Wonderland Trail, is a 93-mile loop of moderate difficulty that sits like a necklace around the base of the Rainier, Washington. The trail surrounds the mountain, marking the outlines and ridges of the great volcano on a path that is nearly always vertical, either going uphill or down. 

Only about 250 people pass the entire trail each summer, during a roughly two-month peak season from late July to mid-September. But to o make it the entire way requires carrying everything on your back; strategically deposit caches of food and clean socks at scattered ranger stations along the trail; or eat light.

The first mile is a broad, well-shaded path that meandered through tall cypress trees, the sound of our boots tempered by a carpet of soft needles. The trail traces the base of Goat Island Mountain, ascending from an elevation of 4,000 feet at a fairly even pace, with a thundering waterfall on one side, and the hiking experience would be a breeze.

The next steeps of the trail to the approach Summerland, the first campsite, is Mount Rainier’s version of San Francisco’s Lombard Street. There the trail has so many dizzying switchbacks zigzagging up the mountainside, covered in incredibly beautiful knee-high lupine, that it invites a sense of dementia and the temporary impulse to shout of excitement.

When you reach the highest point of the Wonderland Trail, at 6,900 feet, you will feel the relief of a breeze cooled by the kiss of a glacier. you will came upon a blue lake, bluer than the Mediterranean, clear-looking enough to be a mirage or a mirror. Just atop Desolate Ridge, there are grand dimensions, the stony outcrops and melting snowfields that form waterfalls hundreds of feet high.

How to get there: Several airlines companies operate to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Getting to the Wonderland Trail is not easy. ”STITA’‘, a taxi service, quoted a price of $300 to get to the park from where the trail started but couldn’t guarantee a cab would be available when you wanted to return.