Two popular long distance backpacking routes on the North Side of Mount Rainier National Park – the Wonderland Trail and Northern Loop – feature many of the highlights in the Sunrise, White River and Carbon River areas.
Most visitors access the north side from the White River Entrance on SR 410, which provides seasonal access to Sunrise Visitor Center. It was this side of the mountain from which we began our thru-hike of the Wonderland Trail in early August 2024.
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Our full itinerary would be a 12 day/11 night counter-clockwise circuit of the entire mountain, entering and exiting at the White River campground. Not surprisingly, there was a bit of a discrepancy between the official trail guides and our GPS when we tallied up the daily mileage and elevation gain/loss so I’ve included active hiking time (not including breaks; total time on trail generally ranged from 1.5x to 2x active time) as the great equalizer.
| Daily Itinerary | Mileage | Elevation Gain/Loss | Hiking Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| White River to Sunrise Camp | 4.3 miles | + 1975 ft | 2 hrs |
| Sunrise Camp to Mystic Camp | 9.8 miles | + 1840 / – 2550ft | 4.5 hrs |
| Mystic Camp to Cataract Valley | 6.5 miles | + 1775 / – 2850 ft | 4.75 hrs |
| Cataract Valley to South Mowich River | 11 miles | + 2225/ – 4015 ft | 6.85 hrs |
| S Mowich River to Golden Lakes | 6 miles | + 2315 / – 100 ft | 3 hrs |
| Golden Lakes to Klapatche Park | 7.6 miles | + 2175 / – 1800 ft | 3.75 hrs |
| Klapatche Park to Devil’s Dream | 10.9 miles | + 3190 / – 3800 ft | 5.5 hrs |
| Devil’s Dream to Paradise River | 9.4 miles | + 1460 / – 2450 ft | 4.5 hrs |
| Paradise River to Maple Creek | 6.8 miles | + 1075/ – 2080 ft | 4 hrs |
| Maple Creek to Indian Bar | 9.9 miles | + 3560 / – 1080 ft | 5.33 hrs |
| Indian Bar to Summerland | 4.5 miles | + 1870 / – 1100 ft | 2.75 hrs |
| Summerland to White River | 5.5 miles | + 400/ – 1975 ft | 2.85 hrs |
The day prior we’d driven out to pick up our permit at the Carbon River Ranger Station and drop off our food cache for Mowich Lake and at the Longmire Ranger Station. This allowed for a leisurely morning (as far as mornings of big trips go), waking up without an alarm clock, stopping for coffee in Greenwater in the historic Wapiti Outfitters building, and waiting our turn in the queue at the Sunrise Entrance.
This was the first year that Mt Rainier National Park introduced timed entry requirements for vehicles, and there was already a moderate backup of cars waiting to get into the park. We were also slightly apprehensive of how the process would go, but the email confirmation for the permit along with my drivers license got us in without any further questions, exactly as promised.
After parking the car at White River, gearing up, and taking the obligatory “pre-trip photos,” we were ready to hit the trail by noon!
Wonderland Trail Day 1: White River to Sunrise Camp
Today would be a short day – less than 5 miles with roughly 2000 ft elevation gain. The Wonderland wastes no time before throwing you in, and the first hill came immediately upon stepping onto the trail at the campground. The first two miles were a continuous climb through the old growth conifer forests that exist between the dense lowland forests below 3000ft and the subalpine forests of higher elevations.
Click on the photos within the galleries to read the captions.
Douglas Fir often seemed to dominate, but there were plenty of Alaskan yellow cedar, western red cedar, hemlock and even some pine.
Without any time to acclimate, my heart was already racing and I had to stop regularly to slow it down. To date, that’s the only real impact that my thyroid medication has had on my outdoor pursuits: my high dosage keeps my pulse elevated and with sudden changes in exertion I can feel it trying to jump out of my chest.
After about 1.5 miles of switchbacks through the woods, the trail leveled off to reveal the first view of Mt Rainier. Then it was just a matter of one short uphill stretch through wildflowers towards the intersection of the Sunrise Rim trail.
The wildflowers were nearing their peak – yellow, purple, reds and whites – and the mountain was mostly clear but with a few wispy clouds around the summit. It was a gorgeous mile of easy strolling from the intersection into camp.
