Wonderland

a little about what I learned on my walk

I just (3 days ago) got back from a hike around Mount Rainier on the Wonderland Trail (map here). For those interested in the trip report, here are the basics. Skip past the photos for the rest of the article.

• Thursday: Left Longmire around 10am - easy six-mile hike to Devil's Dream.

• Friday: Thirteen miles from Devil’s Dream to North Puyallup - lot's of (big) ups and downs, and probably the hardest day of the trip.

• Saturday: North Puyallup camp to Mowich Lake. This is a public campground - and it was full, but I had just hiked 15 miles, so I slept through everyone’s shenanigans. I saw my first bear on this day.

• Sunday: Took the Spray Park alternate route to Mystic camp. saw another bear, an owl at Mystic, and ten million chipmunks. Lots of day hikers clogging the trail, but lost them at the rock crossing in Spray Park.

• Monday: Legs felt great, so I was semi-trotting down from Mystic...and just about ran into a bear in the trail. I stopped, talked to it, and it eventually strolled far enou…