Left home at 6 AM and got to the Nisqually entrance of Mt. Rainier NP just after 8 AM. No rangers on duty when I went by the fee booth as I headed for the Westside Road. One of the perks of being an older hiker is the Senior Pass, so didn't have to pay the day fee. I parked near the gate at MP 3 and headed up the road to the Tahoma Creek Trail and a loop hike on this sunny day. The road has been closed since 1990 due to repeated road damage. About 1/4 mile up the road is where you first see why the road is closed. To ford a creek you would need a four-wheel drive with high clearance to get across. I walked through an area of old growth dead trees before getting to a section of the Tahoma Creek that is right next to the road. You can see how the road keeps getting washed out during the spring runoff. The start of the Tahoma Creek trail has a sign saying that it is not maintained. About 90% of the trail is in good shape and people have been maintaining it. Part of the trail is down in the creek bed and easy to follow. There are three sections where the hillside had washed out and the trail is gone. In those parts a way trails have been built up and around the washouts, but they are very steep on loose rock and dirt. Once I got up the the Wonderland Trail, I went a short distance south to the suspension bridge across Tahoma Creek. I took some photos and had a snack break before going north on the WT.

I hiked up Emerald Ridge on the WT and found a good rock to sit on for lunch with nice views of the west side of Mt. Rainier. It looks much different then the scenes we see from Paradise or Sunrise. This side of the mountain is much more rocky with the Tahoma Glacier in view. After lunch I hiked the WT over Emerald Ridge with great views along the way. Starting back down I found part of the WT is washing away down to the South Puyallap River far below, so I found a trail that goes around a knoll, then back down through a meadow to rejoin the WT. A much safer route. The WT heads down to the bridge crossing of the South Puyallup River near one of the backpacker campsites. Part of this section of the WT is steep and with a lot of loose rock. When I got to the campsite, I took the South Puyallup Trail through old growth forest that heads west to the Westside Road. Along the way I past the tall colonnades of columnar andesite. These hexagon columns were formed when hot lava flowed into the valley with the patten formed because of shrinkage during cooling. I got to another trail junction and took the Round Pass Trail up to Round Pass at the Westside Road. At the pass I walked over and read the Marine Memorial plaque from a plane crash on the South Tahoma Glacier back on December 10, 1946 where all 32 on board died. From the pass, it was the long walk back down the road to the gate. The upper part of the road is in good shape, it is just the section near Tahoma Creek that keeps it closed.

Since the Westside Road has been closed for 22 years, I wondered why the park service never install a restroom at the parking area by the gate for hikers, backpackers and climbers who use the trails on the west side of the park. It sure could use one.

Treking poles were handy on this hike for the steep sections of the Tahoma Creek Trail and the Wonderland Trail up by Emerald Ridge. Met a few other people out on this nice day, a couple backpacking on the WT, a young gal backpacking who I met at Round Pass and a couple out on the day hike on the Westside Road. Only saw one chipmunk and one squirrel on the hike. The vine and big leaf maples are turning color. Lots of different views of the mountains at several points along the way.

