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My friend and I were hoping to do the Wonderland Trail in late August but our permit apps were rejected. They had 1000 applications submitted in the two week open window in March.

We can try to get a walk up permit, and may do that (anyone had any luck?), but we want to have a few alternatives in our pockets.

Looking for recommendations of 4-6 night backpacking trips in the region. Requirements are:

- non technical
- decent road access
- we usually average 10 miles per day or so
- loop trails are good
- possibility of bagging some class 3 peaks
- minimal permit hassle
- guaranteed sunshine and no mosquitoes ( ... just kidding)

I'll start doing some research but suggestion are welcome. North Cascades? Goat Rocks?

I've already got some thoughts from Fred and Moni Spicker, but let's see what else turns up.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Nelson, I'm planning to do the Wonderland Trail in October. Just out of curiosity, were you guys able to find reliable transportation to/from Seattle Airport and RNP? I'm trying to avoid renting a car and having to leave it parked while I'm on the trail.

Thanks and All the best with your hike.

Bummer about not getting a permit, but. . . you could always try getting a walk-up permit for a section of the trail. My son and I did that 2 years ago, and we did a fairly short-3 nights- loop, but it was, from what I've heard, just about the nicest part of the whole trail. Fabulous, with fantastic scenery.

Goat rocks, North Cascades, and the Olympics are all worthy considerations. Olympics if you have the time and energy, as the approaches tend to be a little longer, and it is fabulous, mostly uncrowded country.

Good luck.

adventurer, my friend is going to be up in the area for nearly two months before I arrive. He's spending the summer touring around and will have his vehicle, so the transportation issue didn't affect us. Good luck coming up with something. I've wondered about that too, and having a rental car sit there for the whole time isn't a great solution. Have a great trip!

As for the Olympics, those would be high on my list, but my friend has some 60 miles of backpacking planned there for earlier in the season, so he'll be ready to check out another area.

How about the Timberline Trail circling Mt. Hood? A few years ago they had a big landslide that took out a section, but by now surely some use route has emerged. That's about 50 miles i believe. Drop-dead gorgeous.

A loop around the three sisters should offer a similar experience to the wonderland trail. Its about the same length (55 miles). Its a very scenic area, and you there are several big volcanoes you could bag on the trip that aren't too far out of the way (south sister, broken top). No quotas to deal with unless you want to start from the obsidian trailhead, which has a 20 person / day limit.

A walk around the Three Sisters would indeed be a pleasant hike. Not nearly so challenging as the Wonderland Trail but an opportunity to climb Middle Sister and South Sister and perhaps The Husband without technical climbing. There are excellent side trips to nice camping locations like Eileen Lake and Golden Lake. Also side trips to Chambers Lakes on the saddle between South and Middle Sister and to Broken Top Crater. Only a relatively short section of the trail around Pole Springs is down in the woods unless you start from the north. A use permit may be required for the Obsidian Area even if you do not start from the north.

I know nothing about Washington except that besides the Cascades I really want to hike the Enchantments.

Thanks for the Mount Hood / Three Sisters options. Both look great.

It does appear that Elliot River section of the Timberline Trail is still washed out but that people are crossing that section either higher or lower.

I've just saved some links for both hikes and will keep these as options.

At the moment our plan is to apply for a 6 night trip on Rainier's Northern Loop, including a two day side trip on the Wonderland. According to the NPS website, as of yesterday the Wonderland Camps that I've selected are still available. I'll fax this application in later this morning and we'll see what happens.

If this fails then we'll fall back to one of the alternatives. In any case I'll save the Hood and Three Sisters options for the future.

Thanks again.

Leor Pantilat has put together some inventive and exteremly scenic 50 mile loops in the Washington Cascades. I believe he had to do a fair amount of research to work these loops out. From the photos I have seen they look spectacular. He has a blog and I bet you can probably contact him personally. http://pantilat.wordpress.com/mountains/

ExcitibleBoy wrote:Leor Pantilat has put together some inventive and exteremly scenic 50 mile loops in the Washington Cascades.

Cool, thanks for that site. He does have a ton of stuff there! I read about this loop elsewhere and it's on the list, especially after seeing his photos:
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthr ... Post898661

He did it in 13:37. Heck, my friend and I would plan to do it in only 6 or 7 days.

Nelson wrote:

ExcitibleBoy wrote:Leor Pantilat has put together some inventive and exteremly scenic 50 mile loops in the Washington Cascades.

Cool, thanks for that site. He does have a ton of stuff there! I read about this loop elsewhere and it's on the list, especially after seeing his photos:
http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthr ... Post898661

He did it in 13:37. Heck, my friend and I would plan to do it in only 6 or 7 days.

Leor is a very strong runner. After seeing his report on running the Enchantments Lakes loop in 5 hours flat I went and did it in 6 hours and change. It blew me away that he could both run so fast AND stop and take so many wonderfull photos.

In the end I managed to get a permit for a six-night Northern Loop circuit, including two nights on a side trip through Spray Park to Eagle's Roost camp.

We'll can save the full Wonderland for another year. This was a good exercise though, we now have a long list of other ideas for future years as well. Thanks.

having read through the thread it looks like you found your solution, but don't lose sight of doing the whole WT. it is one of the best trips i have taken in my life and i hope to do it again one day. nothing compares to walking around that mountain. happy journeys!

here is a link to my photo journal of the trip:

http://www.pbase.com/slowfoto/wonderland_trail

I did it a few years ago with no advanced planning other than reviewing the book, Discovering the Wonders of the Wonderland Trail, and mailing a food package to Sunrise. I just showed up at Longmire the day that I wanted to start. I'd picked out my ideal campsites ahead of time, one was unavailable, so I had to adjust and have one really long day and one really short day. Seemed pretty simple, but maybe I just got lucky.