How To Increase Your Odds of Getting Wonderland Trail Permits

The Wonderland Trail is a 93 mile trail that circumnavigates Mount Rainier (Talol, Tahoma) in Mount Rainier National Park. Hiking this route takes you through all the beauty that the national park has to offer in one trip. It is on many a backpacker’s bucket list! But is there a way to increase your odds of getting permits to hike it?

Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano and the tallest mountain in Washington State at 14, 411 feet elevation. It has 25 named glaciers and is considered one of the best locations in the world for viewing wildflowers. The Wonderland Trail makes its way through all the major geological zones from lowland forests to sub-alpine meadows with its cumulative gain of roughly 23,000 feet.

In 2015, I had had enough of people asking me if I had hiked it the Wonderland Trail yet, so I put in for the permits. I was planning on hiking it by myself. At the last minute I asked for a second person. Not because I knew who that might be but so that I could have that option if I wanted to.

70 percent of permits are claimed in advance registration and 30 percent are held for walk ups (first come, first served) at the park’s wilderness centers. The year I completed the Wonderland Trail, I “won” two permits. I was even able to add a popular campsite on at walk-up before we started our hike.

Of course, back then you were able to fax and mail your applications in. Now it is all online. And there is an early access lottery!

I am not writing this post to encourage you to strive for two permits. But the tips I used made my applications more likely to be approved when reviewed. I asked for an itinerary that fewer people would want and I would still get to experience the same exact trail. Today, these tips can be helpful when trying to plan an itinerary on Recreation.gov with so many other people vying for the same campsites.

Of course, I have no scientific proof to back this up. Just the fact I won two permits and I am normally the last person to win any kind of raffle or lottery!

So, how did I get lucky enough to score two permits for a trip around Mount Rainier on the Wonderland Trail? Here are the tricks I used and they can help you, too.

Go Faster or Slower

Do your research ahead of time and know what kind of mileage you want to do each day. This allows you to have a larger choice of campsites when selecting your itinerary. Your average backpacker takes 7-10 days to hike the trail. That is about 9-13 miles a day.

If you can go faster or slower than this and choose campsites accordingly, your itinerary may be chosen over others who want the same thing as thousands of other people. Some people have done it in one day and the park allows you to do it in up to 14 days. Think of it as motivation to get training or take an abundance of time to smell the wildflowers!

If you can have one day be longer or another day shorter, you can choose campsites that are less popular. Maybe you know there is a section you want to spend more time in, make that a less mileage day. Choose another section with more miles (a section being the distance between two campsites of your choice) for the next day.

Go Counterclockwise

Most people start at one of the wilderness centers and take a clockwise route around the mountain. By starting and going the opposite direction, you benefit because the campsites you choose will vary from everyone going clockwise. Bonus would be starting somewhere other than Sunrise, Mowich or Longmire by dropping your car where you want to end up. Then, get a ride to a starting point somewhere else along the trail where the road makes it easy for a drop off!

Start and End On Days When Most Backpackers Don’t

Your average backpacker who wants to do the Wonderland Trail in part or in whole is going to naturally start on a day close to the weekend. Say, Thursday-Saturday). If you are able to start on a day other than that (Sunday-Wednesday) you are more likely to get your itinerary. Rangers are trying to fill in spots around all those people who want to start near the weekend!

If you have a particular campsite you just have to have, plan your trip’s beginning so that you land on that campsite during the week and leave campsites you aren’t as worried about for the weekend days.

This tip works particularly well for walk-ups. By asking for an itinerary on Tuesday that encompasses popular sites on Friday or Saturday, you are going to have more luck than someone who comes in on Thursday or Friday.

Think Like A Hiker Not A Camper

You get to see the whole trail no matter your itinerary so don’t be picky about where you camp. You are a hiker, not a camper I say. By choosing less desirable campsites, you are more likely to get a permit and you will still get to spend time in those popular spots during the day.

You don’t have to camp at a particular spot to benefit from sunrise/sunset views, you just have to be able to be there at those times. And like I mention above, hiking early in the day or later at night means avoiding crowds. You already have a permit for a spot, why not enjoy as much of the trail while you are hiking as you can!

For example, by choosing to camp at Paradise River (not exactly a backcountry spot), we had time for a resupply and breakfast at Longmire the day before. Also, by getting up early the next morning, we were able to hit Reflection Lakes at sunrise when the fog was clearing off the water’s surface. It was perfect!

Keep Your Group Small

Groups of less than 6 people are easier to fill itineraries for because they don’t require a group campsite. Not all camps have group campsites. Regular campsites are limited to 2 tents each.

Avoid The Month of August

This is the busiest month for backpacking in Washington State. If you can go in July when you may have a chance of a snow patch or two or September when everyone has gone back to school or work, you increase your chances. Wildflowers are better earlier on anyway and August means a greater chance of wildfire smoke.

Other Helpful Tips

- Read the Wilderness Planner PDF that the park puts out to make sure that the Wonderland Trail is the backpacking trip for you. It shows all the campsites and the mileage between them, along with other useful information about the national park.
- If you would like to know about my actual itinerary, see more pictures and find a link to my daily journal, you can read my Wonderland Trail page. You can, also, read about the campsite I think is the most underrated on the Wonderland Trail here.
- Two of the best websites I have found for planning are Wonderland Guides and Hiking Tahoma because you can put in your start and end points and how many days and it will figure out daily mileage and elevation for you. Tami Asars wrote the guide-book that I used for my trip.
- The reservation website goes live February 12, 2024 for an early access lottery and is open until March 4th, 2024. If you are lucky enough to get a lottery spot, you will be notified starting March 14, 2024 and early access reservations start March 21st. General on-sale permits start April 25th, 2024 at 7am PT. Find out more specifics here.
- Two thirds of permits are reserved, open third are saved for walk-up (on-site, first come, first serve).
- Walk-up itineraries have to start by the following day and I believe if you are flexible (use my tips above) you have a great chance of getting to hike the Wonderland Trail or a portion of it. Good news is, Mount Rainier National Park is full of amazing trails so it’s not like you would end not being able to backpack at all.
- You will find the reservation link when it goes live and more information at the national park website here.

Are you hoping to get permits to hike the Wonderland Trail this summer? Have you done the trail already and have a favorite campsite you hope to get back to someday?

A few other posts I have written about popular hiking trails:

I also wrote more about the park here:

Starting in 2024, Mount Rainier National Park is going to a timed entry system similar to many national parks. If you do not have wilderness permits or camping permits, you will be need a timed entry to enter the park from 7am to 3pm, peak hours. You can find out all the details on the parks website here.

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