In August in a wta.org post it was reported that the Wonderland trail is once again hikeable in its entirety.

My wife and I hiked the Wonderland trail last year (2006). I agree, it's superb. I live in Washington state and there are many many places to hike out here; I don't tend to want to go back to the same place again in that context, but I'd do this a second time. Note that there are a couple of places you can cache food along the way so as to not have to carry all your food weight from the start.

A couple of caveats. First, you have to book each and every camp site (well) ahead of time, and allowing some flexibility for the F.S. to change your schedule helps your odds. Basically, google it to find the details, mark on your calendar I think something like March or so (?) to make sure you get your application in the first day they'll be accepting them.

Another caveat for some folks is the ups & downs --- at times it feels that there is never any horizontal trail, that you're always climbing up to some ridge or peak, or dropping back down to another water crossing. It's a good idea to be in reasonable shape before starting this. I had done a lot of miles in a different trip a week earlier, and thus found it much easier than did my wife. We did ~10 mile days, and I recommend something along that line, even if you're in good physical shape to do more. There's just a lot to see, the animals are less shy than in most places, it's nice to be able to just sit on a rock in a meadow for a while and watch the wildlife, etc.

There are relatively few outdoorsy things in Washington state that require such advance planning/scheduling, basically a lottery system to try to get in. The others that come to mind off-hand are climbing Mt. St. Helens and hiking in the Enchantments, and both of those are well worth the planning hassle as well.



Brian Lewis