Parking lot half full at 9:30 AM on a Monday. Subzero temps overnight had knocked down the bugs. The clouds parted right when I got up up to the meadows... and the mosquitoes came out... but they weren’t bad. Perfect day. 

Echo rock and Observation rock (August 26th 2020):

• Road: Suitable for all vehicles.
• Parking: No problem finding a spot on a Tuesday at 9am. 
• Trail conditions: Very good.
• Snowfields: Easy to cross. Snow was good, I had good traction with microspikes. The slope is never too steep. No crevasses or anything technical.
• Scrambles: Echo rock is not a hard scramble, you just have to know the route (you can look at my GPX: start from the south, head northwest to the rock cairns, then counterclockwise). Observation rock is not really a scramble, you can just walk up.
• Technical gear used: I had an ice axe, microspikes and helmet. Ice axe was too much, I ended up only using my poles. Microspikes were helpful although not strictly necessary. Helmet was not really necessary since I was just by myself. Do bring one for Echo rock if you are in a group.
• Water: There are a few spots (see my pictures on the map). You can carry ~1L with multiple stops to refill.
• Social distancing: I saw only 3 people up until getting on the Sprak Park trail on the way back. Then I saw maybe ~10-20 people on that last segment.

We saw the resident cinnamon-colored mother black bear and her 2 cubs (1 black, the other cinnamon) in Spray Park. They appear at 3:45 in the attached video (I included all of the video I took, even though some of it is much less than ideal). The cubs look quite healthy/plump and are very cute. Researching their coloring on the Burke website led to the attached website with Black Bear information. I was wondering if the cinnamon-colored male in Berkeley Park is maybe the father of the cubs or the grandfather. 

Wildflower update for Spray Park: The bright yellow Rainier Lousewort is mostly faded, though there are bright clumps in places. Some of the magenta paintbrush is faded/fading, but there is still a lot that is brightly blooming. The lupine is peaking perhaps, there are many blue fields. A lot of bistort, coiled lousewort, and purple daisies have come out in the last week. There are a few purple asters coming out. There are thick fields of cotton flowers at the start of the park. In general, there are lots of flowers throughout the park with many wow moments. 

Beyond Spray Park - i was meeting a friend who was hiking out from Cataract Valley. At 5.2-5.5 miles from the trailhead there is a valley where a few streams cross the trail. All of these streams are filled with flowers right now (beginning of the video). The last stream has a pretty waterfall above the trail. From the 4 mile point (high point on the hike) to this area contains 1/10 mile of snow crossings and the trail is rough, rocky, and steep in many spots. There were some flowers along this portion of trail, but nothing too spectacular.

I hiked the trail to Spray Park via Mowich Lake and Spray Falls on a sunny August Tuesday. I was last here in early September 2017 when all of the views were obscured by wildfire smoke - what a different experience! 

Mowich Road is in great shape compared to a few years ago. There is still washboarding but all of the potholes have been filled in. I was able to make it through the 16-mile gravel portion in a little over 30 minutes in my Outback. Lower clearance vehicles should have no problem with the road (but might want to go a bit slower to avoid the few shallow potholes).

Parking lot was about half full at 8 AM. I was able to snag a spot right up front. The lot was full and several cars were parked along the road when I left at 2 PM, but the parking situation didn't look too bad at that point. The trail was definitely more crowded than usual, but nothing like a weekend and I didn't mind the few extra people around since I was hiking solo.

The play-by-play:

• The trail was in excellent shape all the way up to upper Spray Park (I went no further this time). There was one small snow patch in upper Spray Park that was easy to cross with just boots and poles. There are permanent snow fields above Spray Park on the divide between Seattle and Spray Parks, so be aware of these if you're planning to continue on to Seattle Park.
• I love the forest between the trailhead and the entrance to Spray Park. Great tread, great light filtering through the trees, many pretty creeks and small waterfalls.
• Spray Falls were gushing. Last time I was here with my partner, we took the higher crossing over the creek to get to the viewpoint. This time, the water was more powerful and flowing over the larger rocks in the creek bed at the upper crossing; I was worried about falling in and hurting myself since I was alone. I backtracked a bit and went downstream, where I found a log across the creek that was easy to scoot across. The rocks on the far side of the creek are loose, so be careful scrambling up to get to the Spray Falls viewpoint.
• Very few bugs in the forest, but the mosquitoes definitely made their presence known in the meadows. I was very glad my clothes were treated with permethrin and that I brought my bug headnet. With these preventative measures (plus picaridin on skin), I didn't get any bites.
• The meadows are in peak bloom right now! The first of the magenta paintbrush is beginning to fade, so make the trip soon if you'd like to see them in all their glory this season.

When passing other hikers in the meadows, please do not step off the trail unless it is onto a rock or some other durable surface. I know due to COVID we are all trying to maintain 6' of separation, but please don't step on fragile alpine plants in an effort to do so. This is what masks are for. :-) Thanks for doing your part to preserve this delicate environment!

Bugs were insane. I was covered and I mean covered. I sat down at one point because I overdid it in the sun and altitude and the mosquitos were all over my head and face and shirt. Deet did not deter them. Saw bears in the distance.