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Executive summary

On Sep 22, 2020, I bailed on a triple Wonderland trail FKT attempt because of bad weather, but nevertheless set a supported double FKT (82h50min). 8 days later, I went back and set both a new self-supported double (80h13min) and triple (131h49min) FKT. I feel I have a pretty good feeling for this trail now.

The movies

First attempt (Sep 18-22, 2020, supported)

First attempt, first loop

Ursina and I first hiked the Wonderland trail in 7 days in 2013, the year I started running. I had heard about Ras’ 2012 double Wonderland FKT and always considered it as one of the more crazy things. The very last thing you want to do when you finish one loop—whether you hiked or ran it—is to turn around and go back. Fast-forward 7 years: I can’t remember why doing a triple Wonderland trail attempt even sounded like a desirable thing to do, but once I had the idea, there was, alas, no return from the obsession.

[pullquote]I can’t remember why doing a triple Wonderland trail attempt even sounded like a desirable thing to do.[/pullquote]

I zoomed in (no, not that kind of Zoom) on what seemed like a good, but not perfect weather window. The tentative start date was set to Sep 18, 2020, and a crappy announcement was drafted. The overall strategy was to complete one 93mi Wonderland loop in one shot, without sleep, and to get sleep at the basecamp at the White River campground. That avoids having to carry sleeping gear and having to get permits.

Megan and I had talked about doing the Wonderland this year, so I asked if she wanted to come out for one loop—and she did. That’s also what made this first triple attempt supported, although all the rest was done in a self-supported spirit (e.g., new crews).

We met up at White River campground on Fri, Sep 18, set up camp, and headed out at 6:45pm in clockwise direction. There’s a detour in place at White River, so we had to start on the road for a bit. The weather forecast had deteriorated, especially toward the end of the adventure, where a strong storm was supposed to move in. Friday night and Saturday was also supposed to be rainy and wet. And it was. We lost a lot of time with putting on and off rain gear and trying to prevent and address wet feet issues. It was overall quite a miserable loop with lots of humidity, wind, and limited views. But we got it done and were back at the White River campground in 36:34. Rest was in order. I ate, slept a few hours, ate again, and then headed out solo on the 2^nd loop in counter-clockwise fashion.

First attempt, second loop

The climb out from White River was not as bad as I had imagined. I felt refreshed and moved decently well. As predicted, the weather had improved and was supposed to stay decent for the next 2-3 days. I met lots of runners (many were doing the Rainshadow virtual race) during the night, which was a welcome distraction for my mind that worried about how I would ever complete this 2^nd loop and how impossible a 3^rd loop seemed.

It was great to be dry finally, but the moving was slow and I battled fatigue in every aspect. A few times I took quick trail naps. That helped some, but they can only do so much.

On the way down from St. Andrews park I ran into a bear that was picking berries right on the trail. We both surprised each other. He took off, I didn’t.

At Longmire I checked the ranger’s weather forecast: there were no good news. The rain was supposed to start on Thu night and then get worse and worse. My spreadsheets were telling me that I would not be done before Wed in the best case scenario.

But first I had to finish the 2^nd loop. The climb out from Maple Creek onto the Cowlitz Divide was relentless. I had never done the Wonderland in this direction after all, so things felt quite different. Yet, the worst part was the seemingly never-ending descent from Summerland to the White River campground. At night, the forest looks all the same and you think you’ve made some progress, but you barely moved. By the time I got to to the road I was beyond done. Then my headlamp died. I had no energy left to even change the batteries, so I just walked in the dark to the campground. My watch showed 82h50min.

With an empty mind and exhausted body I ate, drank, and disappeared into my sleeping bag. I was not going to make any decisions with respect to a 3^rd loop until after at least getting some sleep.

When I woke up, Ursina sent me the latest weather forecasts via satellite phone. Things looked very bleak. The storm was moving in about a day earlier than initially forecasted. Heavy rain, wind, and snow higher up. I did not need to mull this over too long: this did not look like a sane and safe situation for completing a 3^rd loop. I called it quits, ate a bag of chips, drank a beer, packed, and drove home. It was a sad ending, but a good decision. After all, I had still set a new FKT (82h50min) for the double loop, taking down Ras’ 8-year old FKT, so I was not exactly going home empty-handed.

