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I hiked the Wonderland Trail solo last summer, but I split it up into two separate outings. The first was three days covering 53 miles and second was two days covering 40 miles. I did this because I planned my route pretty poorly, and I was burnt out on long sojourns. I figured I'd properly enjoy the whole trail without getting grumpy if I split it up. I don't know how many multi-day hikes you've done, but the hardest part physically is hiking through soreness each morning. As long as you get up early enough, eat and drink enough, and plan realistic mileage (maybe 10-15 miles per day?) then you'll probably be fine. There are lots of switchbacks too, so it's not straight up climbing. FWIW I live in Seattle and train at sea level too, though I had thru-hiked the AT in 2021 and had that experience to fall back on. Also , the Wonderland Trail has a fair number of spots where you get picked up if things go south. You can drive to Mowich Lake, Sunrise, Longmire, and a few other places where the trail crosses the road. You probably already know about the lottery, but your best bet to hiking the trail all in one go is by winning a slot for the early access lottery which usually takes place in early February. This site should be updated in January 2024 with the updated dates and has a whole lot of information I used to plan my trip. However, I found this elevation profile map to be the most useful in planning my route because I could space out which camps I should stay at and see how many climbs there would be between each one. Back to the lottery: the early access lottery grants you access to only one reservation (I THINK), so make that one count. I picked Reflection Lake and loved it, but of all the camps I saw I think Summerland and Indian Bar were my favorites (note that I did not get permits to either of those two sites). Once the reservations open up to the general public in April you can attempt to put in the rest of your reservations. This is where the reservation system gets frustrating because a.) your perfectly planned route falls apart because most of the sites are reserved and b.) the reservation system doesn't allow you to pick a camp that is more than 17.5 miles past the camp you initially reserved. That second one through me for a loop, but it is spelled out with other tips here. It wasn't until after I had talked to some folks on the trail that I found out about the 17.5 mile rule. For reference, my route was counter-clockwise around Rainier: Trip #1 Day 1. Start at Sunrise Lodge. Hike to and spend the first night at Mowich Lake. ~20mi Day 2. Hike to and spend the second night at Reflection Lake. ~16mi Day 3. <Hike to and get picked up by friend at Longmire Lodge, ~15mi> Originally I had planned on getting a spot at one of those pay-for-spot campsites near Longmire on Day 3, then get up really early in the morning on Day 4 and go to the Longmire Ranger Station to try to get a walk-up site for that night, then Day 5 hike the rest of the way back to Sunrise. However, don't count on the sites you want being available for walk-up reservation, because I attempted that on Trip #2 and nothing I wanted had any availability. That was more than a little frustrating because most parks guarantee at least one walk-up will be available, but I guess Rainier is so popular that they don't even allow for that. Trip #2 Day 0. Drive to Sunrise with friend in another car and leave my car at Sunrise. Friend and I car camp nearby Longmire. Day 1. Friend drives me to Ranger Station at Longmire and I get a walk-up reservation for Ollalie Creek Camp. Then hike to and stay there. Not a great campsite and not one I'd even planned for if I'm being honest, but it was near the midway point so it worked out. 17mi Day 2. Hike to Sunrise and drive home. 23mi IIRC the others I met thru-hiking did it over a longer period of time (10-15mi days) which might work out better thanks to reservation system's 17.5 mile rule. Tips: 1. Longmire is usually where people stage their midway point re-fuel by leaving a bear cannister's worth of food at the Ranger Station. Pretty sure that can be pre-arranged with the Rangers. Since I broke my trip up I didn't need to do this. There's no place to get/buy food on the trail of course. 2. You have to go to one of the approved Ranger Stations (Sunrise and Longmire are the two I'm aware of) the day you start your thru hike to get your reservation tags, and if I recall correctly I had to bring my reservations' purchase receipts with me. Most people just get there before the Ranger Station opens. I remember there were some people there hoping for and getting some last minute reservations to complete their loop, but I wouldn't count on that. Note that rangers on the trail were constantly checking to make sure I had my reservation tag. 3. If you go during peak melt season, there's a good chance glacial melt will wipe out at least one of the many bridge crossings; forcing you to ford. There was one bridge tipped over on its side that I scooted across which wasn't too bad, and there was another that had been wiped out completely. That one proved to be the most dangerous ford because of the very fast moving water and lack of good crossings. This is all on the western side of Rainier. 4. Mowich Lake had a surprising number of open slots (it's a pretty big site). It's not the prettiest camping, but I'd say it's a dependable site you can probably get a reservation at if need be.
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Nov 21, 2023 20:48
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| # ¿ May 12, 2024 00:37 |
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BaseballPCHiker posted:I applied for enchantments lottery for roughly 10 years finally nabbing one for the core zone 3 weeks before my first kid was due. I’ve stopped applying since, maybe one day…. I said "gently caress it" last year and hiked the whole thing in a day. Got tired of wasting $ every year now that the odds to get a spot are starting to turn into real lottery odds.
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Mar 15, 2024 05:09
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