Summary
Had a reservation to hike the Northern Loop clockwise 8/14 – 8/17 with my hiking buddy and his son’s first ever backpacking trip. For context, I completed the Wonderland Trail 12 or so years ago and I would agree with others that this route is like a mini-Wonderland. Unfortunately, on our second day it rained the whole time and the third day was super foggy, so minimal views between Mystic and Fire Creek for us ☹. Had some great views on our last day from Fire Creek back to Sunrise and I may try day hiking that area in the future on a nicer day.
Day 1: Sunrise -> Skyscraper Peak -> Mystic Lake
Arrived at the White River entrance shortly after 7:30 and there was no car line to get into the park. For the Wilderness Center, we were 6th or 7th in line and I am assuming some of the folks in front of us must have been doing walk-up reservations because it took almost 50 minutes to get our permit as there was only one Ranger. Got to Sunrise parking lot a little after 9:00 on a Thursday and it was about half full. We hiked partly up Skyscraper Peak before deciding to drop our laden packs and bagged the peak which was worth the views and solitude as we were the only group up there. Note that there isn’t a water source after leaving Sunrise until you hit Granite Creek Camp about 4.5 miles in (almost 5.5 if you do the side trip to Skyscraper). Trail was in great shape, only questionable area was the log bridge over the White River as the trail it connects to on the West side is a small creek so it might be slowly washing away the “foundation” of the bridge on that side. We stayed at Mystic in site 7, plenty of room for 2 tents (a 2 person and my Durston X-Mid 1). I hiked up to the lake and then the Ranger Cabin, said hi to the Ranger who was hiking down to check permits at camp and he offered to let me in the cabin if I stayed long enough, but there were no views as the clouds started to roll in so I didn’t hang out.
Day 2: Mystic -> Yellowstone Cliffs
It rained all night, the morning was foggy and then around 11AM or so, it rained steadily through the rest of the day, so it was a wet slog for us. We had planned a side trip to Curtis Ridge overlooking the Carbon glacier, but gave up on that plan as we assumed our view would just be clouds. We crossed the Carbon suspension bridge to grab water near Carbon camp, but there was one more water source that I didn’t see on my map maybe 5 or so minutes before you leave the Wonderland and switch onto the Northern Loop trail, so grab water here before the steep climb out of the Carbon valley. From there, no water till Yellowstone Camp and if you aren’t staying there, you may want to keep going to the lake a mile past the cutoff for Yellowstone as it is probably a 5 minute walk off the Northern Trail to get to the water source at camp. As others have said, the climb away from Carbon is steep and seems to last forever, the unrelenting rain didn’t help our spirits. When we arrived at Yellowstone, we could just barely see the cliffs through the fog, so can’t really comment on the view. Someone was already hunkered down in site 2, so we had to take site 1 which had two huge puddles right in the prime tent pitching spots, so we had to pitch our tents on the edge of the site that wasn’t flat and was covered in big roots (worst sleeping experience I have had in the backcountry). If it wasn’t raining, I think this camp would have been great, right by the creek with deer and possible views to the cliffs.
Day 3: Yellowstone -> Fire Creek
The rain slowed in the early morning and finally relented when we got out of our tents, but a thick fog coated everything, so our views were obscured, we couldn’t see the Yellowstone Cliffs at all, maybe 30 feet of visibility. After climbing to Windy Gap, the area was beautiful even with the fog, would love to come back on a clear day! We then descended into the trees towards Lake James, my hiking partner saw the mama bear with 2 cubs others have seen right on the trail shortly before we came to the cutoff for the Lake James Patrol Cabin, they didn’t stick around long enough for the other 2 of us to catch a glimpse as this was a thickly wooded area with lots of switchbacks. We grabbed water just before Lake James Camp and didn’t see any sources from there to Fire Creek camp (again, if you aren’t staying at Fire Creek, you probably don’t want to add almost a mile round trip off the main trail to grab water here, but plan accordingly as there isn’t a water source until you get to Lodi Creek past the cutoff to Lake Eleanor). The hike from James to Fire Creek is almost all in the trees except for when you get to White River. The very first fork of the river you have to cross is a rock hop that was pretty sketchy when we arrived in the afternoon a day after it rained so much, we could only see the top ½ inch of the rocks and spent some time looking up and downstream deciding if that was really where we were expected to cross, if you see a ribbon on a root ball across the fork of the river, then that is what you are aiming for. The rest of the crossings all had bridges, it was a little confusing as you cross a fork or two twice, but just look for bridges, footprints and cairns and you should find the way. Per above, getting to Fire Creek was a trek, site 1 was taken so we checked out site 2 and 3 and decided to stay in 2 as it was closer to the water source and the bear pole. The site worked great for us, but note that the creek was running low which made it more difficult to fill our Cnoc water bags. Also remember the next morning how far away and uphill that toilet is!
Day 4: Fire Creek -> Sunrise
We awoke to the blessing of the sun breaking through the clouds and a dry camp to start our day. We filled up our water and switchbacked up to the clearing where the hiking gods granted us a small window in the clouds we could see the mountain through. We hung out here for a while as it was the first good view of the mountain since day 1. I would consider a day hike to this location in the future as you also get to walk through Berkeley Park which is cool as well. We finally said goodbye to that view and hiked through Berkeley Park. The first water source was just before getting to Berkeley Camp and then you have access to Lodi and a bunch of smaller streams with the last good source coming just before you turn left to hike the trail you likely have been staring at that takes you back up to the Wonderland. We didn’t stop at Berkeley Camp, but it looked nice although the sites we saw were right on top of the trail. Not too much to note after you take that sweeping left to go straight up to the Wonderland as you have already seen this view going the other way.
I have included a link to my GPX file below if helpful.
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