Mowich Road was in excellent condition. We arrived at the trailhead around 4pm, and there were still many cars parked on the road. The vast majority were hiking Tolmie Peak, because once we got on the Spray Park trail, we had it mostly to ourselves. Less than 1/2 mile in we saw our first bear right on the trail. He gave us a curious look and headed on down the slope. The bugs weren’t too bad as long as we kept moving, but when we stopped to photograph the bear they were merciless. We continued past the turnoff to the falls, and huffed it up to Spray Park. There was some arnica, lupine, Sitka valerian, and beargrass along the trail as we went up. Once we came out of the woods, the avalanche lilies just exploded. They were carpeting the meadows and the late day sun illuminated them so beautifully. Lots of Jeffrey’s shooting-star and hot-pink paintbrush also popping up. The weather was cloudless and the mountain views were perfection. We had a quick turnaround time due to starting so late in the day. Stopped by the magical Spray Falls on the way down. No matter how many times I go I am struck by how massive this waterfall is. The light was beautiful and there was a rainbow in the spray. The rest of the trek down was uneventful until we got to the stream crossing about a mile before the trailhead. Mr. Bear was right off the trail near the stream having his dinner. As we approached the final climb out to the campground we heard a crack and looked up to see another, MASSIVE black bear enjoying his organic plant-based dinner on the slope above us. He was an absolute unit and so very handsome and non-plussed. We finally climbed out and notified the campers that the bear was around and looked like he was heading up towards the campground. All in all, it was a magical day. If you want to see bears, you have a good chance on this trail! I renamed it Bear Spray Park (no, we didn’t carry bear spray nor did we need it)!

Lots of fun getting to see Spray Falls and up into Spray Park!

REMINDER:  Mowich Lk Rd is closed for the season.  It is either a 5 mile walk up the road or one has to utilize the Grindstone trail to make it 4 miles to Mowich Lake and all of the TH’s.

With weather changing yet again tonight, I am not sure how much this report will help anyone.

Driving Mowich Lake Road:  The first 9 miles are still in decent condition up until the park boundary.  The worst is the short ½ mile to the parking areas. This section has deteriorated significantly in the last 10 days since I have been up there.  Multiple potholes that can’t be avoided.  Not quite car sucking yet.  Getting close.

Warning that forest logging is going on along Mowich Lake Rd.  To my surprise, a fully loaded logging truck was coming down at 4am.  Have never seen this in 20 years.  Something to be aware of for those that like to fly up and/or down the road.

I chose to avoid Grindstone today and rode my bike all the way up to Mowich Lake.  The Grindstone trail tends to be muddy on a dry day.  Thought it might be pretty bad after the heavy rains we had.

Patrol Cabin to Knapsack Pass:  A tree has fallen across the trail right after the “unmaintained trail” sign.  It looks fairly recent as the sawdust looks fresh.  I found it easiest to go under the tree.  It does have a blue spray paint marking.  

The trail from the cabin to the pass was a running stream of water for 90% of the trail.  Good thing I avoided Grindstone only to get wet feet an hour later.  🙄  No way to avoid wet feet.

Knapsack Pass to Spray Park Trail:  Every year I say I will only do this trail in the spring when snow is present on this section.  Every year I forget that mantra and do a late fall hike.....cursing myself the entire way.

Going from the pass to Spray Park is an exercise in boulder climbing and navigation.  There is a ¾ mile section of a large boulder field, and without snow, a trail does not exist.  

I have hiked this trail frequently. Hence I know where to head.  It still makes for a physically challenging section going up and over large boulders while trying to keep a straight line. 

I did see some cairns set up.  Do NOT follow them.  They were way off trail.  Not sure if someone was playing a joke on others.  Or if they were that lost and made cairns to help them find their way back.

Without the snowfields/glaciers, there were some really cool tarns that I have never seen before.