It started raining when I left White River. Of course I regretted my decision to quit once I was home, when I was warm, well-fed, and cosy. But on Thu the park service tweeted that the heavy rain had taken out bridges, people got in trouble and had to be rescued, and there even was a fatality. So, I think I made the right decision. After all, there was always next year!

After a few days, Ras’ dropped a great challenge that I was very excited to accept. Read more about it in his Facebook post at https://www.facebook.com/JahsonItes/posts/3312423102127865.

At that point, I had no idea I would go back very soon. Keep reading…

Second attempt (Sep 30-Oct 6, 2020, self-supported, solo)

I’m not even sure why I kept checking the Mt. Rainier weather. I guess you can call it obsession. I noticed an unexpected, long, and stable weather window coming up during the last week of Sep. Oh gosh, if only I could go back! My calendar looked impossible to clear for even a single day. But after some more creative thinking and doing, I was able to re-arrange my professional obligations and clear a long-enough window for me to disappear into the wild once again.

On Sep 30, after my morning lecture, I drove to Cougar Rock campground. The White River campground was already closed for the season, so Cougar Rock was the only option at that point. No problem, spreadsheets can be updated easily. I had called the rangers to inquire about the bridges: all they were willing to say was that the Wonderland trail was not recommended at that point. However, I got some intelligence from several runners and hikers (thanks!) who had completed it after the storm, and they all said the river crossings were fine. Some bridges were apparently already put back in place, even though the rangers said that would not happen this year.

I set up camp, ate some crap food, and headed out for loop 1 (clockwise) at 5:11pm. All of this was 8 days after I set the double Wonderland FKT. Surely, I was perfectly recovered.

The new starting point turned out to be a welcome change. Things felt new and different, which was good for my troubled mind.

Second attempt, first loop

I chose a pace that I thought was sustainable for 3 loops. My spreadsheets predicted at 15% slowdown, which was based on some other “hill-rep adventures” I’ve done previously. The bigger unknown was sleep. I wasn’t sure I could hammer out 3 loops without any sleep on each loop (except perhaps some trail naps). That turned out to be a grand challenge indeed.

The first night felt easy. I knew my way, the weather was fantastic (I was in a T-shirt all night), the moon was bright, and I had packed enough food. Or so I thought. This time I did not have a food cache on the way, so I carried everything for a single loop.

The trail was largely empty. I saw very few hikers, usually nobody between 4pm and 10am. Conversations were always a welcome distraction. Somehow I made it to the White River campground. It was a little sad to see everything closed. That’s where I realized I did not pack enough food. Realizing I may not have enough calories always feels very stressful to me. It’s like trying to reach a gas station when your gas light is on. The only thing I could do was to ration what was left and to move on through another night. So I did.

I spotted numerous gorgeous elk with massive antlers over the Pandhandle section and heard their calls near and far all night long. The moon was out too, bright and huge, which made pathfinding a bit easier.

I made it back to the Cougar rock campground in 35:56, a little faster than during the first attempt, but still slow. I showered, shaved, and then got in line for a relaxing massage. Kidding. I disappeared dirty and stinky into my sleeping bag. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to sleep much. After organizing my gear and food for the 2^nd loop, I was on my way again, this time counter-clockwise.

Second attempt, second loop

The 2^nd loop included the weekend, so things were busier on the trail, and even more so at the trailheads. The Reflection Lakes parking lot was overflowing and there were people everywhere. Everybody seemed to smell great. I was definitely the exception.

On the way up from Box Canyon I crossed paths with two runners. One of them made a comment about my La Sportiva outfit and mentioned that she was sponsored by them. It turned out to be running celebrity Maria Dalzot! We stopped and had a fun chat that greatly revitalized me.

For the very first time I traversed the Cowlitz Divide during daylight and with actual visibility. The trail seemed to make a lot more sense suddenly. It was a great way to “tame the beast.” What came next I can’t really recall. Somehow I made it to White River again and up to Frozen Lake, where the temperature was actually starting to get frozen.

In Berkeley Park I saw two headlamps and got very excited to finally chat with someone during the long dark hours. It turned out to be a familiar face with his colleague! We chatted for a bit and moved on in opposite directions. The night was cold, so stopping is never pleasant. There’s no doubt they reached Cougar Rock campground well before me.

