Mount Rainier National Park, filled to the brim with people trying to sign up early to hike the Wonderland Trail, has stopped taking reservations for this summer for the popular trek around the mountain. Park superintendent Randy King-ásaid the demand for the 2015 season is "overwhelming and-áunprecedented." The park reservation procedure provides that reservations received between March 15 and April 1 each year are processed by park rangers in random order starting on April 1. Reservations received on or after April 1 are processed in the order they're received, after the first batch is handled. Before 2013, the number of wilderness reservation requests during the first two weeks of the reservation window averaged about 800, according to park officials. In 2013, that number jumped to 1,400, which officials attributed partially to increased media coverage of the Wonderland Trail. Last year, the park received 2,000 reservation requests, and this year, about 2,600 requests GÇô the majority for the Wonderland GÇô had rolled in by March 31. The requests this year exceed the space that can be reserved at backcountry camps along the 93-mile trail this summer. Officials said the cutoff of reservations is an attempt to minimize processing of reservation requests that end up being denied, and also to minimize the frustration of applicants who are turned down. However, park visitors can still seek walk-up reservations throughout the summer. The park holds approximately 30 percent of available backcountry space for first-come, first-served (walk-up) permits. Hikers can try for such a permit on or one day before the start day of their hike. The best locations to obtain a walk-up permit are the ranger stations at Longmire, White River and Carbon River, officials said. Another option is to hike the trail in smaller segments, which will improve chances of obtaining a permit by reservation or in-person, officials said. The trail passes through lowland forests and valleys and into high alpine and sub-alpine areas,
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