I am planning a hike of the Wonderland Trial next August and was wondering if anyone has some experience on this trail. Do you need permits, bear canisters, etc? Where do you resupply? Is the only way to resupply through mail drops, where to drop? What’s the closet airport? As always any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Big B
I hiked the Wonderland this past summer – it is beautiful! There is a lot of information available on the official Mount Rainier National Park website. Here is a link: http://www.nps.gov/mora/trail/wonder.htm
The good news is you do not need a bear can. There are bear poles on which to hang your food at every campsite. Having hiked extensively in the High Sierra I will warn you that the poles are a complete joke, and would not fool a Sierra bear for more than 30 seconds, but that said, they seem to fool the Mount Rainier bears just fine:)
You definitely need a permit, and I suggest providing alternative itineraries when you apply for your permit. By providing alternatives, we were able to get almost exactly the itinerary we wanted, but in reverse.
Mail drops are really the only way to resupply if you want to stay relatively close to the trail. The stores in the park have very few supplies – you might be able to buy a soda, chips, cookies and/or candy, but there is not much there in the way of real food. Much more spartan and car tourist oriented than stores I’ve visited in other parks such as Yosemite, etc. Fortunately, mail drops are easy because the ranger stations accept mail drops for free! We started at Mowich Lake and had drops at Longmire and Sunrise. If you start elsewhere and want to send a drop to Mowich Lake, be aware that there is not always a ranger on duty and that mail drops take significantly longer get there – as we were finishing our hike, we ran into two hikers from Europe who left hungry because after waiting at the ranger station for several hours they learned that their food drop had not arrived. Between what we gave them (everything we had left) and what other hikers gave them I think they were able to make it to their next stop at Sunrise, but I would definitely plan to send my drop well in advance.
Good luck and happy planning!
Kanga
Great hike Big B, I did the WT in 2002. Yes you will need permits and designated camp site. You can go to (www.mount.rainier.national-park.com) and fine a lot of imfo.
Most of the camp sites have bear poles,some have metal boxes for your food. I don’t think canisters are needed, just extra weight.
As far as I know there is no way to resupply without the use of mail drops. Where you have food drops will depend on where you start on the trail and which direction you go (clockwise or counter clockwire) Most start at Londmire or Paradise. The number of food needed will depend on number of days hiking. There are four ranger stations for drops, Longmire, Sunrise, Ohanapecosh and Carbon River stations.
Seattle will be your closest airport and you can get a shuttle from Seatac to Mount Rainier National Park.
I highly recommend getting the book by Bette Filley and go to the web site. Hope this will help you get started.
Cookie
You will defintely love it. The Bette Filley book is owrth the $.
Now, I live in Mt. Rainier’s shadow-so I am quite close. I have hiked 60-70% of the trails in the park. So here goes!
You will want to apply for a permit on April 1st, via fax. You can also do it by mail. It cost $20 for the reservation. They allow one change for free. The permit itself is free. You can pick up your permit in person with your letter that they mail out, day of or day before. Personally…I am not a Mowich Lake person. We did it counterclockwise in 7 nights/8 days which was brutal but fun.
Food drops: make sure they are in hard plastic (cat litter buckets work well) with your name and info on them in black marker. Best drops are Sunrise and Longmire.
Bear poles are a Rainier thingie…now, I happen to love them. Very easy to use. Rember they work since bears have awful vision. They don’t see up very well. All camps now have poles.
All backcountry camps in Rainier have privies (pit toilets).
Now, most sites on the WT blow for scenic views/privacy…but hey, you aren’t there for the camps, right? 
http://www.nps.gov/mora/home.htm this is the site you want to go to for info.
If you’d like to see some photos:
http://community.webshots.com/user/nwhikergirl101
Trail Food Made Simple:
sarbar
Thanks for the info everyone. A couple of last questions, is it possible to stealth camp or is that strictly forbidden? If you are mailing a plastic bucket for food drops what happens to the bucket when you pick up your drop? Do you dump it there or do you have to take it with you someplace? Can I get more info about the shuttle from Sea-Tac? Does it drop you at a trailhead?
