A new hike that became an instant classic

7/29/2025 Wonderland Trail to Panhandle Gap

After a few light hikes to test out the sore knee, I decided I needed to give it a good test to determine if I'll be ready for the planned backpacking trip in another week.

I successfully bounced back from my knee injury with a big hike, totaling 11 miles and 3000' of gain. My friend introduced me to this absolutely amazing hike in Mount Rainier National Park, and it was one of the best hikes I've ever done.

Mount Rainier National Park was using a timed entry ticketing system. The night-before tickets went extremely fast, with the first two-hour window selling out in seconds. Fortunately, with two of us trying at the same time, we scored a ticket for the early slot.

Being a national park, the quality of the trail and bridges is excellent. The trail up to Summerland starts out wooded, with a gentle grade and a few stream crossings. There were plenty of wildflowers to enjoy as the views opened within the meadows below Summerland. This is on of many campsites along the Wonderland Trail, so we got to chat with some backpackers from California doing the entire loop in nine days.

The trail drops down a short distance into this truly amazing meadow with a stream running down the middle feeding the array of colorful wildflowers. Words and picture do not do justice to this storybook landscape. This one place alone is worth the journey.

Once we left the meadow, the landscape changed to a more barren, rocky terrain, sprinkled with snow and streams formed by the snow melt.

The trail became rocky and steeper as we made our way up to the Panhandle, the highest point of the Wonderland Trail. Some tarns formed below the steep walls here on the east side of Mount Rainier. You could see waterfalls cascading down from the glaciers above.

The most "exciting" part of the hike was a stretch of a few hundred feet below the ridge, where the footpath crossed over the snow at an angle (in the picture below, it is the line slightly to the right of center). I took it nice and slow on the way down, knowing that a slip would send me down the snowy incline the the rocks below. Not a catastrophic result, but I did not want to take my chances stopping my slide in a pile of jagged rocks.

From the Panhandle (i.e. the ridge), you can see to the south where the Wonderland Trail continues. You can also Mount Adams, which has a similar shape to Rainier. Less clearly seen was Mount Saint Helens, further to the east.

This hike is absolutely a 10 out of 10 and lands a place in my list of favorites. I will return in future years.