Wonderland Trail

The Wonderland Trail is the full 150 km circumnavigation of Mt. Rainier (4,392 m) — Washington's heavily glaciated stratovolcano and the most prominent peak in the contiguous United States. The trail completes a loop entirely within Mount Rainier National Park, crossing 25 named ridges and valleys around the mountain and gaining roughly 6,800 m of cumulative elevation over the course of 9 to 14 days. It's the West Coast's most demanding national-park thru-hike, partly because of the relentless up-and-down (you climb out of every valley and back down into the next) and partly because the weather can be wet and cold even in midsummer.

The trail can be walked from any of several entry points but most thru-hikers start at Longmire on the southwest side and travel counterclockwise. The high points include the wildflower meadows at Spray Park and Berkeley Park (peak bloom early August), the panoramic east-side traverse from Sunrise through Summerland to Indian Bar, and the dramatic finish along the south side past Reflection Lakes back to Longmire. Three food-cache resupply points (Longmire, White River, and Mowich Lake) let you avoid carrying 10 days of food at once; the caches are mailed or driven to ranger stations before the trip and held until you arrive.

Permit lottery applications open in mid-March each year and the popular slots fill within hours of the lottery results. Walk-in permits exist but are rare during peak season (mid-July to mid-September). Camp sites are reserved-only in season — no dispersed camping. The trail is open snow-permitting roughly mid-July to early October; outside that window, the higher passes (especially Spray Park and Panhandle Gap) hold snow into August some years. Bear canisters are not required (Mt. Rainier has marmots, not bears, as the main food risk) but a bear hang is standard. The route is non-technical, well-maintained, and well-marked — the difficulty is the cumulative climb and the variable weather.