I spotted two more headlamps on the descent from Skyscraper Pass. Brandon (?) and his pacer (can’t remember his name) were on the first loop to try to beat my double FKT. Cool! I was not aware of that effort and had not seen any announcement. We chatted quickly. He had started at White River and was obviously going supported. His goal was to do sub 24h on the first loop and something over 24h on the second loop. I don’t know where and how much support he got on the way. I also failed to inquire which way he planned to go around on the 2^nd loop. In any case, I expected to seem him again, but never did. What happened thus remains a mystery.

On the way up to Ipsut pass I crossed path with a guy who looked like straight out of the Salomon catalog (not that such a catalog actually exists). He was crushing that rocky and steep downhill like it was an easy 10k while I was huffing and puffing uphill, drowsed in sweat and dirt. His pack looked non-existent while mine was heavy and bulky. We didn’t stop to chat, but at Mowich Lake I met two of his photographers who told me that it was elite athlete Ryan Montgomery who went for an unsupported FKT. He did get it in a very impressive 18h 49m 11s, quite literally half the time I needed for the first loop! It’s unclear to me how this is even possible.

I met more runners who recognized me on the way to Longmire. Each and every chat was a very welcome distraction for me. Each loop seems to have a “worst part.” Interestingly, that part is not always the same. I started to really struggle as I made my way up to Klapatche Park. From there on, my mind and body went downhill, although there were still a lot of uphills. I started to listen to podcasts (see list at the end of this post) to distract my mind from the current suffering. It only worked so much. My feet hurt like hell. Stepping on a rock made me want to cry out loud. At Devil’s Dream campground my dream was clear: I would never go out for a 3^rd loop. By the time I made it to Longmire, I wasn’t even sure how to make it the 1.3mi back to the Cougar Rock campground. Somehow I made it anyway. It was 1:24am and it had taken me 37h10min for the 2^nd loop. I had also just set a new self-supported double FKT in 80h13min, but I didn’t realize that yet.  One thing I felt very certain about: I was done because my feet felt totally ruined. I crawled into my sleeping bag and didn’t even set an alarm.

Second attempt, third loop

Shortly before 6am I was awake and hungry. I made myself a “biscuit and gravy” pouch while one of the camp neighbors stared at me like there was something abnormal about me. But why? He was up at 6am as well, trying to make a fire from wet firewood he had just illegally collected on the campground? I focused on my own mission and ignored him.

Ursina confirmed via satellite phone that the weather window was lasting and stable. I decided to get back to bed and slept heavenly in my sweaty and dirty clothes for another hour or two. I really needed it. But now I had to make a decision. I’m not even sure why there was suddenly one to make because I had already decided when I made it back that I would never go out again. Yet, I knew for sure that if I would not attempt a 3^rd loop, I would be eaten alive by my regrets. So I formulated a test: I would put on fresh socks and running shoes, run to the campground’s pay station to extend my stay, and if that “test run” was successful, I’d head out on loop 3. Well, that run went great and I was unable to find any more excuses not to embark on a 3^rd loop. At 12:17pm I was on my way, clockwise again.

[pullquote]I would put on fresh socks and running shoes, run to the campground’s pay station to extend my stay, and if that “test run” was successful, I’d head out on loop 3.[/pullquote]

Now the climb up to Devil’s Dream campground was almost like a dream. While not easy, I was nevertheless in good spirits and was quite proud of my decision to head out on loop 3. Once you’re out, it’s hard to bail and I figured I would eventually finish. At Klapatche Park some folks recognized me from when I passed by last night. I felt revitalized after the chat and continued into the night. This time I did not see any humans for another 15h or so.

