The 16-mile forest road is in pretty good shape for what it is. I managed to miss any chuck holes, that may have existed, but there was no way to miss the washboard feeling.

I was lucky enough to get a close-up parking spot around 7:30 am on a Sunday. By 8 am I was starting my hike. I finished just before 8pm, hence I spent the entire day in Spray Park. Like Aline Wanderer's post on Spray Park, I hiked 12.3 miles and gained around 2800 feet in altitude. I did go up toward Observation Rock but stop short when I needed to climb up rocks. In my younger days, the rocks would not have been a problem, but now, my eye site is not as good as it should be, and I knew that going back down would be very slow.

Bears: sometimes when in Spray Park, I spot bears.  I did stop often and looked for them, but did not see even one. They are around but not every day can they be seen.

Flowers: this is the time of year to see lots of flowers. This year they were hit and miss. I did find some patches of nice flowers but not like in past years. The best flowers were paintbrush, lousewort, and even lupin. The lupine were found at the far end of the park.

Spray Falls: as noted Alpine Wanderer's trip report by someone else, the stream crossing did not look to be too hard now. I did not cross it, myself, however. The falls should not be missed for a first timer to the park.

I usually post around 40 pictures on my Facebook page. A link is provided for this hike.

Bottom Line:

Sunny AM to socked-in PM, but pretty either way with lots of flowers and critters. The smoke finally cleared out today, although no views in the afternoon. Temperatures were nice and cool, and there is lots of water on most of the trail for filtering to minimize weight. No real mosquitos left, but oodles of butterflies and bees! Spray Falls is particularly lovely right now with the lower waterflow, and a pretty easy creek crossing. Bears are common in Spray Park, and today was no exception, with an exceptionally large cinnamon bear chowing down in the meadows.

Stats:

• Distance: 12-1/2 miles (include boot-path and Spray Falls)
• Vertical: 2960 ft
• Duration: ~7 hours
• Road/Parking: No reservations required for the Mowich Entrance! The trailhead was not busy, and Spray Park even less so. A ranger was checking cars for National Park passes and issuing lots of tickets. He was also stopping cars on the road and turning them around to use the self-service kiosk ~5 miles back if one did not have a pass. The road is dusty as usual - slow speeds in pedestrian areas much appreciated ;)
• Weather: Mostly sunny with some haze AM to socked-in PM; light wind; 50-60s; bugs are mostly done for the season so did not notice mosquitos except in boggy areas nears streams
• Water: The trail up to the top of the switchbacks entering Spray Park has plenty of water for filtering; Spray Park is much drier, and the climber's boot-path up toward Echo/Observation Rock has no water on the ridge, so carry water for that part of the hike
• Flora/Fauna: Marmots, pika and a very large cinnamon bear ~1 miles into Spray Park (sorry, did not get a good pic). Butterflies and bees were also out in full force. While the flowers were not prolific (not like Panorama Ridge earlier this week), the variety was definitely good. Note that the flowers on the boot-path tundra are already almost done, with the dwarf paintbrush fading quickly. Among the flowers: paintbrush (red, magenta), heather (white, pink), penstemon, avalanche lily, coltsfoot, monkey-flower, explorer's gentian, bistort, pearly everlasting, rosy spiraea, fireweed, yarrow, arrowleaf groundsel, coiled lousewort, aster, corn lily, thistle, fleabane, lupine, arnica, cow-parsnip and umbrella wort.
• Trail: The trail is in good condition. There are some muddy sections on the switchbacks up to Spray Park, as well as some sections where water is flowing over the trail. Once you enter Spray Park at ~2.8 miles, you can traverse the meadows enjoying the flowers and views and gaining the high point of the trail with a huge cairn at the boundary between Spray and Seattle Parks (there is a snowfield to cross to continue). This is where the climber's boot-path up the ridge begins. The terrain on the ridge is very different, with boulders covered in black lichen (the lichen that gives Blackcomb Mountain its name in BC), and dense succulents, heather and various dwarf flowers. Beautiful!
• Takeaway: A number of skiers still hauling their gear up to the snowfields around Echo/Observation Rocks for some turns - I guess I need to try that one of these times! I was tempted to make a loop of upper Spray Park by climbing down the ridge on the west side to meet up with the boot-path to the little lake below Observation Rock that I explored on my last visit - I could see the trail, and the descent from my perch was straightforward, but I decided I wanted to retrace my steps to see some more critters.

We hiked clockwise from Mowich Lake up the Knapsack Pass trail looping around to the Spray Park trail. Clockwise is definitely the way to go because the trail between the lake and pass is quite muddy and steep in places. The trail begins directly to the left of the ranger cabin. The trail is quite easy to follow and gorgeous with lots of flowing water and loads of flowers. It is a really special area with impressive peaks and some snow above you. Once you hit the pass and start the big descent along the boulder field, it seems that the best route is likely more or less straight down to the tarn below. We ended up going more to the right and diagonally down, which required more route finding. Regardless, you’ll want GPS for this entire next section until you reach Spray Park. There is plenty of bouldering, scree sliding, and (easy) snow crossing here. You climb again up to Mount Pleasant with terrific views of Rainier and down over Spray Park. The descent to the park is steep with lots of loose dirt and rock under foot. We had this trail to ourselves from Mowich to Spray Park. Spray Park flowers are past peak, but it’s still lovely.

We arrived at the trailhead around 9:30am, Sunday morning. The parking lot was full and cars lined the road for quite a distance. The road in has some washboard and potholes, but was easy to navigate. And it’s wide!

We shared the trail with at least 20 parties, including a park ranger, but it didn’t feel oppressive. The Eagles Roost (?) overlook and the Spray Falls detour were well worth it. Spray Park is gorgeous, full of wildflowers and graced with spectacular views at every turn. We met several people who had been skiing. The trail had some snow patches that were easy to cross. The sun was out, and it was a delightful hike.

We arrived to the parking lot at 7:30am and it was full but we didn’t have to park too far down the road at all. By the time we got back 3.5 hours later (lots of stops for littles and walking at a 2.5yo pace for 1/3 of the  hike) cars were lined up very far down the road and people were waiting to take our spot as we were loading up to leave.

Headed out with a 10yo, 8yo and 2.5yo - great hike for kids. Some up and down but overall more down on the way out and up on the way back so keep that in mind when deciding when to turn back especially with littles. We turned around after getting to Spray Falls. Our 2.5yo desperately wanted to hike and walked most of the way out but was forced into the backpack for our peace of mind for the last water crossings - one on a narrow but sturdy log with a handrail and the last one out on rocks in the water. If you’re sure footed or long legged or have waterproof boots you can get across without getting your feet wet. Otherwise know you might have to continue your hike with wet feet in order to see the entirety of the falls which was well worth doing in my opinion. My 8yo declined to cross but my 10yo willingly did it. Eagles Roost is a short distance off the trail and is a must see either on the way up or way down. Gorgeous view of Mt. Rainier especially on a clear day. 

Some mosquitoes but not bothersome. Lots of wildflowers blooming and while there were a lot of people out on the trail it didn’t feel crowded. 

Bring your suit or a change of clothes to take a quick dip in the lake at the end to cool off! Several people with paddle boards, kayaks or inner tubes enjoying the beautiful clear day.