Knapsack PassRecent Trip Reports
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Day hike
Features:
Ripe berries
Issues:
Water on trail | Bugs
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Departed via Spray Park trail from Mowich Lake. Stopped briefly at the Eagle Cliff viewpoint which is a spectacular...
Departed via Spray Park trail from Mowich Lake. Stopped briefly at the Eagle Cliff viewpoint which is a spectacular view of Mt Rainier. Bypassed Spray Falls and made good time to Spray Park. A spur trail to the left goes up to the saddle between Hessong Rock & Mt Pleasant. It is steep but easy to follow & not too long. At the saddle even better views of Mt Rainier, Spray Park, Echo & Observation Rocks, & also other area peaks including Olympics in distance. I went left on a distinct climbers path toward Hessong Rock. I stayed w/ the path, crossed one small non-exposed snowfield (I could have gone down & around) & continued around the northern shoulder of Hessong. It appears that a route might be to go up next to a talus slope & gain the ridge & then to west to the summit. But I avoided this urge and the path took me around to the western ridge where I was able to follow it all the way to the top. One tree on path that takes some effort to climb over. Views even better on summit. Also noted Glacier Peak thru some other peaks. After a break I returned the same way even though there was a path going east from the summit. I returned to the saddle & followed a path toward Mt Pleasant. I followed it around some false summits & around the south shoulder of Pleasant. In about 20 minutes after being on the Hessong summit I was on the summit of Mt Pleasant. This summit is more rocky & I did not linger as long. I did not find a summit register at either summit. The last trip report from this hike/climb I found on this site was from 2006 from happy hiker.
http://www.wta.org/[…]/tripreport-2006082003 The distances on that trip report are good & I would generally agree w/ happy hikers route w/ the exception, I would avoid the urge to go up a chute to save time. Just follow the paths all the way up (since they're there, use them!) I don't know how many peaks I've gone up where there aren't paths or obvious routes to follow. The only difficulty I had was going east from Mt Pleasant. I intended to connect w/ the unmaintained trail from Knapsack Pass back to Mowich Lake. I stayed up on the ridge as much as possible but had to do some rock scrambling as well as bushwhacking as there was no obvious path for much of the ridge hike. I was glad to see the Knapsack Pass trail below and connected with it a bit below Knapsack Pass. This section of trail is muddy in many places & easy to slip. Back into the woods I think I scared a lady half to death judging by the loudness of her scream. The 3-lady party told me they hadn't seen anybody all day on their hike to Knapsack Pass and wondered where I had come from. When I told them, they were impressed and wondered if I encountered much snow. I told them I hadn't and they said they intended to go down from Knapsack Pass to Spray Park but decided against it due to steep snowfields. Only wildlife I saw, a few frogs in Spray Park. Most wildflowers past their peak, only a few blue/huckleberries. No fall colors yet. The Spray Park trail is a great route to access Hessong Rock & Mt Pleasant but I might recommend returning the same way if you don't want to do a little route finding. Of course, it's always nice to be able to do a loop trip. I had done Fay Peak previously; I've noticed this included as a 3-peak trip in some guidebooks. PS - A trail runner who passed me near the Spray Park trailhead dropped a plastic bag holding a bagel w/ cream cheese. I never caught up or ran into him again to return it but talked w/ another female hiker near Spray Falls who confirmed it was his. If that person reads this, It was yummy:) Thanks!
Knapsack Pass
— Sep 29, 2011
— johnettekuulei
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming | Fall foliage | Ripe berries
Issues:
Snow on trail
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Have tried to do this hike before.....up and over Knapsack Pass, into Spray Park and down the loop, but have...
