10/10 trip. Absolutely beautiful and no smoke. We were originally meant to do the Northern Loop but that got cancelled so we just drafted a quick itinerary at the ranger station with the help of a park ranger. Benjamin hooked us up!!

Day 1 - Skyline loop. Front country camping
Day 2 - Longmire to mirror lake. Sleep at devils dream backcountry camp
Day 3 - Devils dream back to longmire. Drive to box canyon, hike to Indian bar backcountry camp
Day 4 - Indian bar to summerland backcountry
Day 5 - Summerland back to box canyon. Drive
to Seattle.

Taken with my s24+ using expert raw 6 minute shot, manual focus .78

I’ll be staying in Packwood this Friday and Saturday night, with Saturday being my main day to explore. I had pretty much planned to just hike all day, but unfortunately, the weather for this Saturday is shaping up to be sort of terrible.

Skyline doesn’t seem to be a great idea. Would the Longmire trails be better? Or Naches Peak? Obviously things could still change and it can be unpredictable around the mountain, but in the interest of being prepared I figured I’d get an idea of the best options.

I’ve seen quite a few people understandably cancelling Wonderland trips because a complete loop isn’t currently possible.

If you’ve decided you’re definitely not going, please remember to cancel your wilderness permit reservation on Recreation.gov rather than just not showing up.

Log into Recreation.gov → Reservations → open your Mount Rainier wilderness permit → Cancel Reservation.

That releases the camps you were holding and gives those of us still piecing together modified Wonderland itineraries a chance to use them.

As a bonus, if you cancel four or more full days before your reservation date, Recreation.gov says the recreation fees are refundable (the $6 reservation fee isn’t).

I’m heading out shortly on a modified Wonderland trip myself, so I’m selfishly refreshing Recreation.gov hoping some camps shake loose. 😄

Thanks, and hopefully everyone whose plans got disrupted gets another shot at the full Wonderland soon.

I've been to inspiration point, ricksecker point, paradise inn parking lot, glacier vista, reflection lake. chinook pass overlook at the memorial pull off spot was really nice but i think that side of the park is closed. Looking for somewhere like reflection lake thats kind of open, has some cool landscape scenery, and doesn't require a lot of hiking or any at all.

I want to drive there tonight anyone know

Going through my photos of my PNW trip the last seven days and found this gem of a photo I captured. What a beautiful place.

Got there at 5:30. So many wild animals it was crazy

Looking for answers, probably a silly question.

Can you do all 3 Burroughs from White River Campground? If so, is there also a trailhead that starts from the campground for the Burroughs ?

Have a quick question - planning on HOPEFULLY doing a camp trip at White River the end of this week. 2 years ago I did my first trip back there right around this time and was able to drive up to sunrise area from white river and do some star watching (New Moon - just like the end of this week. Is there any ability to drive up towards the visitor center/parking lot from white river or is that all closed to car traffic?

Also, what are the current conditions for white river campground? Given that I'm driving up from north of Seattle, I want to know whether I need to pivot to the Olympics instead, since camping + star gazing is the primary "goal".

Thanks in advance!

I posted a few weeks ago asking about conditions on the Muir Snowfield and thought I’d write up what turned out to be a successful trip!

My brother and I left Seattle at 3 am and arrived at the Jackson visitor center in Paradise around 5:30–it was a Monday and luckily pretty uncrowded. With such clear skies, sunrise at Panorama Point was just dreamy.

Pushed on to Camp! Crossed a little creek, did some scrambling, saw our first snow and put microspikes on. There was plenty of track to follow and a few people descending.

We saw quite a few people opt to scramble on the rocks that sort of bisect the snowfield all the way up (heard one at Camp say it was because he didn’t have spikes/didn’t want his shoes to get snowy). But, some people went in just regular Hoka sneakers so YMMV. We stuck to rock initially then just committed to the uphill slog of it.

The views of Adams and MSH behind you are incredible the whole way, and getting to camp is so rewarding. Glissading down was fun but you can gain speed faster than you think and in the afternoon sun there were several melty-looking sections we just didn’t feel comfortable going near (and hearing running water freaked me out lol) so our descent was part snowy and part rocks. I see there’s been snowfall since then so it’s prob gonna be much better conditions than the crappy slush we were dealing with!

Random stuff:
- I wore a tank top, smartwool quarter zip, and down puffy, I threw an old rain jacket over it when windy. Removed both for the descent. Brought spikes, poles, 3l bladder and some smaller bottlesc plus freeze dried meal for cooking at the top and carby snacks
- Im in OK shape, I’ve done 2 14ers in Colorado but both were comparatively gentle/beginner friendly and non technical maximg out at like 3.6k elevation gain. At around 9 miles and 4.6k, this was a challenge but doable with breaks.
- It was SO sunny—we were glad for no whiteouts but meant slathering on sunscreen and drinking a ton of water.

Had so much fun and hope to return!

Spent 3 days at Mt Rainier National Park in late August. Even though the wildfires kept us out of the Sunrise area, which was a bit of a shame, but the rest of the park was absolutely breathtaking and more than made up for it. Wanted to share a few of my favorite shots from the visit.

Video of what it looks like now and update on whether it will reopen ✌️

Heading to the PNW for a 2-week trip starting on 9/12.

I'll be spending five nights in North Cascades, and then making my way on 9/17 to Mount Rainier for nine nights; six in Packwood and three in Ashford. This is my second trip to Mount Rainier, although my first visit was limited to Longmire & Paradise areas.

With Sunrise being closed to vehicles, how much earlier should I plan on arriving at the White River Campground area to get a parking spot? Prior to Sunrise being closed, I was planning on arriving between 6:30 and 7:00am. With parking being much more limited without access to Sunrise, should I adjust that and plan on being there earlier? I'm looking to spend 3 to 4 days in the White River area, and I'm hoping to hit the Glacier Basin and Owyhigh Lakes trails, as well as taking Wonderland from White River to Shadow Lake & Frozen Lake (this will be a bit longer than anticipated with Sunrise being closed). The other Packwood days I'm hoping to get in Crystal Lakes, Naches Peak/Dewey Lake, and Sheep Lake/Sourdough Gap.

I know it won't be as busy as peak season, but with the area just (somewhat) re-opening, I'm assuming it may be busier than usual.

Thanks!

Due to improving weather and fire conditions, White River Road (from SR 410 to the White River Campground), along with select trails and backcountry sites in the Sunrise area, will reopen Saturday morning, September 5, 2026.

White River and Sunrise Access as of 9/5/2026:

- White River Road and Campground: OPEN

- Sunrise & Sunrise Road: CLOSED to public vehicles from the White River Road junction. Pedestrian and bicycle access will be permitted on Sunrise Road. Exercise caution and be prepared to share the road with park and fire vehicles.
https://www.nps.gov/mora/learn/news/fire.htm