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letsgobobby
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letsgobobby
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PostWed Mar 15, 2023 7:30 pm 
Hello hikers I got the lottery and can pick a trip April 7. not sure how this really works but it seems I'll be later than some? anyway the two sections I'd most like to do are either Mowich to Longmire or Summerland over Panhandle to Box Canyon. I've gone to Panhandle as a day hike and bits of the trail off the old westside road but never either section as a through hike. Seems like either could be a 3-4 day hike very easily. The Mowich section has seen a lot of change over the years with the Tahoma glacier. Any tips for navigating or is it pretty straight forward (as of 2022)? thank you

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Randito
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PostWed Mar 15, 2023 8:14 pm 
??? The Wonderland Trail in April is a ski tour / snowshoe not a hike. You'll be camping on snow and no campsite reservations are needed Did you mean August? Or did buy a fake reservation from a scam site?

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letsgobobby
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letsgobobby
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PostWed Mar 15, 2023 8:23 pm 
i won the Wonderland lottery for summer season but the window to reserve a trip is about ten days long and my date appears to be in the middle (April 7). I've never done this lottery before so don't know how it works.

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thunderhead
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PostWed Mar 15, 2023 8:28 pm 
You arnt confusing euro dates with US dates are you? 7/4 would mean april 7 to a European... Or do you just have to pick a trip by april 7?

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zimmertr
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PostWed Mar 15, 2023 9:04 pm 
OP has done nothing wrong here and is certainly not planning on backpacking around Rainier in the middle of winter.... Some of our members could perhaps stand to assume a little more about others on this website. Many are quick to assume the worst about their skill level and are eager to inform them so. For those unfamiliar with the process, when you win the Wonderland permit lottery the winners are given one of 10 dates in April. On that date, they are allowed to book whatever sites they want that are still available. The later their date in the process, the less sites are available for booking. There are some constraints I recall that may require overrides. For example, booking a site exceeding 20 miles from the last. A late date in the process can sometimes mean the inability to execute a full circumnavigation without excellent physical fitness. As you may be required to string together the remaining options. Which can mean 4 miles one day and 25 the next. Whatever sites remain available at the end of the lottery are then released to the public. Don't stay at Devil's Dream unless you like mosquitos. And if you're doing a long trip, for example 10 days, staying at White River Campground is an excellent reprieve because there is accessible running water and flushing toilets. With respect to glaciers, you'd have to intentionally approach one to tread foot on it. The entire route is on trail. Though snow does remain near Panhandle Gap and Spray Park year round. You're going to have a great time. I've done multiple long distance trips and Wonderland was easily my favorite. My favorite area was Emerald Ridge. But so much of it is incredible. Spray Park, Indian Bar, Sunrise, Carbon Glacier Moraine, Panhandle Gap, etc. If I had to choose it would probably be the Mowich/Longmire section but I can't recommend doing the entire trail enough. In my opinion, backpacking takes on a whole different level of awesome after 5 days on trail. I prefer 1-2 week trips. WillisWall is certainly the resident expert on all things Wonderland but I'll be happy to answer any specific questions you have to the best of my recollection. https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8034422

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rossb, Cyclopath, jaysway, reststep, letsgobobby
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Bruce Albert
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PostWed Mar 15, 2023 10:12 pm 
letsgobobby wrote:
anyway the two sections I'd most like to do are either Mowich to Longmire or Summerland over Panhandle to Box Canyon
Too bad you got to pick; those two sections encompass the best of the Wonderland. I'd say Mowich to Longmire has the edge. The west side of Rainier is really special. You can do it in four hours and fifteen minutes like the cool kids or you can spend nights at Sunset Park, Klapatche, and Indian Henry's (Devil's Dream), do a side hike or two, and savor some really pretty country in a relaxed manner. Klapatche is (unless they've changed the rules) one of the few remaining spots where one can camp legally in the alpine. Every person should get to spend at least one night of their lives at Klapatche. Devil's Dream is down in the woods and unexciting, but not to worry there's plenty to occupy oneself in and near Indian Henry's and then just go down to DD late in the day to sleep. Yes there will be bugs. So it goes. There's a lotta up and down. So it goes. White River to Box Canyon is really pretty too, particularly Indian Bar and out the Cowlitz Divide, and a perfect two night trip, but you've already done about a third of it. Navigation on the Wonderland once the snow's gone is straightforward as straightforward can be. There once were two sections (Panhandle Gap and Spray Park) where snow stayed late in the summer or never melted out that had brightly painted cairns, bur global warming sort of fixed that. As stated above williswall is the Zen master and keeper of all Wonderland Trail knowledge. Enjoy your trip.

silence
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letsgobobby
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letsgobobby
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PostWed Mar 15, 2023 11:44 pm 
yes this is what the email says: Congratulations! We wanted to let you know the Mount Rainier 2023 Early Access Lottery lottery drawing recently took place and you’ve been awarded with early access for an opportunity to create a reservation prior to the general on-sale. Your early access timeslot opens on 3:00 PM PDT on April 7, 2023. Login to your Recreation.gov account and visit the Mount Rainier National Park Wilderness and Climbing Permits to view available inventory and for an opportunity to reserve your desired trip itinerary once your early access timeslot opens. I've done the northern Loop and Wonderland from Mowich/Ipsut including Spray Park to Sunrise in various day and overnight iterations a few times, Panhandle twice and Indian Bar once, Kautz Ridge up to Indian Henry Hunting Ground as well as some dabbling via bike and hike off the old west side road so I know the park, just not sure of the logistics of multi-day ccw from Mowich. I can get a car shuttle. I recall from my day hiles that some of the trail was washed out in places but that was maybe five years ago. It sounds like, if I can get it, that's a great part of the park to do. thanks for the pointers!