About a ½ mile off the boulder field and onto the regular connector trail, there was the herd of goats that I frequently find here in the off season. Today, they were sleeping right on the trail on the way to the Spray Park trail.   As to not disturb them and to give my legs a rest, I cut my hike short by heading up to Mt Pleasant instead of doing the full Spray Park trail.  I then took the trail down from the saddle to the Spray Park trail. 

Spray Park trail:  The trail is surprisingly dry!  Tarns, streams and creeks are flowing well.  The trail itself is in great condition.

Crowds:  I did not see a human being all day! There was one car in the lot when I got back to my car.  Not sure which trail they were on.

Wildlife:  Goats everywhere!  Not only on trail.  There was a group hanging out west of Knapsack Pass.  More just below Hessong Rock.  

Got to the trailhead at 10 am on a nice Saturday. There was plenty of road parking about 1/2 mile to 1 mile from the trailhead, but nothing closer. The Mowich road wasn't bad, but was pretty wash-boarded with small potholes. Every car should be able to make it, but the road was kind of rough as well. There was a ranger putting warnings on people's windows for cars that didn't have the appropriate pass, but no tickets. 

Even though the road and parking area were busy, almost everyone else was heading to Tolmie. Once we got on the trail, it was pretty calm and empty. About a mile on the trail we heard some rustling down the hill and saw a shy goat who was running through the brush. He walked along side us for a while, and then got spooked that we were still on the trail and ran off up the hill. 

The view from the Eagle Cliff overlook was amazing, and we met someone doing the Wonderland Trail in 6 days and talked to them for a bit. We tried to go down to the Waterfall, but it was kind of a madhouse there with people slowly trying to climb across the boulders to get a better view. We left without really trying to get the better view. 

On up to Spray Park. It was stunning today. We wandered around for about a mile or a little more, enjoying the view, the colors, and several little tarns. We saw a ptarmigan, and saw several spots of bear scat. No bears though. We found a spot on some rocks next to a tarn with a beautiful mirror view of the mountain to have lunch as our turnaround spot. We headed back to the trailhead from there. When we got back around 3 pm, there were a few more spots, but it was still pretty crowded. 

10.2 miles round trip 
2062 ft elevation gain

* I dropped my phone in the boulder field coming down from Knapsack Pass toward Mist Park. If you happened to find a phone in that area on 10/7 or 10/8, please contact 253-394-8057. Thank you.*

Now, for the good part. Day One: We arrived at Mowich just before 8am on Saturday. It was already starting to fill up and there were a number of people camping at the lake. We started out from the Ranger's Cabin and headed up toward Mother Mountain and Knapsack Pass. As stated on the trail description for Knapsack, this trail is no longer maintained and REQUIRES navigational skills, GPS, and backcountry know-how. The trail was quite muddy at first but dried out as we gained elevation, which we did quickly. The scramble to the top of Mother Mountain was doable using hands and feet - again, use caution in this sparsely traveled, unmaintained area! Views from the top were exceptional - we saw Stuart, Glacier, Baker and, of course, Rainier in all its glory. Coming down from the pass you cross a large boulder / skree field. GPS is a necessity here. Cairns are in place, but it seems that some of them may have been knocked down in a slide. After the boulders we climbed down the steep and narrow trail through Mist Park and connected with the Wonderland. We headed down toward Cataract Valley and our camp for the night. Water at the campground was plentiful and the privy was in good shape. The campground was empty when we arrived about 4pm, but filled up as the evening went on.

Day Two: We backtracked up the Wonderland from Cataract Valley and traveled through Spray Park, detouring to the falls. Trail was in fantastic shape. The creeks are full and there were a couple of places between Cataract Valley and Spray Park where you could not avoid getting your feet a bit wet. I imagine things will only get wetter in the days to come. Fall colors were out in force and there were no bugs to be seen. If the weather holds, it's the right time to get out there and enjoy the view. The parking lot at Mowich was completely full when we returned shortly after 3pm on Sunday with cars parked well over half a mile down the road.