We arrived at 3pm and had maintained nearly a 2 mile/hr pace when moving (pausing numerous times to take photos). Despite our decently early arrival, only two campsites remained, presumably on account of its close proximity to so many trailheads. Sunrise Camp is only a mile or so away from the Sunrise Visitor Center and day lodge, so had it not been our first day we may have been inclined to walk to the gift shop and resupply on some snacks, but as it was we were eager to settle into camp life.
We almost took Site 7, a site of average size located near the entrance of the campground, but went to see about a spot tucked behind a site already occupied by other campers before setting up. Site 5 was large and scenic – the only spot with a view of lake. However, we were told the reason it was still empty was because it was currently occupied by a small black bear! It was completely unperturbed by the presence of campers as it munched on flowers.
We gave it due space, but that wasn’t going to deter us from getting the better campsite! We quietly took our distance until the bear moved off, further into the campground to nap under a tree near another occupied campsite.
After setting up the tent, I took a stroll down to Shadow Lake to filter water and take more photos of the wildflowers along the trail.
Shadow Lake is a popular day-hiking destination from Sunrise Visitor Center, as it’s accessible from a 3 mile loop via the Sunrise Rim Trail with minimal elevation gain. It’s the perfect distance for young families. Unlike many of the other alpine lakes along the Wonderland Trail, swimming is not permitted – most likely on account of its propensity to be crowded – to protect the aquatic ecosystem it supports, like the Cascades frog.
Before settling into camp for the night, we took a side trip to the Glacier Overlook to see the mountain. It was a bit hazy with the wildfire smoke obscuring visibility of the summit, probably coming from the Retreat Fire and various other wildfires burning south in Oregon. It’s getting harder each year to enjoy the summer season in the Cascades, as the snowmelt and alpine wildflower bloom seems to correspond with the hot, dry tinderbox conditions on the eastern parts of the state. Growing up in Western Washington, I can only recall seeing the smokey air maybe once or twice in a few decades. Now it seems remarkable to go a year without it.
Dinner was our tried and true penne lasagna followed by some freeze-dried cheesecake bites, our newly discovered favorite backpacking dessert.
Wonderland Trail Day 2: Sunrise Camp to Mystic Camp
The sun began to break over the hills around 6am, forming a nice sunrise from the campground looking down towards Shadow Lake. It was a relaxing morning, starting the day off with oatmeal and tea; we didn’t leave camp until 8:30am. There were a few sniffles and dry throats, which we chalked up to the smoke in the air.
The first segment of the day followed the Sunrise trails to Frozen Lake. No sooner had we left the campground did we start to encounter day hikers: this network of trails connects some of the most popular day hikes within the National Park, including the hike up to Mt Fremont Lookout and Burroughs Mountain Loop.
We passed through some sections of wildflowers – pale purple asters, white yarrow and red paintbrush along with creamy lousewort and fuzzy tufts of American bistort, before climbing up to the intersection of the Sourdough Trail. The asters especially seemed to grow right between the young evergreens, dotting the shaded recesses in between the trees like polka dots. I couldn’t have been happier with the timing of the trip to the summer blooms – we didn’t know at the time that this was only a prelude of what was to come!
The meadows thinned over the next 500 ft of elevation gain until we reached the most recognizable trail junction in the park. At this five-way intersection with clear views of Mt Rainier, the trail to the north (right, in the photo) goes to Frozen Lake and Mt Fremont Lookout; and the trail directly ahead, facing west, is the Wonderland Trail; the trail to the southwest (left, in the photo) goes up to Burroughs Mountain; the trail directly behind us returns to Sunrise Camp; and the trail to the northeast returns to Sunrise via Sourdough Ridge.
It’s a busy little mountain hub, bustling with day hikers, backpackers, the occasional ranger or volunteer, and the inevitable chipmunk looking to steal any unattended snacks. We stopped for photos and a couple bites of landjaeger.
The next segment is one of my favorites – easy hiking through a wide open expanse of alpine meadow and spectacular views of Rainier as we head towards Berkeley Park. In contrast to the subalpine meadows of earlier, alpine meadows are above the tree line and the vegetation is typically lower to the ground.
The mountain was perfectly clear, and any haze from yesterday had moved off during the night. We covered the next mile or so with ease, passing the trail intersection towards Berkeley Park camp and the Northern Loop – maybe a trip for next time! As we left the meadow and began the uphill climb towards Skyscraper Pass, that is, ironically, where things started to go downhill.
By the time we reached the top, the effects of the “I could be coming down with a cold, but it could just be allergies” that were felt earlier in the day were starting to take its toll on everyone but me. We had originally planned to take a side trip up to the top of Skyscraper Mountain, a steep path over scree and rocks to 360° views, but instead paused only briefly at the pass, before hiking lower to alleviate any possible contributing effects of altitude.
