The Wonderland Trail - around Mt. Rainier

kasaz

I backpacked the Wonderland Trail from 9/2 thru 9/11 with the Sierra Club. It was the hardest thing I've ever done greatly due to the foul weather the first half of the trip. We had pouring rain and then snow on three of the days. I had enough clothing and a warm sleeping bag, but it was a bit demoralizing not to even see Mt. Rainier for the first half of the trip. Luckily the weather changed the second half and we had many beautiful views. The trip is 93 miles with about 22,000 of accumulated elevation gain. Lots of ups and downs. How about the rest of you? Any good trips this summer?

T1DCarnivoreRunner

I took a trip in May. It was a road trip with several shorter day hikes in the eastern US. My profile pic came from a hike in WV at New River Gorge National River. I also hiked Old Rag Mountain, Grayson Highlands State Park (VA), Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Alleghany National Forest, and a bunch of different hiking spots on the Upper Delaware River on both sides of the NY/PA state line.

In Nov., I'm planning a 6 day hike for 81 miles of the Sheltowee Trace.

*I would like to get out for more miles and more places, but I'm working FT and I'm a FT grad student doing a fast-paced degree program (classes are 8 weeks long, so missing any time whatsoever essentially means failure). I don't take a class twice per year (so 8 weeks 2 times per year). This year it is May-June and Nov-Dec. Then I have to take vacation from work. I did a week-long trip at the end of May; my dad went into the hospital while I was traveling. Then he died mid-June. I started a new class at the end of June, and straight to another class. I'll be done with class Oct. 18. Meanwhile, I'm traveling for work from Oct.-Dec. for 4-5 weeks (not in a single block) around the US, Mexico, and Japan. So I really struggle with getting out for any backpacking trip of any length. However, when I'm done with this degree (should be 1 more year), then I'm going to get out as much as I can. First on my list is Glacier National Park (hopefully 2017) for a 3-5 day hike.