How to Run The Wonderland Trail – A Trip Guide
Note: This covers a trip around Mount Rainier made on September 26/27, 2018. Clearly I’m behind on blog posting 😛
Plan:
Drive to Longmire and run around a large volcano until I get back to my car. Don’t get lost or fall asleep. Eat when I’m hungry, drink when I’m thirsty. Don’t bonk.
Actual:
Drove to Longmire and started power walking up a large incline. Made it to Indian Henry’s Hunting Grounds and saw a cool wooden cabin after about 2 hours. I ran through some Alpine Meadows and then I ran down a hill and saw a river. After crossing the river and drinking some water, I again power walked up a mountain some more. I hit another Alpine meadow and saw some bears. I left the bears alone and they left me alone because they were more interested in eating delicious blue berries than eating me. I ran down the mountain again and crossed a very unstable suspension bridge that was about 100’ above a river. Don’t come a knockin’ when this bridge is a rockin’. I then climbed a mountain again and saw some people. They asked me how far I was running and I sad to Longmire. They told me I was going the wrong way and I assured them I wasn’t.
I realized I had completed 13 miles and I had been running for just under 4 hours. Killing it. I spent some more time running through Alpine meadows and I saw a large mountain to my right. I believe it was Mount Rainier. I know this is surprising, but then I ran down a mountain and crossed yet another river. I then power hiked up to Mowich Lake which means I was 1/3 of the way done. Cool.
I ran some more and hit Ipsut Pass, which was rocky. I ran down the mountain and my GPS tracker popped off and stumbled down a rocky slope with a lot of bushes on it. Normally I’d ditch it but my Mom was tracking me and I didn’t want her to freak out because I stopped moving…plus the thing cost like $400. I spent 20 minutes butt sliding down a slope between switch backs until I stumbled upon the GPS tracker. I grabbed it and went on my merry way. I stopped at a stream to refill my water shortly after and realized I lost my water filter while butt sliding…luckily that only cost like $30. I drank fresh stream water instead after I had headed back up the slope to butt slide some more and not successfully find my water filter.
I hit Carbon River and saw the sun start to set. I began to power hike relentlessly. It took me many hours to reach Mystic Lake and it was dark. Luckily the moon was out but it freaked me out because it was a large glowing orb between the trees. I continued to power hike and took a short break around 50 miles in. I tried to eat a Gu but it made me gag and I puked. I swished my mouth out with fresh stream water and kept moving. I hit Sunrise Campground and then ran down a hill to White River Campground. I then began another relentless power hike up to Panhandle Gap. I was tired and out of breath so I decided to stop when I hit 5,000’ elevation and sit by a creek. I closed my eyes for 10 minutes and then got my sorry ass moving again. I continued to climb and crossed Frying Pan Creek. I climbed more and made it to Summerland. I climbed EVEN MORE and had to stop a mere 0.5 miles from the top of Panhandle Gap. I sat by a wall of ice and drank cold water melting off a fucking glacier…never thought I’d do that in my life. I had caught my breath so I kept going.
I came over a steep ridge to cross Panhandle Gap and saw Mt. Adams lit up by the moon. Rainier was looming large on my right like it had all day. I ran downhill a bit but it didn’t last long. I stopped and took a half hour to cross a creek that still had snow on the normal trail. The re-route wasn’t nicely marked especially in the dark but I finally made it across. I climbed more and it started to get light outside. I came into some beautiful alpine meadows at Indian Bar and the bears were waking up and making noises. They still left me alone. I saw the sunrise hit the eastern glaciers of Rainier. I looked in the distance and saw the sun hitting Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood in the distance, and even little St. Helens with her blown off top (she got angry about 36 years ago). Wow, this made all that climbing worth it. The sky was on fire, with oranges and pinks filling the whole eastern sky. The mountains were lit up in that same amazing glow. After gawking for a bit I ran on and I finally got to run downhill and catch my breath.
After 5 miles of downhill running, I made it to Nickle Creek and refilled my water, the climbing started again and I power hiked up through Box Canyon, and then walked my tired but down to the Paradise River and over to Longmire. I was tired so the last 8 hours felt like a blur. During that time I hallucinated a bit…I saw a surrey with fringe with people sitting in it looking over the paradise river. I saw cars parked along the trail (including my Jeep). I saw lots of animals and people that didn’t exist. I got mad at the rocks because they had fake signs on them.
As I finally got to Longmire, some dude congratulated me on running the whole thing. He asked me if I had anyone waiting for me and I said nope, I’m just solo. I proceeded to go pee, wash my hands, and then I found a nice tree in a forested area next to the parking lot and fell asleep for 30 minutes. I got in my car and drove home because I wasn’t hallucinating anymore. I forgot my friends trekking poles in the parking lot.
In the end, what I learned is that it is possible to run around a large volcano in about a day. I also learned that the mountain is truly special and spectacular, and there is nowhere else that I’d rather be and there was nothing else that I would have rather been doing on a beautiful September day(s).
Gear: Black Diamond Carbon X Trekking Poles, Nathan Vapor Krar 12 L Hydration Pack with front flasks (no bladder), 2 Nathan Headlamps, Merino Wool Base Layer, Long Sleeve Tech Shirt, Hat, Gloves, Tech Shorts, Luna Oso 2.0 Sandals, 1 pair of Injini Socks, Garmin In Reach+, Suunto 9, Epi Pen, Pepto, Some Gu Gels, Crunched up bags of chips, tortillas and goldfish, 6 Lara Bars, 10 dried sausages, 4 pouches of applesauce, one bag of mixed nuts, Run Super Boco Hat
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