campgrounds; Cougar Rock must be reserved separately on Recreation.gov. Cross-country camping is not allowed on a full circuit, and there is no camping at Longmire. An individual site holds a party of up to five. Not every camp has a group site, so a party of 6 to 12 needs camps that do. About two thirds of summer permits can be reserved ahead on Recreation.gov, and reservations must be made at least two days before you start. The park runs an optional early-access lottery for Wonderland hikers. It opens in February each year, and winners get an access window in March or April. The park says it is unlikely you can build a full-loop itinerary at the general on-sale, and it encourages Wonderland hikers to enter the lottery. By its own count, about 600 Wonderland trips can be reserved for July through September, and about 300 more go out first-come, first-served. Recreation.gov will not book camps more than 17.5 miles apart; for a longer itinerary or a camp not shown online, call the Wilderness Information Center. A reservation is good only for the camps and nights booked on it. Walk-up permits are handed out in person at a Wilderness Information Center no earlier than one day before your start. They cannot be issued by phone, and the park suggests arriving before the center opens on the day before you want to start. Check Recreation.gov first: camps with walk-up space show a W and full camps show 0. Come with an itinerary in mind, because the park will not plan the trip for you, and being first in line is no guarantee. A midweek start helps. One permit covers up to 13 nights. Reserved permits must be picked up in person by the person named on the reservation, no sooner than the day before your start. In summer that means the Longmire, Paradise or White River Wilderness Information Center; the Jackson Visitor Center does not issue wilderness permits in summer. The ranger will confirm your photo ID, an emergency contact who is not on the trip, and the details of any car you leave in the park. The park cancels a reservation if you are not there by noon on the day your trip begins. A park entrance fee applies on top of the permit. Check Recreation.gov for the current dates. The park warns that hiking 93 miles on flat ground is far easier than climbing with a full pack day after day, and that it often sees hikers going beyond their skill level. Pick camp distances you know you can hike day after day. River crossings can wash out and leave you stranded on one side, so cross early in the day when the water is lowest. Log footbridges lost to fall and winter storms are not replaced until the next spring or summer. Debris flows, glacial outburst floods and rockfall can happen with little warning, and any glacially fed river in the park can carry a debris flow. If you are near a river and see the water rise fast, feel the ground shake for a long time, or hear a roar from up the valley, move quickly to higher ground; 160 feet or more above the river should be safe. Fires, pets and bicycles are not allowed in the backcountry. Every camp has a nearby water source, primitive toilets, marked sites and food storage poles for hanging food and garbage. The park says to boil or otherwise treat all water before drinking. For resupply, the park lets you cache food from July to September in a plastic container, up to five 5-gallon containers per group at each location. Each container needs a printed label with the permit holder's name, the pickup location, the pickup date and the permit number. You can mail it or drop it off. Placing caches is up to you: the park has no shuttle to carry them and does not move them between locations. If you arrive the day your trip starts and need to place caches, make the first night a short one. Food storage is inside the Longmire Wilderness Information Center and in a bin at White River Campground. The Postal Service no longer delivers to Longmire, so a mailed Longmire cache has to go by UPS or FedEx. White River caches are mailed to the White River Wilderness Information Center, and rangers take them to the campground; there is no pickup at the White River center itself, which is miles from the trail. Mail a cache so it arrives at least two weeks before you need it; if your trip starts in under two weeks, the park recommends you deliver it by hand. Longmire caches go in and come out between 7:30 am and 5:00 pm. Unused caches are not mailed back. Fuel cannot be mailed or packed in a food cache; bring it in person to the fuel locker at the Longmire center. The park says the only places in the park to buy basic supplies are the General Store at Longmire and the Day Lodge at Sunrise, if they are open. Before you plan a cache or a start at Mowich Lake or Carbon River, check the Road Status page and the food caching page. The park says not to send caches to Mowich Lake while the area has no road access, and it cannot return caches sent to Carbon. Fire can also close sections of the loop. Year-round access to the park is on SR 706 to the Nisqually Entrance in the southwest corner. The park lists trailheads at Longmire, Mowich Lake, Sunrise, White River Campground, Box Canyon, Reflection Lakes, Narada Falls and Cougar Rock Campground. On sunny summer weekends parking can be hard or impossible to find at Paradise, Sunrise and the trailheads between Longmire and Paradise, so expect long waits at the entrances and full lots. Before you go, check the park's Wilderness Alerts page, the Road Status page and the Trails and Backcountry Camp Conditions page, which is updated in detail only in summer. Longmire Wilderness Information Center is generally open late May through mid-October. Its number is (360) 569-6650.