Have tried to do this hike before.....up and over Knapsack Pass, into Spray Park and down the loop, but have been turned back by weather. This time we started the hike around 11:00 am. Went by the Ranger cabin and onto the unmaintained trail to the left. This is a serious hike....up, up and more up. It was a picture perfect fall day...blue skies, 65 degrees and enough breeze to discourage mosquitos. There was some mud on the trail, but not too bad. Gaining the ridge takes some crazy uphill pushing. We call it "the ladder" because it's so vertical. Once we gained the ridge we started the descent through the scree field. Not too bad. Over the boulders we went....right into the first snow field. Having not been able to find a recent report on this hike, we were not prepared for how much snow we had to cross. After two of us fell on the first snow field, we opted to turn back. Sliding down the icy hillside, snapping one of my poles in half was enough to convince me to not try the additional snow fields we'd need to cross to gain Spray Park. We were disappointed, but OK with our decision. Once we'd re-crossed the snow field, climbed back up onto the boulders and regained the ridge via the scree field we were headed back to "the ladder"....only this time descending. Oh, my. Our reward for turning back? (Besides our safety!) Mountain goats!! Lots of mountain goats! Hope to one day make this loop.....but not this time.
Day hike
Issues:
Mudholes
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Spray Park provided a nice no hunting zone for a sunny fall hike. Compared to summer, plentiful parking.
Sunshiney day in...
Spray Park provided a nice no hunting zone for a sunny fall hike. Compared to summer, plentiful parking.
Sunshiney day in Spray Park, warm enough if not in shade, not much wind. Hiked in via Knapsack and out via regular trail. Went up Mount Pleasant and down the ridge to the saddle between Pleasant and Hessong, rather than the usual way that goes higher in Spray Park. The lower reaches of Knapsack trail had giant frost heaves and even some water ice but still manageable. Still a few small several times frozen berries available near Knapsack. Main trail that was in official Park was pretty muddy from the melted frost but that cleared up once out of the Park. While the views and scenery are always spectacular, there really is not much fall color going on in these areas, which was a little disappointing. Oh well. Saw a small herd of goats on the "back side" of Fay Peak, as viewed from Hessong-Pleasant saddle. Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming | Fall foliage | Ripe berries
Issues:
Mud/Rockslide | Mudholes | Washouts | Water on trail
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Great fall hike!!! Started at Lake mowich early at a cool 36 degrees in some fog, but the bears,...
Great fall hike!!! Started at Lake mowich early at a cool 36 degrees in some fog, but the bears, mt goats and berries made every step worth the hard work. Going up up through the mud and water on the trail, we saw the fall flowers and fall colors. we do it again!!
Day hike
Features:
Wildflowers blooming | Fall foliage | Ripe berries
Issues:
Mud/Rockslide | Bugs
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I set out on the Knapsack Pass (unmaintained) trail from the ranger cabin at Mowich Lake. There were a...
I set out on the Knapsack Pass (unmaintained) trail from the ranger cabin at Mowich Lake. There were a few men working on repairs to the cabin. A ranger that was there on my return told me that they wanted to get some concrete poured before the weather turns later this week. On my previous visits there had been a sign just to the left of the cabin that stated "unmaintained trail" but I didn't see it on this trip. There was a large uprooted tree there that I'm assuming took out the sign. The first part of this trail is steep and muddy. It is in forest but later breaks out into the open. I took a spur trail, still in the forest, that headed up to Fay Peak. One can follow the path pretty much all of the way up. Mt Rainier had been out as low clouds to the west were cleared out up higher. But upon summitting Fay Peak I noticed some clouds had moved in obscuring most of "The Mountain". There were still great views of nearby peaks, Mowich Lake, Seattle Park, etc. I headed over the summit of Fay Peak and followed a path along the ridge which heads to the southeast towards a false summit of Fay (it appears to be almost as high as Fay Peak). My time was limited so I will leave Mt Pleasant and Hessong Rock, which are visible to the south, for another day. I could also see the trail coming down the other side of Knapsack Pass toward the Spray Park trail. The path continues past the false summit and begins descending. As I was descending, I saw a marmot. It followed just below me for awhile until it went down a snowfield and disappeared from view. It looked like it was plump and ready for colder weather! Another feature of this hike were wild blueberries and huckleberries near the Fay Peak summit and also along the Knapsack Pass trail. I feasted on this tasty bounty. I reconnected with the Knapsack Pass trail near the pass but did not go on up there. I went back down and ate more berries, marveled at the wildflowers and streams, and enjoyed what might be our last sunshine for awhile. I noted pink monkeyflowers in bloom along several of the streams along the trail. There were also asters, paintbrush, and mountain bog gentian still in bloom. This is a unique time of year where there are wildflowers still blooming in some areas, fall colors in others, and ripe berries! Enjoy.
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