You can't just camp wherever you like on Mount Rainier. There are designated backcountry campsites, with pit toilets and bear poles for hanging your food, and you need a permit that lists exactly what dates and camps you will stay at.

The permit lottery is extremely competitive. Around 600 Wonderland circuits can be reserved in advance each season, while another ~300 are issued as walkup permits, but in recent years the Park has received over 10,000 lottery entries! Demand is increasing each year while trail capacity remains the same, so this is only likely to get worse in the future. Be prepared to keep trying over several years before your number comes up.

The Mount Rainier wilderness permit system is not specific to just the Wonderland Trail. Whether you want to hike a full Wonderland circuit, a section of the trail, something shorter like the Northern Loop, or an overnight out-and-back, you need the same kind of permit and have the same options and odds for getting one.

Permits are only required for overnight camping. You can day hike any trails you like on Rainier, or even run the whole Wonderland in sections from trailhead to trailhead, without any kind of permit as long as you get off the trail before sleeping.

The permit system is quite complicated, but in summary: 2/3 of capacity is available to be reserved in advance, with an annual lottery for early access to the booking system, while 1/3 is reserved for last minute walkups. Details can vary from year to year, so check https://www.nps.gov/mora/planyourvisit/wilderness-permit.htm for the latest information. What follows is accurate as of 2024.

Early Access Lottery

The early access lottery is run via recreation.gov. For a small fee, your name will be entered into a random drawing that gives you early access to the online booking system. It's important to understand that winning the lottery does NOT automatically give you a Wonderland permit! You are competing for the chance to attempt booking your trip before everyone else gets access, not directly for the trip itself.

In 2024, the lottery accepts applications from February 12 to March 4, with results available on March 14. Exactly when within this period you enter makes no difference to your chances. The lottery allows one entry per person, and at this point there's no need to specify what route you are hoping to hike, dates you want to go, or who else will be in your party.

Early Access Reservations

Congrats, so you won the lottery! You will be issued a date and time, which in 2024 ranges from March 21 to April 19, when you along with a few others will gain access to the self-serve recreation.gov booking system. On this website you can see what campsites are available on which dates, enter whatever itinerary you like using these camps, and book your trip.

Of course the more trips that have already been booked, the fewer campsites will still be available. This means not all lottery wins are created equal. If you luck out and get one of the first access slots, the mountain is your oyster and you'll be able to book any itinerary you want. If you landed in the middle of the early access period, you'll most likely still be able to book a full Wonderland circuit but the most popular camps at the most popular dates will already be full. If your access slot falls toward the later end, be prepared for disappointment as only scraps will be left. With creativity you may still be able to figure out a fun trip, but it's unlikely you'll find enough open camps to make it all the way around the Wonderland.

Unless you're extremely experienced with snow travel, beware the temptation to book June trips if you see that July through September is full up. There's a reason those dates are still available...

The online booking system includes several "out of wilderness" options. Selecting one of these DOES NOT reserve anywhere for you to camp! It's a way of indicating that you have made your own separate arrangements for somewhere to stay that night. Perhaps you booked a night at the National Park Inn, or at a frontcountry car campsite, or a friend will drive you to a hotel outside the park, etc.

Early access winners don't have to log on and book their trip immediately when their time slot comes up, but the longer you wait, the more risk someone else will have taken the campsites you were hoping for. When I won early access in 2021 I was on the site hitting refresh the very second my access came due :-)

Early access winners are able to view campsite availability in advance of their own booking slot. This is a mixed bag. Being able to see this info is important for making a good plan, but it's quite stressful watching the availability decrease each time you check back on it!

To complete the booking you'll need the name of your backup trip leader (if any) and license plate of any vehicles you plan to leave in the park, so have that ready. It's ok to leave details blank if you'll be renting a car and don't yet know the license. The backup leader is important because if you find yourself unable to go for whatever reason, this other person will still be able to activate and use the permit. Permits cannot be transferred to other people who are not listed on them.

A lottery win allows you to book one trip. Whether you use this for a full Wonderland circuit or a single night in the wilderness is entirely up to you.

General Access

After all the early access winners have had their chance to book trips, the same self-serve recreation.gov site opens to everyone. In 2024 this occurs on April 25. After this date there is no limit on how many trips a person can book, and those who won early access can come back and try to book more trips if they want.

Let's be realistic: there will not be enough campsite availability left to put together a full Wonderland circuit at this time. We're talking scraps of the scraps. But sometimes scraps can be enough to make for great trips! In 2021 I was able to nab a night at Three Lakes camp in August this way, which formed the basis of a 3 day Eastside PCT Loop.

If you're really dedicated it can be worth checking back as the season progresses, because people sometimes find themselves unable to go on a trip they had booked. If they cancel their reservation or fail to activate their permit by noon of its first day, the unused camps become available for others.

Speaking of which: if you have a reservation that you're unable to use, please cancel it in advance, either online or by calling a ranger station!

Permit Activation

A reservation made online is not yet sufficient to hit the trail. The person named on the reservation must show up at a ranger station to activate it, either the morning the trip begins or one day before.

Walkups

Only two thirds of campsite capacity is allocated through advance reservations, while one third is held in reserve for walkup permits. This pool may be further increased by advance reservation no-shows, as any reservations that are not activated by noon on the day the trip begins will be returned to the walkup pool.

Walkups are issued on an as-available basis to anyone who arrives in person at a ranger station for a trip starting that day or the next.

Historically, many have reported better success getting out on the trail via walkup permits compared to the advance lottery, but this requires a high level of dedication and a leap of faith to book time off work, pack supplies, then drive to the mountain without knowing for sure if a trip will be possible. As demand for the trail increases, walkups are starting to look more like a gamble than a sure thing.

You can improve walkup chances by being extremely flexible about route. One strategy is to arrive at the ranger station super early so you're first in line when they open. Another is to arrive at noon in hope that permit no-shows will have released a fresh batch of campsites. Starting midweek avoids competition with weekend warriors who are trying for shorter trips.

Walkup success is usually followed by a flurry of driving around the mountain to drop off supply caches in locations that couldn't be known until after your itinerary is settled. This can take all day, so plan your first trail day accordingly.

If you live locally, walkups can be a great option for shorter late season trips, when there's plenty of campsite availability and the main challenge is jumping on a suitable weather window. I enjoyed a fantastic Westside Road to North Puyallup overnight in October this way.

Group Size

Each backcountry camp contains a number of individual campsites, and most also have a larger group site. Your reservation will be for either an individual or group site, and you must camp in a matching location. Which of the individual sites you use within a camp is first-come-first-served, not specified on your permit.

The Park Service describes the individual sites as being for parties of 1 to 5 people in up to 3 tents, but in practice the limiting factor will be space for the tents. You must fit all tents and hammocks within the established bounds of the campsite. A couple of 2-person tents will fit comfortably in every individual site, more in some, but 3 tents would be unpleasantly or even impossibly crowded in many.

The group sites are for use by groups of 6 to 12 people. Some of these are truly huge, while others would struggle to fit more than 4 or 5 2-person tents.