Wonderland Trail: 10-Day Itinerary & Permit Lottery
The Wonderland Trail circles Mount Rainier. The National Park Service lists the trail at about 93 miles with roughly 27,000 feet of both gain and loss (NPS). Ridgefold’s own measurement comes in shorter, at 85.4 miles with 26,995 feet of gain. That’s roughly an 8% gap in distance, about a full day’s hiking at a moderate pace, so treat both figures as approximate and build real slack into your itinerary rather than assuming either number is exact.
This is a longer, harder commitment than most of the trips covered here. It’s also one of the most permit-competitive trails in the country, with a lottery system built specifically because of that demand.
Quick facts
| Distance | ~85–93 mi (Ridgefold measurement vs. NPS figure) |
| Days | 9–14 typical, this itinerary uses 9 nights / 10 days |
| Elevation gain | ~27,000 ft |
| Direction | Either; most hikers go clockwise or counterclockwise around the full loop |
| Permit | Wilderness permit, itinerary-based, competitive lottery |
| Camping | Designated camps only, no cross-country camping |
The 9-night itinerary
The Wonderland Trail is itinerary-based: your permit assigns you a specific camp for each night, not just a general date range. This means the exact camps in your plan depend on what’s available when you book. The table below uses Ridgefold’s own route data, a real clockwise sequence of 9 named backcountry camps starting and ending at Longmire, with mileage scaled to match the trail’s measured 85.4-mile total.
| Night | Route | Miles | Camp | Permit note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Longmire → Devil’s Dream | ~5 mi | Devil’s Dream Camp | Your permit fixes this camp for this date |
| 2 | Devil’s Dream → Klapatche Park | ~7 mi | Klapatche Park | — |
| 3 | Klapatche Park → Golden Lakes | ~8 mi | Golden Lakes | — |
| 4 | Golden Lakes → Ipsut Creek | ~12 mi | Ipsut Creek Camp | Longer day; consider splitting if your pace is slower |
| 5 | Ipsut Creek → Mystic Camp | ~9 mi | Mystic Camp | — |
| 6 | Mystic Camp → Summerland | ~17 mi | Summerland | Longest day on this itinerary; strongly consider an intermediate camp near White River or Sunrise if your permit allows it |
| 7 | Summerland → Indian Bar | ~4 mi | Indian Bar | Crosses Panhandle Gap; popular, competitive camp, book early |
| 8 | Indian Bar → Olallie Creek | ~11 mi | Olallie Creek Camp | — |
| 9 | Olallie Creek → Longmire | ~13 mi | Trailhead (exit) | — |
Night 6 is the outlier: Ridgefold’s route data only has named camps at Mystic and Summerland on that stretch, which are far apart, so a strict 9-camp plan puts a genuinely long day between them. In practice, most hikers split this leg with an additional night at a camp near White River or Sunrise; check current camp availability in that area when you apply, since your actual permit itinerary may look different from this 9-night version.
How the permit lottery works
Mount Rainier runs the Wonderland Trail permit in two stages.
Early access lottery. In 2026, applications were accepted from 7:00am Pacific on February 10 through 7:00pm Pacific on March 3, at recreation.gov. Winners were notified starting March 14, and early access booking windows (each winner gets a specific date and time slot) ran from March 21 through April 18. The lottery application fee is a non-refundable $6.
General reservations. For anyone who didn’t win the early access lottery, or wants a different date, general reservations open to everyone at 7:00am Pacific on April 25.
Fees. Beyond the $6 lottery/reservation fee, it’s $12 per person per night for the permit itself (NPS; confirm current figures directly with NPS before applying, since fee schedules are reviewed periodically).
Because the trail is itinerary-based, applying isn’t just picking a start date, it’s building a full night-by-night camp plan and hoping the combination is available. In my experience researching this trail, popular camps near the mountain’s most photogenic sections, Indian Bar and Summerland among them, tend to book up first. If you don’t get your ideal combination, adjusting one or two nights to less popular camps often opens up availability.
Best time to go
Mid-July through September is the reliable window; the trail is typically mostly snow-free from mid-July to October, and average-snow years still carry lingering snow into early July at higher points (NPS). Since your itinerary is locked in when you book, well before you know that season’s snowpack, build in flexibility for your specific dates rather than assuming an average year.
Frequently asked questions
How many days does the Wonderland Trail take?
Most people take 9 to 14 days, depending on fitness and how much time they want to spend at camps rather than just hiking through. A 10-day pace, as in this itinerary, is a common middle ground.
Can I change my itinerary after booking a Wonderland Trail permit?
Within limits, yes, subject to availability, but the specific camps in your original booking are what you’re guaranteed. Trying to swap a heavily booked camp like Indian Bar for a different date after the fact isn’t reliable.
Is the Wonderland Trail permit really a lottery?
The early access window is a lottery; the general reservation period that opens afterward is first-come, first-served. Missing the lottery doesn’t mean missing the trail, it just means competing for whatever’s left in the open booking window.
What happens if I don’t win the early access lottery?
You can still try for a permit during general reservations starting in late April. Because itinerary flexibility helps a lot here, being open to less iconic camps and shoulder-season dates meaningfully improves your odds.
Ridgefold has the Wonderland Trail pre-loaded with the real route and elevation profile, so once your permit locks in specific camps, you can sequence them in the planner and see exactly how each day’s mileage and climbing shakes out. See the full trail page for the elevation chart and difficulty rating first.