Backpacking the Wonderland Trail in Mount Rainier National Park is a great way to test the thru-hiking waters to see if it’s for you. Joan and I visited Mount Rainier National Park for the first time in 2018, as we were scouting trails for the Pacific Northwest Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge. We were awestruck by this […]
Mushrooms of the Wonderland Trail
I was amazed by the variety of mushrooms I saw on the Wonderland Trail. I know some of them are edible, but I’ve no idea which ones. Click on the gallery to view larger, and leave a comment on a photo if you can help me identify them.
Planning an Ascent of Mount Rainier
Each year at our Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge Finishers Party, we do an exercise we call Your Next Adventure. We ask everyone to take an index card and a permanent marker and write down their big adventure goals for the year ahead. The simple act of committing it to paper, and sharing it with others is […]
Wonderland Trail Day 13: Maple Creek to Longmire
Our final day required a four-mile climb out of Stevens Canyon, a stop at Reflection Lakes, the descending almost exactly the elevation we climbed to the Nisqually River and the Cougar Rock Picnic Area to complete our loop on the Wonderland Trail. This final section of our Wonderland Trail trek began foggy and damp. It […]
Wonderland Trail Day 12: Indian Bar to Maple Creek
Day 12 would start with a foggy climb with no views, then take us plummeting downward 3,805 feet to camp at Maple Creek, our final campsite for the trip. Before we headed out, we took one more look at the ravine at Indian Bar, then started the climb up to Cowlitz Divide. The divide begins […]
Wonderland Trail Day 11: Summerland to Indian Bar
Two of the most-wanted camps on the Wonderland Trail are Summerland and Indian Bar. They lie just five miles apart. And our itinerary included both of them. The sunrise from our camp at Summerland was a spectacular send off for the day. We’d be climbing 874′ to the highest point on the Wonderland Trail: 6,750′ […]
Wonderland Trail Day 10: Sunrise to Summerland
For Day 10 on the Wonderland Trail, we returned to double-digit mileage after three short days. Our legs were well rested, and we were looking forward to seeing Summerland. The trail begins by heading along the rum of the canyon, then turns and drops 2,000 feet in two miles to White River Campground. There is […]
Wonderland Trail Day 9: Granite Creek to Sunrise
Day 9 on the Wonderland Trail was our final low mileage day. We would be hiking over scenic Skyscraper Pass, through wildflower-laden Berkeley Park and down to our destination: Sunrise Camp.  Sunrise Camp is about a mile from the Sunrise Information Center, a grill that serves cheeseburgers, a small market, and our final resupply point. We […]
