Wonderland Trail to Panhandle Gap is a 11.1 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Greenwater , Washington that features a lake and is rated as difficult. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, camping, and backpacking and is best used from July until October.
Mount Rainier National Park charges a fee to enter. Fees are $30 per vehicle or $25 per motorcycle. If you are entering on foot, horse, or bike the fee is $15 per person. You can also purchase a park specific annual pass for $55.
National Parks Pass is required to enter park
Washington State Tourism, P.O. Box 42500 , Olympia, WA, 98504-2500, Phone: 360-586-2088, tobyg@tourism.wa.gov
Directions from White River Entrance: Drive westward on White River Road 3 miles to a parking area near the Fryingpan Creek bridge. The trailhead is across the road. Parking space is limited and fills early on sunny summer days. Have an alternate hike in mind in case parking space is not available.
No snow on trail yet! Great views, only one downed limb on trail.. easy to get around.
Hike starts out in the woods and then breaks out into a rock field. There is a steady incline until the last mile and a half I would say where the incline increases significantly. There is a stream you have to cross so prepare to get your feet wet and bring extra socks! Overall beautiful hike!
Did the Summerland Hike to Panhandle Gap. Just slightly more than 12 miles out and back. First 3 miles wooded and steady incline. Reached Summerland camp at 4.3 miles then the lakes by 5.3. Lakes are a shimmering emerald green color. Final 0.6 miles to the Gap which was amazing with views of Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and of course Rainier. Pretty uncrowded today. Picture perfect sunny bluebird skies!
Excellent! Such a wonderful hike and soooo many different things to see. We enjoyed taking our time and taking a lot of photos on the way up. Not many, if any bugs. Wildlife? Two chipmunks, some tadpoles...didn't expect that, and two mountain goats! Most everyone was masked up and polite moving aside. A few "gentlemen" didn't seem to have a clue. But other than that, people were great. Not too many on a Sunday.
One of the best day hikes ever. Really well-maintained trail. Keep an eye out for Marmots!
One of my favorites. Late enough in the year that the wildflowers were past bloom and snow was melted. Some goats beyond panhandle gap
Wonderful day hike to experience the old-growth Forest, delicate Alpine meadow, a flowering creek, nameless waterfalls and glacier lakes, the distant view of Mt Adams and other peaks! My vote of the best hiking so far!
There were only a few scattered wildflowers left this late in the season, but Summerland was still beautiful, especially on a clear sunny day like today. The snow had receded to the point where you only need to walk over a few tiny patches. The view is great, the volcanic rocks practically span the rainbow, and a beautiful turquoise alpine lake awaits you just before the panhandle. Only large wildlife we saw was a cheery marmot we named Gregory. Get there early to secure a parking spot, cooler air, and fewer people on the trail (at least on the way up).
This trail is beautiful, there’s such variety in the terrain you cross, and there’s great views of Rainier. We got to the lot around 7 am on a Saturday and had no trouble parking, but ran into crowds of people on our way down. Didn’t see any bears and the snow wasn’t a problem. We did, however, end up hiking farther than the distance it says the trail is (ended up doing more like 13mi), but could have gone up higher than the “end.”
beautiful hike! we didnt see any bears, only tracks and some poop. signs are posted everywhere to watch for bear activity. there is a small area where you need to scramble over some fallen rocks right before you reach the top of panhandle, so be careful! we tracked 11.8 miles from beginning of summerland trail to the top of panhandle.