Went to Mowich Lake on Friday, opening day of Mowich Lake Road, with the intention of skiing the Flett and Russel glaciers via Spray Park

The road is filled in with new gravel to fill the old potholes, so the drive wasn’t too bumpy.

Grabbed a walk-up campsite at 10am, started hiking at 11am.  Maybe 10 other cars in the lot.

Welcome to late season conditions- Spray Park Trail is snow free.  Any snow patches or mud from melting snow that we crossed was negligible.  Wildflowers are blooming everywhere.  

We got off the Spray Park trail and made our way to the glacier, but snow leading to the Flett was patchy at best. We didn’t even try traveling on the Russel and ditched skis at the base of Echo and Observation Rock (top of Flett). Went by foot up to Ptarmigan Ridge at 8500 feet (this is an off-trail rock scramble and we wore helmets).  We were able to stay on rock the whole ascent and plunge step surrounding snow for our descent. I think this illustrates the lack of snow in this NW region of the park.  

Flett skiing was fun but thereafter, the ski down was silly because no snow, lots of on and off.  Actually just wish we hiked the whole thing, lol

Ran into lots of backpackers, and skiers (all dispersed camping), on the way out.  We got to our Mowich Lake tent site at 8:30pm, and all campsites were full, including Wonderland spots. Parking lot totally full.  

14 miles and 4700 ft gain

Also, the ranger said that the Carbon River bridge is in.

I walked up Mowich Lake Road (via the lower 2/3 of the Grindstone path on the way up, via the road alone on the way down), set up my campsite at Mowich Lake, then continued to Spray Falls. I made a brief attempt for Spray Park but very shortly after the juncture with the Spray Falls observation point, at the beginning of the switchbacks, I lost the trail under blowdowns on the steep hill and did not attempt to cross any of them since I couldn't tell where I would be going on the uphill side. There are a few passable blowdowns between Mowich and Spray Falls but I wouldn't do some of them with children, one further towards the falls requires navigating fluffy branches on a steep downslope for a couple feet before climbing back up and over the log, meaning you have to get your leg up over the log from downhill of it.  I THINK Eagle Point Lookout would be accessible to children but the minimalist handrail there over a sheer cliff means I would not take them lol. Eagle's Nest campground is in good condition with the food storage poles looking fine. Don't bring a chair, there are many logs to sit at marking each campsite. Seem a little short for bear protection to me though... is 12" off the ground only true for trees and not metal poles?

Mowich Lake Road is very nearly completely patched up for summer.

Mowich Lake Campground is 75% under 1-3 feet of snow. The bear vaults are mostly accessible as are the bathrooms. 3 tent pads were unburied. All of the picnic table surfaces (not the seats) are clear so you can sleep on those too.

It got COLD to me on my night there, the hottest night in recorded history! I was refrigerated by the constant breeze flowing towards me (downhill) off of the snow. Which is why I went there lol.

Water is accessible a short ways down the path from the campground to the lake. There is a bridge that is flush with the water level at the mouth of the river draining the lake that makes it easy to get.

The path to the Patrol Cabin is flooded by the lake, 4-8" I think. I got maybe 40 yards in on it and gave up. The water is very cold.

A couple of the handrails on bridges on the Spray Park trail out of Mowich are sketchy. One just before Spray Falls was kind of scary because the handrail log was so worn out and the whole handrail tilted away from the footbridge, over a busy and steep rapid.

Wanted to go up to Spray Falls, so drove to Paul Peak trailhead, where Road to Mowich Lake is gated.  Road there is in typical bad condition with areas of significant potholes.  Snow free to Mowich Lake- Grindstone trail has been improved with new markers set in the trees.  Fairly easy to find trail from the road.  Mowich Lake was calm and very reflective today.  Trail to Spray Falls in great shape snow-free all the way.  Beautiful Mt Rainier view on short spur from trail about .1 miles from Spray Falls. Spray Falls was in its typical glorious state.  

     Don't know how much longer we can expect this area to be snow free, but sure made it an easy trip today with the warm weather and sunshine.  About 11.5 miles round trip from gate to Spray Falls,

Took a day hike on the Spray Park trail out of Mowich Lake.  The morning was cold and once I entered Spray Park there was thin ice on puddles along the trail. Somewhat windy at Spray Park and it felt colder once the clouds covered the sun.  Waterfalls are flowing well along the trail and Spray Falls is certainly worth the visit.

A spectacular first time visit to Spray park.  Left Seattle at 6:30 --- arrived at the Mowich trail head at 8:30.  A very nice 2 mile, flat ridge traverse first leads to Spray falls....a nice stop for a snack or water fill up.  The trail then heads up through a series of switchbacks before settling down to a gradual entrance and traverse through Spray Park.  Given the time of day (and time of year) the sun was just behind Rainier --- so while we could see it --- we were a bit blinded by the light.

Fall foilage was beautiful, saw a bear munching blueberries, had lunch and then returned to the trail head arriving at 2:00.

A return visit is definetly in order!