But, alas, on the descent from Ipsut Pass, I ran into two cougars. I immediately screamed as loud as I could and made myself as big as possible (a difficult task). The beasts wouldn’t move. So I started to gather and throw rocks in machine-gun fashion. Thankfully rocks are abundant on the Ipsut Pass descent. After a while, one of the cougars took off, perhaps because I hit him with a rock. But the other dude seemed unwilling to move. More and bigger rocks were apparently needed. Thankfully, he eventually took off as well and it did not come to a more aggressive confrontation. Now my next problem was to deal with the possibility of them stalking me. The vegetation is very thick on that side of Ipsut Pass and you basically can’t see anything. I kept making loud noises and obsessively scanning my 360 degree surroundings for eyes over the next few miles, but never saw any sign of the cougars again. By then my voice was hoarse. The best side-effect of the cougar encounter was that I’ve never been so awake on this adventure. Of course the adrenaline rush didn’t last. I ended up having to take lots of 5-10min trail naps on that loop. I find it very frustrating if you simply cannot move forward in a straight line anymore.

[pullquote]On the descent from Ipsut Pass, I ran into two cougars.[/pullquote]

More feet and shoe problems started to show up after the endless descent to the White River campground. I changed into a fresh pair of socks and applied ample anti-friction cream. It helped some, but the cumulative damage of nearly 250mi was hard to compensate for.

I had saved more podcasts for the last day and night to get me through the more difficult patches. But when I finally tried to listen to some, the podcast player was indicating low battery and died. I must have turned it on accidentally because I had charged it fully while I slept. So there went my pacifier for the night! What was left were a few Oreos and a Tillamook cheddar to look forward to.

I was very excited to see Summerland and the Panhandle Gap during the evening light. It did not disappoint. The views were spectacular, and later the moon came up over a ridge, bright and orange. There were only something like 20 miles to go, I figured. But I was not ready for how long this would actually take me. More naps were needed. And once again I ran out of food! What are my spreadsheets good for?! The last 4h were completed on a small piece of Tillamook cheese and 5 Oreos.

[pullquote]Sometimes I am overly creative when cutting the insole and have to glue it in with chewing gum because it keeps moving.[/pullquote]

I arrived at the car at 5:00am, where I turned on the luxury gas heater, cracked open a beer, and ate a bag of chips. That seems to be a pattern. I had needed a total of 131 hours 49 minutes for completing 3 Wonderland trail loops. That was about 5h faster than my spreadsheets predicted. I had at the same time beaten my supported double FKT time (82h50min) and set a new unsupported double FKT in 80 hours 13 minutes.

Before packing up camp and driving home I got 2h of sleep. I was home before noon and ready for an afternoon full of work meetings. Nobody seemed to have even missed me.

Afterword

You may wonder how hard this was compared to other races or adventures I’ve done. Well, it’s all relative. The Wonderland logistics are easy. Carrying food for 93mi is no big deal. And having access to your car, where you can sleep, resupply, eat, and whatnot, well, that’s quite the luxury. On the unsupported 242mi Cougar traverse I had none of that. In addition, the navigation was very difficult and the terrain included lots of off-trail travel. Was it harder? Yes, perhaps.

The Eagle’s 33 challenge took me over 100h as well, but it was only about 100mi long. This challenge was extremely slow because it’s almost entirely off-trail with 60,000+ ft of elevation gain. Was it harder? No, different.

What about Tor and Spine? Well, races are different because you get a lot of support in regular intervals. You don’t have to worry about food, you can dry stuff, sleep, and often even take showers at major aid stations. Also, race courses tend to be marked, so navigation is rarely an issue. It’s also easier to keep going in a race because you are part of a group, and that can be motivating.

The figure below shows a comparison of different races and adventures with respect to distance (x-axis), elevation gain (y-axis), and time (bubble size). You can see that the triple Wonderland is by far not the hardest thing one can do.

If you think 131h49min for 3 loops is slow, well, that is because it is. I’m sure a lot of people think they could do that in half the time. That is entirely possible, but not for me. I’ve calculated my sleep-to-run ratios for all mayor events, including the Wonderland doubles and triples. I would encourage you to do the same if you want to make an attempt. It will give you an idea what’s possible for you. The limiting factor for long distance endurance challenges (I’d say 200mi or more) tends to be sleep. One can move really fast, yet, at some point, most people will need to sleep a significant amount. So sleep will put an upper limit on the overall pace. Of course that limit is individual.

Are four or more loops possible? Most definitely. With enough time, patience, sleep, and self-care, one could keep going potentially for a lot longer than I did.

