I finally hiked the Wonderland Trail last month and nobody warned me about the creek crossings

I did the full 93 miles around Mount Rainier in August and figured the biggest issue would be snow or bears. Turns out the real nightmare was the loose log bridges across creeks that were running super fast from the melt. Halfway through day 3 I hit a spot near Indian Bar where the log was wet and tilted and I had to crawl across on my hands and knees with my pack scraping the water. There's no official warnings about this stuff on the park website, just that they exist. I talked to three other hikers who bailed early after one bad crossing near Summerland. Bring trekking poles with carbide tips if you're going, and seriously consider water shoes so you can just walk through the shallow ones instead of risking a fall. Has anyone else had a close call on those crossings?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_leo1d agoTop Commenter

Crawling across with your pack scraping water sounds like the kind of pro move you only learn by falling in first. At least you saved yourself a swim.

finleybutler1d ago

Funny how the best lessons always come from nearly messing up first.