The Wonderland Trail

My backpacking trip this year was to do a section of the Wonderland Trail on Mt Rainier. As I spent time last winter pouring over a couple of maps, paying particular attention to the topographical layout of the land, trail access from secondary roads and acceptable campsites for nearly a dozen people, I decided on a 16 mile section along the east side.

My trip last year across a portion of the Goat Rocks Wilderness at Old Snowy Mountain and Elk Pass was particularly taxing and I wasn’t in the mood for a long, rugged, and tiring experience this year! With that in mind, I began to lay out the trail.

Early in the spring, I faxed a campsite request to the US Forest Service, paid my $20.00 registration fee and waited to see. It wasn’t long until I received confirmation that I had the Group Camp sites at Summerland and Indian Bar nailed down for 10 hikers.

It turned out that 8 of us began the hike on July 20, 2006 at Frying Pan Creek trailhead, east of White Creek at Sunrise entrance into the Mt Rainier National Park. We staged a vehicle at Box Canyon trailhead, the end of our 3-day trip.

It was about noon when we began a 4-mile southerly leg from Frying Pan Creek to Summerland. We took our time and allowed for fun and photos along the way. The “kids” had fun playing in the cold, snowmelt streams as we made our way higher and higher, towards the snow-covered hills around the big mountain.

The highlight of the first day was after we broke through the trees and began an ascent up the open meadow along a tree covered hillside. In a particular clearing, we watched 3 Bears doing what Bears do. Mamma Bear was foraging for food and two cubs finding more fun than food.

We continue to make our way up a steep hillside with killer switchbacks, taking photos of the most scenic area I’ve seen in Washington. The wild flowers were blooming in abundance. The Avalanche Lilies were some of the most spectacular, even rivaling last spring’s crop! The colorful Indian Paint Brush was beautiful, but not close to the beauty of those we found growing along streams on the Lily Basin Trail in the Goat Rocks last year.

Summerland Camp was a beautiful spot! The mountain was gorgeous, the weather was clear, the temperature was perfect and the water was plentiful, cold and sweet. The Group Campsite had a wonderfully made 1930’s era Adirondack of stone and logs, with a raised, plank covered floor. From our vantage point we could look down upon a rushing stream of cold, snowmelt water, snow covered hillsides, the top of Mt Rainier and lush meadows. The best part was the use of a clean toilet! That’s somewhat of a luxury in the mountains!

Brian was in Phoenix when we left Portland for Mt Rainier. He eventually arrived at the trailhead and hiked up alone to connect with us at Summerland. He wasn’t far behind us, as we took our sweet time and lingered too long in several places. Brian came into camp and began telling us the story of his encounter with a bear. Apparently, the same bear we saw had came down closer to the trail and was startled by Brian hiking briskly up the trail. The bear rose up and growled at him a warning to back off! He did. He wasn’t able to proceed until about 15 minutes had passed when the bear moved back up the hill. Naturally, Brian had no photos to prove this encounter…..but we will take his word!

We enjoyed hot meals for supper, some fun and conversation. We set up our tents inside the Adirondack as the “bugs” were beginning to bite. We hung our food sacks high up on the “bear pole”, just in case….and settled in for a good night’s rest.

Day two came with the morning sun rising on our campsite with a still quietness. I arose early to dress and go down into the nearby meadow with my camera. Ron was already up and out of his tent. As I walked along the trail towards the base of the nearby mountainside, I noticed 3 deer running in the morning sunlight. They appeared to be a Mamma and two Fawns, nearly her size. It was a beautiful and peaceful sight. I could hear Marmot whistling in the background. Each time one whistled, the deer would perk up their ears and listen, as if for danger. Ron came up behind me and we watched together as we spoke of this pristine beauty.

In a few moments we noticed a small group of mountain climbers hiking down the steep, snow covered slope towards the meadow. Later discussion with one of them informed us that they had spent the night on the higher elevation after climbing Little Tahoma Mountain the day before.

We walked back into camp and began to prepare breakfast. Most of the crew was waking by this time. Some began telling stories of the night sky and the magnificent stars they could see. I didn’t wake up until morning and wasn’t able to identify with their stories. Besides, I can’t see stars very well anymore.

We set out for Indian Bar, our next campsite around 10:30, for what we thought to be an easy 4 miles. As it turned out, that leg of our journey was more “high tech” than we ever imagined. We continued upward, mostly walking on giant snowfields, following tracks made by other hikers on previous days. It was a beautiful hike. We were finding this to be more difficult than we had imagined. At one point we lost the trail and spent an hour on a slippery slope until we relocated it much higher up on a mountain slope.

From the top of that mountainside, the rest was downhill to Indian Bar, encountering less and less snow as we descended several hundred feet to the roaring streambed far below.

A small herd of 15 or 16 Mountain Goats were enjoying the snow cover in the Panhandle Gap area. There were 6 or 7 baby goats in the herd and they seemed to particularly enjoy the snow.

We enjoyed vistas we couldn’t even imagine. The mountains were fantastic, coupled with the sounds of rushing water, falling streams of snowmelt hundreds of feet high, the whistle of Marmot and Pika, and the smell of wild flowers that grew in abundance. The snow was plentiful this time of year, yet rapidly melting in the warm sun. The vista of Indian Bar as we descended off the mountain was ever before us. It was a beautiful valley of rushing water over lava rock. The Adirondack we reserved was as pristine as the one at Summerland, except this one had “jailhouse” bunks along the walls. Most of us still set up tents with the exception of Brian, who tried out one of the bunks that night.
The two girls set up their tent along the stream that roared down the valley. It looked like a very peaceful place to be.

The next morning, our third day, we arose early and packed up as breakfast was brewing. We had 7 ½ Miles ahead of us today and wanted to make it out as early as possible. The first couple of hours gave us an 800 foot elevation gain that spilled out atop a beautiful knoll with a 360 degree view of the world, with beautiful Mt Rainier as its centerpiece.

Brian spotted a rather large heard of Elk standing out on a snowfield across the valley. We watched them through binoculars and took snapshots. We counted 61 in all. They were far away but very beautiful to see. Following our photo shoot we headed along the ridgelines for several miles then the trail dropped down into dense forest until we reached Box Canyon Trailhead.

Looking back, I believe everyone enjoyed this hike immensely. Several of our group commented about doing this one again and how this was now “the favorite”. I was very pleased with the entire experience and highly recommend this portion of The Wonderland Trail to anyone!