Cyclopath, zimmertr
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42wolves
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PostThu Mar 16, 2023 9:56 pm 
I'm going to follow this thread because I was chosen for April 12 in the lottery. I am concerned about my chances of being able to reserve campsites for the entirety of the Wonderland Trail since April 12 is fairly late in the early access window. Can anybody comment on the feasibility of being able to put something together? I will need to hike in August as I am a teacher and I'd rather not contend with July snow, but within August I am very flexible. I'm not up to super long distances.

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zimmertr
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zimmertr
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PostThu Mar 16, 2023 10:13 pm 
I think that, by virtue of the fact that you're in the lottery's window, you'll be able to make something work. Like I said though, are you willing to have a day or two where you have to cover large distance to connect "undesirable" camps? That is a chance, not an absolute likelihood. It really depends on what is available when you are up to choose. Fortunately when my girlfriend won the lottery we were able to choose on Day 1 😅

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Stroszek
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Stroszek
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PostThu Mar 16, 2023 11:03 pm 
Hello! Another lottery winner here, drew 3/21 1 PM and couldn’t believe my luck.

jaysway, letsgobobby, zimmertr
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42wolves
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PostFri Mar 17, 2023 8:29 am 
Nicely done!

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jaysway
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PostFri Mar 17, 2023 3:37 pm 
Congrats on winning the lottery! I believe the lottery starts on 3/21 and ends on 4/19, so 4/7 should hopefully mean that you can string a trip together. I bet it will be easier to put a section hike together like you are interested in versus doing the entire loop. I won the early access lottery last year. My access date was closer to the end of the available dates, and almost every day was reserved for the in-demand camps like Indian Bar and Summerland except for some very early or late season days, and even camps less in demand were mostly booked for weekends. I believe that stringing together section hikes was still possible later in the early access period, but required more compromising on dates and camps. I don't actively use Facebook, but would recommend searching for the Wonderland Trail group there. It's highly active, and some of the moderators and regulars provide fantastic information and frequent updates that will be helpful in planning your trip. Last year, people would post every day with itineraries they were able to put together that made it easy to plan for when my access day approached. During the season, people also frequently posted conditions reports and ranger updates, although you can get a pretty good sense of this by checking WTA. Good luck putting an itinerary together and I hope you have a great hike. Consider posting a trip report here afterwards smile.gif.

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Cyclopath
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PostFri Mar 17, 2023 4:11 pm 
zimmertr wrote:
For those unfamiliar with the process, when you win the Wonderland permit lottery the winners are ...
Thanks for taking the time and effort to write this up. It's clear that a lot of people don't understand how this works (I was one of them until reading this) and this is great info. Exactly answered the question. This was awesome!

rossb
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InFlight
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PostSun Mar 26, 2023 9:20 pm 
I was awarded a Wonderland lottery this year as well (first time in four applications). The signup dates ranges from March 21 to April 19. My signup date is April 1. With a later date of April 7, you will have to be flexible on campsites and the trip dates, prime availability in August/September will go first. Didn’t get the Enchantments lottery (Snow) this year, but did get the North Cascades early access lottery as well. Looking at McAllister Pass and Rainbow Loop.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately...” ― Henry David Thoreau
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Joseph
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PostMon Mar 27, 2023 9:02 pm 
letsgobobby wrote:
Hello hikers I got the lottery and can pick a trip April 7. not sure how this really works but it seems I'll be later than some? anyway the two sections I'd most like to do are either Mowich to Longmire or Summerland over Panhandle to Box Canyon. I've gone to Panhandle as a day hike and bits of the trail off the old westside road but never either section as a through hike. Seems like either could be a 3-4 day hike very easily. The Mowich section has seen a lot of change over the years with the Tahoma glacier. Any tips for navigating or is it pretty straight forward (as of 2022)? thank you
Congratulations! Hope there are some spots left when you get to pick the available sites in April. We got April 11 and are not expecting much to be left over. Both sections are easy to navigate, assuming you're hiking in the relatively snow free period of late-July to Sept. I would say both sections - White River to Box, and Mowich to Longmire are amazing and worth doing. The only thing is, White River to Box only has two main camps and they fill up because they are the premier sites: Summerland and Indian Bar. We did the section in two days, one night (Box to Sunrise, stayed at Indian Bar). Since so many of the lottery winners (those who get an early crack at a reservation) insist on staying at both Summerland and Indian bar in the same trip (selfishly, I might add), it is really difficult to do that section without doing a marathon. I think Mowich to Longmire might be more feasible as there are more camps available - the only real premier camps are Golden Lakes and even more so, Klapatche Park. But there's S. Mowich, North Puyallup, South Puyallup and Devil's dream available. Hopefully something will be available. That's a really cool section, with Emerald Ridge. Good luck!

letsgobobby
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