Wonderland Trail

I've been talking about this journey for awhile before I decided to do it, and my in-laws bought me the bible about the Wonderland Trail:  Discovering the Wonders of the Wonderland Trail encircling Mount Rainier by Bette Filley.  First written in 1969, the most recent edition was published in 2006.  For anyone contemplating this journey, this is the book to get. 

The Wonderland Trail is a 92.2 mile trail that encircles Mount Rainier.  Given that this is mountain country, the other key item to note is the elevation gain.  Since it's circle, there really isn't any elevation gain, but looking at the Elevation profile, this is no stroll in the park.  Beginning at 2780 feet (824m), a hiker goes over 5000 feet (1525m) seven times and over 6000 feet (1830m) twice.  According to Bette, hiking all the way around is the equivalent of climbing a 22,786 foot (7000m) mountain. 

Being a circle, there really isn't a beginning or an end,  Longmire being the start of the trail.  Going counter clockwise, the trail parallels the park road along the southern part of the park along the Paradise river and through Steven's Canyon.  Turning north at Box Canyon, it follows the ridge of the Cowlitz divide and reaches its highest elevation of 6800 feet (2087m) at Panhandle Gap.  If follows Fryingpan Creek down to the White River, where you begin to turn westward again towards Sunrise. 

Heading westward, the trail goes through the least visited areas of the park, those parts that are not accessible via road.  Past Mystic Lake, down the Carbon River valley leads you to Ipsut Creek.  The final push takes the trail past Mowich Lake and southward across many ridges back to Longmire. 

Looking at the elevation map and the park map, you may begin to think that I'm crazy.  I share that opinion sometimes as well, however, there's only one way to do this, and that's on foot.  

Mount Rainier National Park Map