Big B
The easy question first: the rangers will take the plastic bucket from you and recycle it – you don’t have to take it with you. Now for the harder question. Officially, stealth camping within designated “cross-country zones” is only available for those who are hiking cross-country, not to those hiking a trail. If you are hiking the Wonderland trail, your permit will designate the campgrounds where you are supposed to stay each night. That said, I know of hikers who varied the schedule assigned to them on by their permit, either by finding other hikers who were willing to share a site or by stealth camping well off the trail and away from the designated camps. Not officially approved, but can be done.
Kanga
The rangers will on very rare occasions give you a X/C permit…but you don’t have much of a chance of getting one. Now I do have a friend who did get one-but he has done the WT like 5 times before. Stealth camping…sure it can be done, but realize that the WT is patrolled daily I actually was asked twice on the trail for our permit by rangers. It is their way of keeping people off who don’t play by the rules. The reason behind it is that so many do the WT, they have to be tight about it. But eh, the campsites are not awful…just lacking and at least most are near water.
Other notes:
Bring cash if you want a meal at Sunrise-they don’t take CC’s. Longmire and Paradise take CC’s. You can get a cheap shower at Paradise with a towel included. There is a payphone at the White River CG, Paradise, Longmire and at Sunrise.
Shuttles: Hmmm…I have heard of there being one-most likely you are going to get dropped off at Longmire though.Realize it won’t be cheap. I’d figure in at least $60. I myself have shuttled climbers from Sea-Tac and I always charged at least $40-just to pay the gas! (Sea-Tac is about 2 hours to Longmire). You might check on wether any of the motels/B&B’s in Ashford, WA offer shuttle service. Ashford is where RMI is.
sarbar
you dont need any maildrops for this trail. this is only a 90 mile trail, so on your way up to the mountain just stop at a grocery store and buy your food. this is an easy 5 day hike. that is only 18 miles a day. and 5 days of food is totally doable even for the ultra ultralight hiker. so a maildrop would be just one more hassle to work out for the hike. there are bears up there but compared to the bears in the sierras, these northwestern bears are a bunch of sissys.
no matter what you end up doing and how you end up hiking this trail, one thing is for sure… you will see some of the most beutiful scenery on the western side of the united states!!! i know that you will enjoy every second of your journey!
have a great day and keep your spirit positive!
tyvek
TYVEK
5 days is fine if you like hiking very aggresive-but I can say that in our group’s hike of it, doing it in 7 nights and 8 days was hard (and we are all hard core hikers!). I would NOT recomend that it is done in 5 days!!
Thing is, the WT is very pretty-and it needs to be savored. 8 - 10 days is perfect for it. Also, getting your campsites to work out for 5 days isn’t so easy-especially if you want to stay at Indian Bar and you cannot get it.
Our schedule:
Longmire to Nickel Creek.
Nickel Creek to Summerland (I wish we had stayed at Indian Bar! It is the prettiest site.)
Summerland to Sunrise (youch…that was a long day as the White River bridge was out, and we had to road walk to to reconnect)
Sunrise to Mystic
Mystic to Eagles Roost (via Spray and Seattle Parks)
E. Roost to the lakes
the lakes to Puyallup.
The last day hike was a looong one-not the distance persay, but the never ending up and down.
If a person isn’t used to the up and down, I don’t recomend 18 mile days. 9-10 is great. Even then, we never saw under 11 miles.
That and gets dang hot up there in August-you have to plan time to lay in streams midday
And there are so many side trails to explore and wander! By the time you get done, you can easily do 100-110 miles.
Some people have layday overs so they can go explore. I recomend that if you haven’t been to Rainier before! For instance, if you take the traditional WT and go via Ispuit Pass, a side trip to Eunice Lake is worth it, and up to Tolmie Peak 
Or going up to Auroa Lake and beyond. Or walking up to Paradise via Mazama Ridge and the High Lakes Trail.
Mail drops though are very easy-and it gives you a perk knowing that you have some goodies waiting you halfway
sarbar
I did it in august of '05 in 5 days. It was truly wonderful, but 5 days is a bit much especially without mail drops. Next time I would take about 8 and use mail drops.
Doug
Doug Smith
Check out my wonderland trail journal at
http://rainier.gameworkshop.com/
Our lazy schedule is posted there.
Aaron
Aaron Doss