On 8/21/2025 we hiked the Wonderland Trail from Longmire to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground and then on toward Pyramid Peak.
We arrived at 5:15am with plenty of parking to be had at the National Park Inn though there was ongoing parking lot construction that had shrunk the amount of parking considerably.
We last time we hiked to Indian Henry's Hunting Ground was in 2020 via Kautz Creek so we wanted to try this new route. The trail was in very good shape and easy to navigate except for one area - Pyramid Creek. There was one very sketchy log to cross that was narrow, wet and sloped and gave pause to most people we watched trying to cross. Our party crossed one by log and one by ford. The ford was about calf-deep and not difficult.
The rest of the trail was a consistent climb/grind on up past Devils Dream camp (we saw no campers and the privy was in good condition) to the the Ranger cabin at IHHG. Once at the cabin we took a break and chatted with a couple friendly Wonderlanders we met earlier on their clockwise journey around the mountain.
After our break we continued up to Mirror Lakes and then on to the large meadow at 5.600 ft, below Pyramid Peak at the headwaters of Fishers Hornpipe Creek. The Pyramid Peak trail was not maintained and a bit swampy to start but still easy to follow. We decided that the meadow would be our turn-around so we set up our hammocks for another long lunch/nap and enjoyed the beautiful warm weather. The temps were in the mid 60's with light wind and no bugs. Perfect.
After an hour-long lunch break we returned the way we came passing many backpackers hiking clockwise on the Wonderland. Once back to Pyramid Creek we went straight to the creek and forded across, not realizing that while we were away, a new log bridge had been dropped into place!! (While we were hiking out we chatted with a runner going CCW and warned him about the difficult log crossing. He probably thought we were crazy once he saw the new log.) The new log was still kind of high above the creek and had not been flattened off so would still need some care and balance to cross.
We saw no wildlife on the whole trip and returned back to Longmire tired but happy.
Total Mileage: 17.90 miles
Elevation Gain: 4,370
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