Wonderland Trail: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Mount Rainier National Park, National Park Service

Owens, Erica; Hankinson, Mike

The Wonderland Trail is a 93‑mile landscape circumnavigating the mountain, providing access to remote and scenic areas of the park for rangers and visitors. It is identified as a corridor, five feet from the centerline of the trail in either direction that follows the trails currently designated as the Wonderland Trail. The trail is characterized by its alignment, as it traverses dense coniferous old growth forest, ascending through subalpine and alpine meadows reaching above the tree line and presenting direct views of Mount Rainier and the Cascade Mountains. As the trail circles the mountain, it follows a consistent pattern of rising and falling from 2600’ to 6800’ as it ascends and descends the lateral drainages that radiate from the mountain. The Wonderland Trail is a cultural landscape and is located within the Mount Rainier National Historic Landmark District. It is recognized for its association with early park master planning during the period of significance from 1907 to 1942 when this trail was planned and established. Presently, the trail remains an outstanding example of park engineering and landscape architecture design efforts to blend the trail seamlessly into its surrounding contexts using rustic architecture design theories. The Wonderland Trail is nationally significant for its association with the events of the American Park Movement and early National Park Service (NPS) master planning, and for its distinctive rustic‑style design and construction. The period of significance is defined by the time in which the trail was conceived, planned, and completed, between 1907 and 1942. In 1907, Forest Reserve Supervisor Grenville F. Allen first proposed a system of graded trails throughout the park for patrolling purposes. The year 1942 saw the advent of World War II and the last major work on the trail done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Mount Rainier National Park was the first national park to develop and implement a master plan prior to WWII and remains the most complete example of early park master planning today. In 1997, the park’s landscape architecture was recognized by a National Historic Landmark District designation, which included the Wonderland Trail. Examination of Mount Rainier’s master plans of the 1920s reveal that the trail, then referred to as a “bridal trail,” was incorporated into the plans as an important access route around the mountain. The trail was created to provide both recreational opportunities for park visitors and patrol access for park rangers. Design and implementation decisions incorporated both of these goals and are still evident in the trail today. Regarding significant design and construction, the Wonderland Trail embodies the complimentary styles of rustic architecture and naturalistic landscape design. Rustic features found on the trail incorporate 18th‑century picturesque and 19th‑century naturalistic theories of design, using the park’s indigenous rock, lumber, and native plants as basic materials. They were designed to blend in with their surrounding environment, appearing handcrafted or primitive, as if created without the use of technology available at the time – preserving the surrounding beauty of the trail. The trail itself was aligned using naturalistic design techniques. The trail follows the contours of land, meandering through forest and meadow with a curvilinear alignment, which was employed to enhance the beauty, interest, and enjoyment of the trail.

Wonderland Trail: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Mount Rainier National Park, National Park Service

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