Wonderland Trail

“Sirpete, Wingding0, I'd love to do this trail, too. I'll keep following this thread and get a copy of the book Mediaman recommends. We drive up to Oregon or Washington pretty often, but always have other obligations. Maybe next year we could add on the days for the trip.”

“next august would be a nice time

i think i'll order the book too”

“If you're ordering online, buy it from Matt, the webmaster.

http://www.lattaoutdoors.com/cgi-bin/latta/hgw083.html”

“MediaMan is right...that's the book to have. I was given it as a gift by my friends and I carried that thing in my pack and read from it every day. It was essential. It's right next to me and quite dogeared.

I started July 19. Next summer if I can go again I would like to start no earlier than August 1. The summer weather was truly spectacular.

I'd love to join a group next summer.”

“A plan is hatched, 4000 posts later, we may get to do it.”

“I'm training for it already. Hills and more hills.”

“It looks like 10 days plus travel time.”

“If I do this one next year, I think September would be the best month for me.”

“or maybe early October”

“Rain~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`”

“This is starting to look like a definate.


Oh Dear Knee God, keep 'em intact!”

“Wonderlandpalooza?”

“I ain't doing no 4,000 posts keeping up with this.

My idea of coordinating a hike is to give the date and location of the hike, and meet at the TH.”

“We hiked the Wonderland over Labor day 2 years ago. Had great weather to bad weather on the same trip. I would be interested in doing this trail again. I didn't get to do the entire trail last time. This trail is spectacular!!”

“I'm in. I'm thinking like leaving the east coast late one week, take the whole next week and then a day or 2 the following. that gives me a full week with both weekends, and a few days on either side. plenty of time to do the trip. most people seem to be doing it in 10 to 11 days.

Late August or early September is fine with me too.”

“Someone else's trip report.


http://www.myoan.net/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000137”

“Isn't September one of the drier months up that way?”

“Pete - I have a hunch you'll be able to drag your neighbor with you on this trip.”

“A day of rest in the middle of this trek would be good.”

“If I can go next year, it would be in the first half of August. I have to be back by the 3rd week for the start of school.

Like TomT said, a day of rest would be great. It's a humdinger of a hike and there are so many things to stop and savor. I'm 43 and in good enough shape but I'm in no hurry and nothing to prove. Some young dudes we met last summer were doing it in 8 days (or less) and they were moving too fast IMO( and one was wearing sneakers).

Another note....from my experience this trail really pounds on your feet. Comfortable boots/shoes are essential.”

“Instead of leaving for work on time, here I am opening up this thread to get the name of the book, so that instead of working my fingers to the bone I can swing by the gear shop and buy it!

If I don't get back into my exercise routine soon (whadda ya mean - it's too late now), no one on the Sierralpalooza will want to hike the Wonderland with me after seeing me crawling up and down the hills.

Along that vein, later in the year it gets dark a lot sooner, so I'd probably go for before October.”

“wannabp and Naviguesser were always the last ones to get to camp on the Sierrapalooza trip and here they are again on the Wonderlandpalooza trip.

What's going on with those two?

Heeheeheeee”

“Its a wicked hard trail.”

“But we are tough.”

“Bring your lunch.”

“JO what about the 5th through the 17th. thats like 13 days, plenty of time to do the hike and travel to and from the east coast. Does that work into you schedule.”

“sirpete

mmmmmm!? That might work for me and my son ( and maybe daughters and ?). I'll have to have a look at the school calender for the next year. We report for duty on the 18th this year. That sounds like prime time on the the Wonderland and a nice time to visit Seattle. I'll stay tuned.”

“If I go, I'm going to make it in late August or September. I'm going to try to avoid the busiest time on the trail.”

“Sounds good wingding

It wasn't very busy when we went in late July, especially on the wild west side.”

“I'm told you want to do these things after the kids go back to school. Fewer people and fewer bugs. What is the end of the season there? When do you start bumping up against snow?”

“I would say that the season could end as early as late Sept to mid Oct. You will always be bumping into snow in the high passes .......better bring those sunglasses. The bugs weren't too bad IMO.”

“My local REI (CA) didn't have the book. What's with them? They had a whole section on Arizona and Hawaii. Guess I'll have to order on-line, hope I don't get a whole new group of spammers sending me e-mail.”

“Best time for avoiding rain: August thru mid-Sept

Best time for scenery: August gets you wildflowers as well as everything else on the mountain

Busiest time: AUGUST

Get reservations as early as permissible (east side camps have been booked solid for Aug. '03 for over a month)

Bette Filley's book is THE BEST for it

You can send food for cache at three locations: Sunrise, Longmire, Mowich Lake (depending on where you start the trail).

Avoid camping at White River if you must camp in Sunrise area (after being on the trail for a few days, you really don't wanna camp in a car-camp ground, stay up at the walk-in at Sunrise). If you need to cache fuel, Sunrise is the only ranger station you can cache it at.

Take lots of film, or extra storage media and batteries for the digicam

Don't try and rush this trail, too much to see. Maximum allowable permit time is 14 days. If your time allows, reserve for and take all 14.

Go as light as you reasonably can and consider trekking poles. This trail has some serious elevation change that can trash knees.

Try going counter-clock wise. Most hikers start at Longmire and go clockwise. Be different (like members of this site are "normal")”

“Thanks for the info Marmot”

“Wow! I almost fainted when I saw a former SARBoy posting....

Great to see you posting...


Feeney”

“Someone said it earlier, buy the book here from the bookstore link, I did. Will let you know about the service.”

“O.K.

I made an executive decision. I am planning to go out there the 2nd and 3rd week of August I will flying out friday the 6th after work. gaining several hours on the way! I'm staying until Sunday the 22nd. That will give me plenty of time to do the trail in the peak time of the season.

anyone interested is certainly welcome. I rise early and walk all day.

I too will be buying the book from here. Counterclockwise definitly sounds like a good idea to me.”

“Ordered the book early this week, in the mail box today! I'll be buying more here.”

“Sir Pete,

I assume you are still talking about August of 2004. I'm interested, would have chosen a few weeks later, but August in AZ is hot, so what the heck. I too rise early and walk all day. I'll study "the book" on the plane this week, and get pumped. August of next year is a long way off, but if you don't schedule these things, they don't often happen.”

“yep Aug 2004. I think we may even see another local Pennsylvannian on this one.........

yeah it's a long way away but thats O.K.

I just ordered the book too.”

“SirPete...Pennsy ain't gonna go. He's afraid of flying. :)”

“I knew there was sumpthin wrong with that dude.”

“he'll just fly with soemthing he can attach to his pack...”

“sirpete

Maybe (hopefully) we'll cross paths with you next summer. Due to teaching schedules and college we've got to be back by the 3rd week.”

“Hey Pete - just ignore the man behind the curtain. I do hate flying though. I've flown once and it wasn't pleasant, BUT I'm prepared to give it another chance.”

“I still think I'd like to go at the very end of August or the very beginning of September if I do it. I sleep late too - don't usually start hiking until around 9 am.”

“Pennsy, do you ever take the train? Great views, easier than flying, sort of..........”

“....won't fly, but he does haul ass.”

“Haha.... verrry funny TT.

Wannabp, that's not a bad idea. I never thought of that. But if Pete's gonna fly, maybe I'll tag along. For safety, I'll just hide behind his big hair.”

“My book arrived - I was hoping for more pictures”