The last time I hiked down to Granite Creek, the switchbacks seemed to take forever, and I don’t recall them being very scenic. It was a completely different experience this time. The mountain popped in and out of view between the trees and the trail cut through a meadow dotted with yellow and purple flowers, mostly lupine and ragwort.
We stopped at Granite Creek for an extended rest, even pulling out the sleeping pads to lie down in the shade, while I filtered water from the creek. We’ve camped here in the past, and it’s very quiet – much more remote than Sunrise Camp. It was a pretty place to take a break and while everyone else recuperated I went about doing – what else – taking more pictures of flowers.
After everyone had recovered well enough to continue, we started the downward slog towards the Winthrop Glacier. I’m not a particular fan of this stretch of trail – through all downhill in the counterclockwise direction, the trail is steep and the forest isn’t particularly attractive.
Eventually we heard the thundering roar of the glacial river and could see it emerge from below the mouth of the glacier. Occasionally we could hear the crack of calving ice and tumbling rock.
The Winthrop Creek crossing was relatively straightforward – the first river crossing of the trip. A good log footbridge was in place, followed by a rocky rise along a series of lateral moraines. A lateral moraine is formed by glacial debris from the earlier movements and position of the glacier. The current trail follows the AD 1810 moraine1. It’s a very distinct section of trail which I’ve always found to be picturesque, though not the easiest on the feet.
Though the Wonderland Trail passes below Garda Falls on the way down to Winthrop Creek, you can’t get a good view of it until on the moraine. It’s the final journey of Granite Creek before it tumbles down to form Winthrop Creek.
Then it’s back up into the woods again for a while – with more gentler elevation for about a mile before another river crossing – this one was without a bridge. The crossing wasn’t very wide – perhaps 10 feet or so – and the water wasn’t running very high. We found an area upstream with a few fallen logs that hadn’t been fully submerged in the water. After giving then a traction test to see how slick they would be, we decided on this area for crossing and were all able to get across without a wet foot in the house.
By this time, the illnesses were starting to become a serious liability. The pace had slowed considerably. I went ahead to get a campsite so that that the others could make their way in their own time without having to worry about not getting a good, flat campsite.
Mystic Camp was fairly large and despite the concern that our slow pace would put us into camp late there was only one other occupant by the time I arrived. Campsite 7 had plenty of space and was very level. Everyone else went straight into their tents to rest upon arrival so I did the various camp chores – filtering water, making dinner and hot beverages, taking food to the bear pole, and then cleaning up camp.
At the pass we met an intern wilderness ranger, Amy, who was hiking out to stay at the ranger hut by Mystic Lake for the night and we met her again at camp – she had just finished cleaning up the pit toilet, an unglamorous but much appreciated task! The ranger on duty invited us to stop by the cabin that evening or the following morning to hang out, see the sights and get a peak inside the cabin – an opportunity we ordinarily would not have passed up – but given how everyone was feeling we opted to see if they were still there when we passed by tomorrow.
We called it an early night after a dinner of backpacker peanut noodle pad thai and some extra vitamin C in the form of forest tea, hoping that a long rest in camp and shorter day tomorrow would aid in the recovery.
Wonderland Trail Day 3: Mystic Camp to Cataract Valley
Come morning, everyone was thankfully feeling better than yesterday. I continued to manage most of the camp chores and by the time we departed I tallied that I’d filtered a total of 11L of water from the spring behind camp! It was actually quite peaceful, listening to the bubbling melody of the water surrounded by a little grove of wildflowers. Still more flowers!
To get a strong start to the day we ate a hearty serving of our egg and potato breakfast burritos with coffee and tea. By the time we left camp, around 9am, the rangers were already on the job, but we decided to walk up to the patrol cabin anyway in case one had stayed behind. You cannot see the patrol cabin from the main trail, so if you weren’t paying attention to the trail signs you could easily walk right by it.
The views from the other side of the lake are much better than from the actual Wonderland Trail. Dispersed camping used to be available right around the lake but the Mystic campground was established a quarter mile down the trail in 19712 to curtail deterioration of the lake itself (hence the reason the campground is called Mystic Camp not Mystic Lake Camp).
