I'm from central California. My wife and I would love to do the 90 mile hike around the base of Rainier. What the heck is the trail called? I cannot find it anywhere. Has anyone done it? Is it worth it? We have done the John Muir trail so I don't think the mileage will be a problem. Is it very hard? When is the best time to go (cause we love wildflowers!)?

The Wonderland Trail!

VERY hard to get trekking permits for it...

yes, it is the wonderland trail. yes, the permits are hard to get. I would imagine this year is already filled up. I believe they take apps for a certain amount of time with a cut off date. Then, they send you what is open for camps. I did it in Sept., the first week. I know folks who did it earlier in the season and had rain for 10 days strait! We did it in 7 (with time to spare and scramble peaks along the way) days and all but one day was sunny and warm but cold nights. The "best" time is really a crap shoot. I would say very late august to early sept is best.

It is not an easy trail as far as trails go. There are days where you loose and gain 8000', if your trip is short. If your trip is long then you can average 4000' days. It is not the miles that kill folks it is the gain and loss. You are climbing up and down steep ridges the entire trip. I believe the gain is over 30,000' total.

Check out the Mt rainier web site for permit and camp plans. There are a couple of small guide books too. It has to be planned according to your camps and permits. You may not get the exact plan you want because they decide for you.

Hint: Pack light and leave camp early, and stay ahead of the others. This will get you to the next camp before others and that way you get the best camp site.
Go clockwise from Longmire

Thanks!

I went in September one time. I went counter-clockwise from Nickel Creek (3385').

It was raining on the day I started out, but the weather can change in a heartbeat.
The highest elevation of the trail is Panhandle Gap at 6,850'. There's a herd of mountain goats here.

I suppose the average time would be 7-10 days to circumvent the mountain.

Average folks do it in 10 -14 days. I remember some of the folks had 50 lb packs! Ours ran from 25 when supplied with food and 20-18 when all the food was gone. I am sure with your age and amount of long distant stuff you have done you could do it in 7 and still have some down time at the end of the days.

if you go from longmire clockwise you can set up a food cache at Mowich and Sunrise.

Couple more Tips: Don't take the low route from Mowich. Take the high route through Spray park and Seattle park. If you take the low route down to Ipsut you get trees and a long way out of the way. Spray park may have snow still in one area that time of year but not much and will be easy to travel. It is a beautiful high alpine meadow. A must see for flowers.

Don't stay at Carbon river camp!! It is a massive blow down with sites tucked into the giant trees laying all over. Push on from mowich to Mystic camp instead.

Pan handle gap may have snow on the north side but there will be a well beaten path in it. Indian bar is a nice stone shelter for camp if you make it there first.

It is a beautiful trip and worth the planning. Oh and the flowers peak in august and fizzle out by mid sept.

Tazz, super legit posts man.

SKI, thanks, but me no "man".

We planned to do it in 1999 but that year was a record year for snow. In mid august there was still 9' of snow covering half of the trail. Did it in 2002 instead. So many tips for the trip, I am sure I will think of more. A wonderful trail that allows one to see every side of Rainier (That's if you have clear weather). One of my favorite backpacking trips ever.

oops. I am sorry...it is more like 22,000 gain if you stay on the trail. When i did it we scrambled up a few peaks along the way, so our gain was 32,000. anyway...sorry.

For those who are disappointed not to get a permit for the Wonderland trail in Mt. Rainier,
and alternate, but just as worthy hike is the Glacier Peak Wilderness. It's a 7-10 day hike depending on
how fast you want to go... but has all the wildflowers, up and down ridges to cross. Plus great views of Glacier Peak all the way around.

I did this hike back in 1979 when the area was first destinated a wilderness.

I'm not aware there are limits as not very many people take this hike. Perhaps times have changed?

billisfree wrote:It's a 7-10 day hike depending on
how fast you want to go...

Watch it ! Are you sure it's not 10-14 days for the average person ???

Of course, if you're trying to set a record, why not do it in 6 days. Does it matter ???

billisfree wrote:For those who are disappointed not to get a permit for the Wonderland trail in Mt. Rainier,
and alternate, but just as worthy hike is the Glacier Peak Wilderness. It's a 7-10 day hike depending on
how fast you want to go... but has all the wildflowers, up and down ridges to cross. Plus great views of Glacier Peak all the way around.

