Willis Wall: most hikes of the Wonderland Trail?

*Willis Wall (not posed!) at Indian Henrys, Mt. Rainier*

Mt. Rainier National Park has been my stomping and training ground since 1983. I've skied its environs and summited. I've biked all the roads within the park boundaries, and have hiked every trail (both maintained and unmaintained) annotated on various maps. I’ve more recently spent time off trail, in the process summiting 75 of the 100 subpeaks listed in the park in an ongoing process. And finally, I've hiked the Wonderland Trail over 30 times (37 as of 2024). My familiarity peaked in 2012 when I undertook the enormous and unprecedented task of filming (via time lapse and video) all 101 miles, to include the alternate route over Spray Park, and mapping and filming every backcountry campsite and trail accessible year round water source. My fastest to date is 36 hours and everything in between up to 7 days; however, I usually take 3 to 4 days to complete the trail. Although I tend to be on the light and fast side of backpacking, I fully appreciate hikers who take up to 14 days, cache food and carry more weight; how we enjoy our outdoor sojourns is a personal choice, not subject to criticism. What you'll find on this page: each section traveling clockwise around the mountain starting and ending at Longmire.

Notes on Equipment: Consider the year, 2012 when this filming was done. My main forward facing camera was a GoPro Hero2, which I had to replace after failure during one of the recording sessions (entire day lost). Compared to more recent iterations, that vintage was rather rudimentary…I had problems with a yellow cast in post production and it didn’t handle low light or harsh light very well. The left side facing camera was a Contour 1080P and the right side was a Contour Plus, which also had to be replaced. These cameras had a tendency to “stripe” when facing the sun and also were rudimentary in handling low light situations. Contour shut its doors in 2013, then emerged in 2014 in partnership with Ion, which filed for bankruptcy a few years later. I still use a Contour Roam2 as a backup biking camera. Luckily, my homemade bottom weighted trekking pole mount provided a very stable platform. In total, I captured 316,000 stills and 19 hours of video for this project and spent 3 months editing. For more extensive background on the process of capturing the Wonderland, Click Here.

NOTE: notice shots from different seasons from the same vantage point in the Wonderland Trail Photo Gallery pulldown.

Wonderland Trail Profile

WALKIN’ THE WONDERLAND

Walkin' the Wonderland is a compilation of 3 camera shots at normal walking speed, snippets taken along the entire Wonderland Trail at interesting spots. Originally filmed in 2012, this melding of 3 cameras was accomplished by crafting a stabilized carry system and further treatment in post production. This 27 minute panoramic film features all original music.

WONDERLAND TRAIL WATER SOURCES

While filming the entire trail in 2012, I also recorded on GPS and video every year round trail accessible water source. Coordinated with the Wonderland Trail Basic Series, each time a "water" prompt comes up it corresponds to one of these sources. I show relative position on the map along with a simplified elevation profile with each source numbered, plus date/time of recording, lat/longs and elevation. This allows the viewer to either see in a glance where the sources are for each section, or gives one the ability to enter each one in their own GPS (downloadable).

WONDERLAND TRAIL BASIC SERIES INFO: Each of these sections is a timelapse, capturing every foot of the trail in 2012 (including the alternate route over Spray Park). The moving map shows relative position, elevation, and periodic DATE/TIME (approx every 9 minutes real time). The time lapse is sped up; viewing is approximately 30-40 MPH “viewer” time. There is no soundtrack. By republishing here, I am able to offer full HD (1920x1080) vice the original 720.

1. LONGMIRE TO SOUTH PUYALLUP CAMP Starting at Longmire and proceeding clockwise to South Puyallup. This introduction part to the basic series explains the format and takes you over the Kautz and Pyramid Creeks, Indian Henrys and Emerald Ridge to end at the South Puyallup camp.

2. SOUTH PUYALLUP TO GOLDEN LAKES Nice views here through St. Andrews Park, Klapatche Park and a gorgeous late afternoon trip through Silver Forest.

3. GOLDEN LAKES TO MOWICH LAKE This stays primarily in forest with late afternoon crossings of the Mowich Rivers. Sparse water on this section until just before the South Mowich River.

4. MOWICH LAKE TO CARBON RIVER CAMP Nice views past Mowich Lake and over Ipsut Pass plus the lower Carbon River crossing to Carbon River Camp.

5. CARBON RIVER BRIDGE TO MYSTIC CAMP A nice stretch over the rocky trail next to the Carbon Glacier and over Mystic Pass, which affords great views of the mountain.

6. MYSTIC CAMP TO SUNRISE CAMP Includes a beautiful late afternoon transit through flower fields above Berkeley Park.

7. SUNRISE CAMP TO SUMMERLAND Gentle, wonderful forest trails and the switchbacks up to Summerland.

8. SUMMERLAND TO NICKEL CREEK The ever popular transit over Panhandle Gap and spectacular flower fields on the Cowlitz Divide.

9. NICKEL CREEK TO LONGMIRE Lots to cover here as we finish up the trail, transiting the Stevens Canyon and Reflection Lakes area. The last part was filmed with some first snows in October to afford a different view of the trail which has been purely in sunshine up to this point.

10. ALTERNATE ROUTE: MOWICH LAKE TO CARBON RIVER Not to be missed in good weather with far reaching views away from the mountain. A crossing of arguably the most picturesque creek in the park. Since this section is listed as an alternate route for the Wonderland Trail on the NPS website, it is an official part of the Wonderland and you will get credit for using it!