Rainier 2005 Video

The Wonderland Trail is a 93 mile loop around Mt Rainier in Washington State. Mt Rainier an active stratovolcano in the Cascade Mountains that rises to 14,410 feet south east of Seattle. It is the tallest mountain in the Cascades, fifth tallest in the US and the largest volcano in the US. Since it is an active volcano and so close to the Seattle metro area, it is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. But we made the hike and lived to tell about it.

Mt Rainier is entirely in Mt Rainier National Park. We started at Sunrise visitor center, the highest vehicle access to Mt Rainier. We were staying at Dennis' brother's house in Tacoma so we just rolled in in the morning. There is a lodge and camping a Sunrise as an alternative.

Hiking the Wonderland takes some logistical work. Permits are required and you need to act quickly each year to secure one. Then there is food. We knew it would take us 13 days because campsites are by reservation and that's what we planned. We didn't want to carry food for 13 days so we packed 5 gallon paint cans (clean) from the hardware store with our planned food supply and shipped them to the specified ranger stations for pickup during the hike. We had our original food and re-provisioned twice. You don't have to hike the entire trail. There are multiple trailheads but then you need a shuttle.

We started at Sunrise visitor center and went clockwise.