FAQs

Q: How did you get permits for this? A: You only need permits if you camp overnight. I hammered out each loop without using a campsite, so I didn’t need permits. For that reason, my (selfish) triple did not take away any Wonderland opportunity for others.

Q: How did you find enough water? A: There’s generally lots of water on the Wonderland. A few stretches were more dry than usual, but it was never more than perhaps 5-6mi, so water really was no problem. I never carried more than 1l, usually just one full 500ml bottle.

Q: Is it easy to get lost? A: No, the trail is well marked in most places. There are two exceptions: (1) If you do the Panhandle section at night, there can be confusing parts. Cairns may not be easy to spot. If there’s thick fog and/or rain, that will add to the difficulty. I was glad I had a GPS track on my watch several times on that section. (2) River crossings can be confusing at night. There may also be significant detours in place depending on where the bridges are.

Q: Why? A: It had to get done.

Data, stats, and whatnot

First attempt (Sep 18-22, 2020)

• Start/finish location: White River campground.
• Style: Supported. ML accompanied me for loop 1. One food cache at Longmire.
• Total distance: 2 x 93mi = 186mi
• Total elevation gain: 2 x 23,000ft = 46,000ft
• FKT post: https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/christof-teuscher-wonderland-trail-wa-2020-09-22

Loop	Start day, time	Finish day, time	Elapsed time	GPS data
1	09/18/20, 18:45	09/20/20, 07:19	36:34	Strava | Spot
Rest	09/20/20, 07:19	09/20/20, 13:36	6:17	Strava | Spot
2	09/20/20, 13:36	09/22/20, 05:35	39:59	Strava | Spot
Total			82:50

Notes:

• Rest = time spent at base camp. That includes eating, sleeping, organizing, self-care, and whatever else needed to be done.

Second attempt (Sep 30-Oct 6, 2020)

• Start/finish location: Cougar Rock campground.
• Style: Self-supported, solo. No cached food anywhere.
• Total distance: 3 x 93mi = 279mi
• Total elevation gain: 3 x 23,000ft = 69,000ft
• FKT posts:
  • Double: https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/christof-teuscher-wonderland-trail-wa-2020-10-04
  • Triple: https://fastestknowntime.com/fkt/christof-teuscher-wonderland-trail-wa-2020-10-06

Loop	Start day, time	Finish day, time	Elapsed time	GPS data
1	09/30/20, 17:11	10/02/20, 5:07	35:56	Strava 1, 2 | Spot
Rest	10/02/20, 5:07	10/02/20, 12:14	7:07	Spot
2	10/02/20, 12:14	10/04/20, 1:24	37:10	Strava | Spot
Total loop 1 & 2			80:13	Spot
Rest	10/04/20, 1:24	10/04/20, 12:17	10:53	Spot
3	10/04/20, 12:17	10/06/20, 5:00	40:43	Strava | Spot
Total			131:49

Notes:

• Rest = time spent at base camp. That includes eating, sleeping, organizing, self-care, and whatever else needed to be done.
• On my first loop, my primary watch died unexpectedly just past Reflection Lakes. I used my backup watch to track the remaining 4ish miles. That’s why there are two Strava records for loop 1. There’s some overlap in these recordings, so you can’t add up the elapsed time, but what matters is the end time of the second recording. I also took pics of when I arrived at the car (5:07am).
• I stopped the watches while I rested and restarted with a new recording once I headed out again. The table above shows all the details.
• GPS interval was on 1min.
• Loop 1 has significant GPS reception problems.
• I don’t full understand how Strava rounds up or down times. Suunto’s Movescount does it differently. The split times in the table above are the times that I have photo proof of as well.

Comparison

The following graph shows a comparison of the 1^st and 2^nd attempt. The 2^nd attempt was overall faster. I think that was mostly due to the better weather conditions. You can also see how I slowed down.

Podcasts

Here are the podcasts I listened to (in no particular order) during night 4 at the end of the 2^nd loop.

Making Sense, Sam Harris

The Partially Examined Life

The Intelligence

Savage Lovecast

Alpinist

Hidden Brain

Akimbo, Seth Godin

Real Time, Bill Maher

Revisionist History

Sidedoor

The Gist

The Cult of Pedagogy

Words for Granted

You’re dead to me

Mountain & Prairie

Long Now

Freakonomics