From the lake, we hiked to the high point for the day at Old Desolate Pass. This is one of those areas that reminds you why it’s important to turn around periodically when hiking the Wonderland. There was a stunning view behind us that we were completely unaware of! Both the clockwise and counterclockwise directions get spectacular views, but at different times. This would be one of those times where CW takes the prize for sure.
At the top of the pass is a tarn with a near perfect reflection of Mt Rainier. I’ve yet to see the mountain’s reflection in Reflection Lake (spoiler alert: this trip would be no different) so it was rewarding to capture the view from a far less common location. The angle provided a perfect view of Willis Wall, the head wall of the Carbon River’s enormous glacial cirque, the largest in the Cascade Range.
Took another break at the top before descending down into the narrow meadow of Moraine Park. After a few shaded switchbacks, the trail follows a stream that was totally engulfed in the pink and purple blossoms of lupine and monkey flower, with the occasional yellows and white blooms of others mixed it. The sun had gotten quite harsh making photography difficult though; this is one of those areas that will have to live largely in memory.
Then it was forested switchbacks that went down, down, down toward Dick Creek Camp. The mosses and berries so typical of the Carbon River area started to appear, and we got our first salmonberries! Salmonberries range in color from golden yellow to crimson red, and despite looking (sometimes) like a raspberry or blackberry they have a very different taste. They are much milder in flavor – sometimes almost flavorless – with a faint tartness that can border on astringent.
After what felt like a lot longer than it should have taken, we finally made it to Dick Creek Camp for lunch, breaking out the cold-soak chicken salad that we’d started rehydrating at the top of the pass. The bridge over the creek had washed out since last we were here, and it required a very short detour before reconnecting to the trail.
From Dick Creek it’s nothing but scree field down to the Carbon River along the Carbon Glacier . . .
. . . and then suddenly the suspension bridge appeared! I was surprised to find a large group of day hikers hanging out at the bridge since it’s nearly an 18 mile RT hike with several miles on the old Carbon River Road, but to each their own.
You don’t need to cross the bridge for Wonderland proper if not camping at Carbon River Camp. We had hiked the Wonderland via the Ipsut Pass route in 2021 so were eager for the Spray Park Alternative. We gathered up our gear and made our way across the suspended walkway one at a time to minimize the amount of movement.
It was on the other side that we experienced our first gear failure. My dad had secured his Z-poles in his pack while on the bridge but they absolutely would not snap back into place on the other side. The little metal brace that keeps the pole extended had gotten stuck up inside the pole and there nothing we could do to fix it. A trekking pole failure on the third day with roughly 20,000 ft elevation gain (and loss) remaining bordered on catastrophic. It was arguably worse than the time we forgot one of the sleeping pads on a backpacking trip in Hawaii and didn’t realize until it was time to sleep.
Frustrations were high as we dealt with this unexpected hurdle. At least for now, the trail was uphill and even underfoot. While proper use of trekking poles can reduce energy expenditure when hiking uphill, it’s their ability to reduce strain and pressure on the knees during the downhill stretches that make them a necessity rather than a nicety for our group. Andras volunteered to hike with the solo pole on the way up to Cataract Valley.
We’d descended to around 3200 ft and had entered an area of old growth forest in the park’s lower elevations. There were so many different species of mosses and ferns and incalculable shades of green. I find that these types of woodlands have a completely different soundscape – something about the way noise is absorbed with the dense canopy and thick, lush vegetation.
We snacked on more salmonberries as hiked up to camp. Cataract Valley Campground was filling up when we arrived. Site 5 was very tempting as it was large and spacious but was also close to a very active group site so we chose Site 2 near to the entrance instead. I chatted with a few of the other campers at the communal watering hole (the stream that runs through the center of the campground) before serving up some backpacker burritos for dinner. Tomorrow would be one of the longest, and most anticipated, days of the trip so needed to rest up to get an early start.
Read more backpacking trip reports from backpacking Mt Rainier’s Wonderland Trail!
- Days 1 – 3: The North Side: White River to Cataract Valley – that’s this trip report!
- Day 4: Spray Park Alternative : Cataract Valley to Mowich Lake
- Days 5 – 7: The West Side: Mowich Lake to Devil’s Dream
- Days 8 – 10: The South Side: Longmire to Maple Creek – coming soon!
- Days 10 – 12: The East Side: Summerland, Indian Bar and Completion – coming soon!
Planning your own trip along Mt Rainier’s Wonderland Trail? Check out our Guide to Backpacking the Wonderland Trail
Planning to backpack the Wonderland Trail in Mount Rainier National Park? Let us know what questions you have in the comments!