The Wonderland Trail is a big, 93 mile loop hike around Mt. Rainer in Washington.  My friend and I decided that walking in a big circle for 10+ days sounded like a good way to spend a vacation.

Due to the popularity of this hike, the National Park Service assigns permits for each group planning to complete this hike.  There is a limited number of permits that are handed out each year and there is a large chance that you won’t get one…  You can either apply for a reserved permit, so you know before heading out there that you are guaranteed to hike the trail, or take the risk and try to get a walk-up permit at one of the Ranger Stations the day of.  We applied for the reserve permit.  Booking a flight across the country for the sole purpose of hiking this one trail without a permit would have been ludicrous!

March 15 was the first day that park rangers began to assign permits.  I eagerly checked the mail that day after work.  Sifting through the junk mail that had accumulated since the last time the mail the checked (I hate checking the mail), I came across a letter from the National Park Service!  It was like a light from Heaven was shining down on the envelope and I could hear angels singing.  Surely we were one of the first applications to be processed and got the permit!  How else would we have received a letter the same day that permit processing began?  The rangers must have shipped our permit express mail to get it from Washington to Georgia the same day so we could know the good news as soon as possible!

I waited with anticipation until my friend arrived, so we could open the letter together and celebrate!

Sitting at the kitchen table, I feel the envelope rip as I pull my finger across the seal.  I pull out the letter, unfold it, and read the first few lines.

“We regret to inform you that the National Park Service will not be able to provide you with a permit this year.”

The excitement dissipates and my stomach drops to the floor just like it does each year when I find out that ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ has been renewed for yet another season.

After reading through the rejection letter, we notice that you can still get a permit, but only in person at a Ranger Station and only up to 24 hours in advance.  Following a similar thought pattern of Stockholm Syndrome, we quickly rationalize the previously ludicrous concept of flying across the country to hike this specific trail without already having a permit.  Not having permits will discourage people that aren’t local from taking the risk of going there and not getting a permit, right?  That means that less people will be going for a permit, which will heighten our chances of getting one, right?  Worst case scenario, we are already out there and could always find another hike somewhere out there that would be fun, right?  RIGHT!

Our hearts were set on doing whatever we could to hike the Wonderland Trail this year.  A paradigm shift happened.  The view of there is no way we are going to book a flight across the country without a guarantee of hiking the trail changed to “F-ck it, we are doing this!”

We booked our flights.

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A site was reserved at the campground in Mt. Rainier National Park for a few nights at the beginning of the trip to maximize the number of chances we had for getting the mysterious permit.

4 a.m. rolled around and phone alarms started going off.  Groggily, we climbed out of the tent and made our way to one of the Ranger Stations that were assigning in-person permits.

Carrying two camp chairs and a blanket we walk towards the log-built Ranger Station with the porch light illuminating numerous other people.

“You’re forth in line,” said the woman at the edge of the porch sitting in her camp chair wearing a winter beanie and insulated jacket under a blanket.  Then she closed her eyes again attempting to get some sleep.  There was another person sitting next to her in a chair while others were scattered around the porch and on the benches in sleeping bags fast asleep.  We learned later that the person first in line got there at 11 p.m. and slept on the porch all night.

We hunker down for the next few hours until the station opens at 7:30, doing our best to stay warm through the cold night.

People started to wake around 6 a.m. and a Park Ranger showed up an hour later to hand out permit availability information.  Instantly, there were papers and maps spread across the porch floor with each group reviewing in privacy.  The people we had spent the night with on the porch were now our competitors and could be the difference between getting a permit or not.

Our first choice in permit itineraries was open!  But we knew that we were fourth in line at this Ranger Station and there were two other Ranger Stations that would be assigning permits at the same time.  The three groups ahead of us and unknown amount of groups at the other stations could easily prevent us from getting our first itinerary choice.  We created a plan B.  If our first choice was not available by our turn, then we would revert to plan B and hope for the best.

The Ranger Station opened and everyone claimed their spot in line.  Inside, there were two rangers in the computer system working on assigning permits.  The first and second groups both finished and got their permits at almost the same time.  Group three got to their Ranger and we went to the other seconds after.  It was a race!  We were going for the exact same itinerary!  For the exact same permit!

They got the permit.  Seconds later, the system rejected our request…  They had gotten the last permit available for our first pick itinerary.

With nerves rising we started over with our ranger and began running through our second choice itinerary.  Both we and the ranger rushed to get it into the system before someone else got it this time.

The system processed and we got it!  We got a permit!  We’re going to hike the Wonderland Trail!

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Want to hear about actually hiking the Wonderland Trail?  Don’t worry, I have that story for you too!  It will be posted another week 🙂  Like Faraway Horizons on Facebook to keep updated on when new stories are posted!

Until next time, Happy Hiking!