Trip Report
Welcomed Highlight-Ranger Support Wonderland Trail: Longmire to Westside Road
The last few years a growing number of backpackers who may have bent the rules are now being met with an equal amount of rangers helping to problem solve and willing to enforce on trail and in camp. Here's what you might expect this year with the fee increase.
Lisa Elliott
- Mon, Jul 28, 2025 — Wed, Jul 30, 2025
- Basic Backpack - Wonderland Trail: Longmire to Westside Road
- Wonderland Trail: Longmire to Westside Road
- Backpacking
- Successful
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- Road suitable for all vehicles
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Section hiking and backpacking Mt. Rainier has become so popularized and coveted, the backcountry ranger with problem solving and enforcement capabilities has made a welcomed return by increasing visibility. Well, let's call it an available ranger that is willing to problem solve as described here in our last two trips.
Last week a friend and myself hiked the Northern Loop. We planned this trip months ago, planned to go at the beginning of the season, hopefully with wildflowers and snow just melting, plenty of water on the north side.
Since our trip on the Northern Loop went well, we expected the same with this trip when began the hike and backpack over the Westside of the Wonderland Trail with a new group of backpacking students from Tacoma.
We obtained the Group Camp costing $126 for two nights and 6 people.
Permits can be reserved $6 online and $10 per person per night were obtained by the Recreation.gov
Last week, our first night at the Northern Loop the backcountry ranger was quick to meet up with us at camp. It was late but he checked our permit, number of campers and was helpful and personable with any questions we had. I brought up a bit about the increase of recreational users who have popped up unannounced in camps without permits or a permit for a subsequent day the last few years had increased.
This trip was equally met with cordial rangers at the Wilderness Information Center. Our first day we made a side trip to Lake George and Gobblers Knob and then camped at So Puyallup miles away. Since we arrived late at So Puyallup, we were met early by a backcountry ranger in the morning checking our permit, having a face-to-face and checking the number of people at our group camp.
The views along Emerald Ridge, Tahoma Creek, Mirror Lakes, Indian Henry's were amazing so it was nice to have the additional reassurance these areas also are needed more protection. We were again met with a backcountry ranger mid-trail between camps at the Tahoma bridge. He was great about checking our permits. A pair of backpackers was just ahead of us and they reported their camp and number as well, he made note.
As we approached Indian Henry's Hunting Ground the wildflowers were spectacular and jaw dropping another small fragile area of the park. My thoughts comparing this small area and small areas of the campground is astonishing. Humans truly can cause a lot of damage to vegetation when you compare the photo below to what a typical backcountry campsite looks like in comparison. 
Just imagine if humans were allowed to camp here.
As we approached our camp at Devil's Dream we discovered our reserved Group Camp was already occupied with 5 people in it. We politely asked them to move and they did thankfully and just about that same time, the same ranger from earlier (Mr. Herzog) made an appearance looking for two others, the same two that were ahead of me earlier at Tahoma Creek. I mentioned it occurred to me they were going the wrong way when they said they were staying at one camp and never showed up according to the ranger.
Later we learned the two were found at our camp area and together with the ranger they had to do a bit of itinerary changes and problem solving to make sure they didn't have to walk the 3 hours back to Longmire. They were lucky. Apparently the two did know about making the decision to stay at the wrong camp but were caught and also didn't know they needed a permit to climb Mt. Rainier which they had done earlier, Mr. Herzog reported back to me.
All in all it is greatly appreciated the park rangers are out helping to problem solve. Permits are costing more and the rangers are happy to assist others into making good decisions and staying safe. I was happy to include this hard working guy in our photo.
At Indian Henry's Hunting Ground with Mr. Herzog!