I did this hike back in 1979 when the area was first destinated a wilderness.

I'm not aware there are limits as not very many people take this hike. Perhaps times have changed?

Good suggestion. Leor Pantilat did a 50 mile loop in this area and the photos he posted were really spectacular.

lcarreau wrote:

billisfree wrote:It's a 7-10 day hike depending on
how fast you want to go...

Watch it ! Are you sure it's not 10-14 days for the average person ???

Of course, if you're trying to set a record, why not do it in 6 days. Does it matter ???

My, my, a bit snarky this morning are we Larry? Why would anyone want to rush trips like this? Too many things to see, do and soak in.

Records have been set. many light and fast folks do it in 3-4 days. A friend of mine did it in 4 and walked out with destroyed feet. The record goes to a dude who ran the trail in 28 hrs.

yes Bill that is a great area to put together a loop.

A group of high school kids packed food for a 7-day loop hike - yet took us 9 days because some could not substain a 10-mile day.
It was supposed to be a 50-mile loop around the 10,500 ft Glacier Peak. We were supposed to average 9 miles per day.

We got in so late the first day, we hiked a mile in darkness, and just threw our sleeping bags along the trail and spent the night.



Back then we cut our own firewood, carried no tents. Compared to Mt. Rainier, Glacier Peak area was a "true" wilderness.
No matter how you put it - it takes a day's hike just to reach the loop trail. In our case, we entered from the east
on the White River trail. We were of to a good start on the 2nd day - making 12 miles.



On the 3rd day, weather was clear and nice with fantastic views of alpine country all around. From White Pass we
climbed over Red Pass and descended the White Chuck river to camp at the creek below. It was only a 10 mile hike for the day.







The 4th day we hiked the east side, with some limited view of Kennedy Glacier high above us.
We climbed Glacier Ridge, made the tough climb over over the 6,300ft Fire Creek pass and camped at Mica Lake.
Mica Lake was a cold, desolate camp site... yet had beautiful views toward the north Cascades
including Dome Mountain. We made 8 miles for the day... kinda slowing down.




On the 5th day, we took a long descent to Milk Creek and climbed back up to the top of the
ridge between Milk creek and East Fork Milk Creek. 2,000ft down, 2,000 feet back up - BLAH!
We made about 7 miles for the day. We camped at the then - collasping Vista-Dolly Shelter.




On the 6th day, we went off-trail and climbed Gamma Ridge to the "Great Fill" on the other side.
We enjoyed a fantastic view of the SW side of Glacier Peak. The route was hard and difficult.
Problems with routes, cliffs, broken backpacks, we covered less than 3 miles.





The 7th day, we struggled to cross the "Great Fill" and made poor progress. Some of us
were not very sure-footed on steep, loose sandy rocks and gravel. Once across the
Great Fill, it was an easy stroll down to the Suiattle River. We only made about 4 miles.
We were on our last day of food and still two days away from getting out of this Wilderness.
Our leader made us lay out our food and determine what was left and ensure everybody had enough.
Most of us had hoarded food, so there was little re-distribution of food.






On the 8th day - we started a major push to try to climb over two major mountain passes
and make 25 miles - in TWO days. The Suiattle River is a real wilderness, no bridge over
the river... so we had to test our skills crossing over the LONG fallen log bridge over the raging
creek. In memory of Dave Higgs who is shown crossing the log - would later die in Vietnam.



That's me... climbing over High Pass.

Below: the Tenpeak mountain range must be crossed ahead of us. Tenpeak is the 41st highest mountain
in Washington. We camped for the night on Napeequa River below:


And the 9th day...
A wet rainy day, we ascended the countless switchbacks and crossed Buck Creek pass,
reached our cars at the trailhead - running on empty.


Six of Washington's 100 highest mtns are close by:
12 Tenpeak 9,100 ft
30 Fortress mtn 8674 ft
41 Clark Mtn 8576 ft
52 Buck Mtn 8573 ft
67 Chiwawa Mt 8475 ft

This is God's country - nobody else wants it!

Well put billsfree! Beautiful pictures and an epic sounding trip. Thanks all for your suggestions y'all. I will probably do both the "wonderland trail" and when we get sick of crowds go back and do glacier point wilderness. And yes it truly is God's country. No where is God more apparent then in the wilderness!