Stats for the loop hike, 13.6 miles, 3,300' gain and 3,100' loss. George

Entered in on 8/23 out on the 8/31. 96 miles give or take a few depending on what book or where you get info. Started at white river to indian bar camp. There was snow after leaving summerland up thru the gap and in places down to indian bar. Trail easy to follow. A very cold night at camp..one of the most beautiful places at Mt Rainier. We went from indian bar to maple creek camp..trail in good cond, very easy to follow. Maple creek was one of all of our fav camps..warmer (lower elev), easy water, no bugs. Went from Maple creek camp to lonmire(we stayed the night at the lodge) and got our caches. Great weather for the first 3 days. From longmire we went to devils dream camp, low mile day but allowed us to sleep in and eat a big breakfast. Trail in good cond, alot of bugs at camp, water was easy... right by camp. There were a few sick people here at camp, one we helped into camp..he was going to turn around in next morning and head back to longnire. Went from devils dream to klapatchee park camp. The trail from devils dream to klapatchee was in good cond, alot of elev gain and loss, hard work this day. Camp at klapatchee was was beautiful..very, very windy and cold. We got our water from saint andrews lake, vs aroura lake.. no outlet. We went from klapatchee to golden lakes..trail in good cond. camp at golden lakes was nice, it rained on us and was a very cold night, water at lakes. Golden lakes to mowich camp ground, trail in good cond. This was by far the coldest night ..frost in the morning. We picked up our caches this day..were very excited for them. Went from mowich to carbon river camp, trail in good cond. alot of travel in this camp to and from toilet, water etc. a few bugs here. So we only got rained on 1 day ( night) Next morning went from carbon river and were scheduled to camp at granite creek..but we decided to hike the rest of the way out. went from carbon river camp, to sunrise for burgers and then from there back to white river. Trail from carbon to granite creek was alot of hard work alot of elev gain. from granite creek back to white river trail good and great views. Saw a bear at sunrise, close to sky scraper pass. All bridges are in so no ford rivers.
The trail overall is in great shape. Alot of the camps were not full, talked with a ranger and they said alot of people drop out, etc. Word on the trail was a resident bear at mystick lake and alot of bears at sunrise camp. All 4 of us had a great times, struggles and where able to see so much.

My 17 year old daughter and I hiked the section of the Wonderland Trail from Fryingpan Creek to Box Canyon as an overnight backpacking trip. I hiked this with both my kids about 10 years ago, and this trip reminded me that this is one of the most stunningly beautiful hikes anywhere in the world.

There is still lots of snow above 5200 ft or so. If you hike north to south then you don't have to make any serious descents of snowfields. We didn't have poles with us, but many hikers did and they might be nice to have along. The trail is in great condition, and the fields of wildflowers are amazing.

I have a picture set here
http://www.flickr.com/[…]/

I just returned from hiking the Wonderland Trail.

I will list a date and the areas hiked that day, then give a trail report on those areas.

8/9 - Sunrise to Golden Lakes:

From Sunrise to Carbon Glacier Suspension Bridge the trail is in great shape. 5-6 snow patches remain but are all less than 30' across and are not steep. A few spots with water on the trail.

From Carbon River Camp I opted to take the Spray Park Trail alternate route, so I can't report on the Ipsut Creek area.

Heading up through the Spray Park Trail, there are still 10-12 snowfields/patches of snow. Some are 100-200' in length, but none are too steep and if one slips you aren't going to go too far. Navigation is pretty straight forward. Some mud spots and a fair amount of water on the trail.

2 downed trees between South Mowich River and Golden Lakes with a few brushy spots.

8/10 - Golden Lakes to Maple Creek Camp:

From Golden Lakes to Klapatche Park there are 7 downed trees with some brush issues coming out of the North Puyallup River drainage.

From Klapatche to South Puyallup Camp there are ~5 patches of snow that remain. None pose any real issue. There are 2 downed trees and the trail is quite brushy in a few spots. St Andrews Lake is only 20% melted out.

From South Puyallup Camp to Reflection Lakes the trail is in great shape.

From Reflection Lakes to Maple Creek Camp the trail is very brushy in places. There is a ~50 foot slide in this stretch where the trail has been repaired but it's loose gravel/scree.

8/11 - Maple Creek Camp to Sunrise:

From Maple Creek Camp to Indian Bar there are ~13 downed trees. At ~5500' patchy snow begins and then subsides heading down to Indian Bar. There are 5-6 patches that remain, with some that are steep traverses.

Leaving Indian Bar the trail becomes a little convoluted and some might have a hard time finding the trail. There are 4 downed trees from Indian Bar to the tree line. Patchy snow starts at ~6500' and continues off and on to Panhandle Gap. There are some steep traverses that remain (I witnessed a group where 2 of the party lost their footing and slid 25-35'). From Panhandle Gap down to Summerland there are quite a few snow patches/fields that remain. Some traverses are quite steep. There are also a few faulty snow bridges out there. Navigation is pretty straight forward, as there are well defined boot tracks.

From Summerland to Sunrise the trail is immaculate with 2 downed trees in the first few miles down from Summerland.

As long as you are comfortable crossing on rocks and/or logs, then there are no fords the entire way.

Cheers!
S-H-A-L

PS - I've created a YouTube video of this hike and it can be seen at:

http://youtu.be/vq9zpZH4QN8