The Wonderland Trail - July 2006

The Wonderland Trail contains two types of wonders: The wonderful views and "I wonder how I'm going to get through this..."

The Wonderland Trail is an approximately 93-mile backcountry trail (give or take a few miles, depending on who you talk to or what you read) around the base of Mt. Rainier, in Mt. Rainier National Park, in the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington State. When I first met Randy in January, he had this great desire to hike the entire trail to feed his obsession of Mt. Rainier, yet he had no one to do it with. A few months later, I agreed to go, because well, I'd never done a really big backpacking trip before and I thought it'd be fun.

After 9.5 days of hiking, gaining/losing 21,000 feet in elevation over the 90+, miles, it was the most physical, mental and emotional challenge I'd ever completed, but I'd do it again. I saw things that very few get to see unless you are at least two days into backcountry. We started in the southwest corner of the park and worked our way around the park clockwise. He was interested in the various views of The Mountain and all the different wildlife; I, too, was interested in the views and animals but also in the terrain, the other hikers we'd come across and the sheer immensity of the experience, plus just the idea of being away from civilization for 10 days.

Prep Gear Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6  Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10