NO BEARS!!! One reason for doing this hike before the road closes, is to get a good chance at seeing bears.  It appears the bears have moved on already. No one that I talked to saw any bears.

Another reason is to see fall foliage and Mt Rainier in her glory. Today was a sunny, warm day, with lots of pretty views. I skipped going to Spray Falls today but did hike all the way thru the park to the turn of Observation Rock. I had lunch on a rock about 100 yards up the Observation Rock trail.

I also enjoy seeing mushrooms in the park. I did see several but not as many as in past years.

This is a good weekend for Spray Park and for Tolmie Lookout.

Road was typical washboarding for the last 14 miles, but best I've seen it and passable for all vehicles. Had some recent gravel put down this season it seems, and that helped. Main trial great. There is a stump with hornets nest in it on the trail just about 1/2 mile in maybe on the right hand side. I marked waypoint and will include in the photos.

Saw 4 bears today! That was definitely the highlight of the trip. First bear was a younger one, then just a few min down trail off to the left again I noticed a HUGE momma with 2 cubs. Fall foliage is looking good but not peak yet. Was glad to get out there before the rains hit this weekend.

The Basics:

• Road: Mowich Lk Rd…. washboard pretty much the entire 15 miles of dirt.
• Mowich CG: Only two tents today!  Good for those folks. 
• Parking: 50% full at Mowich Lake.  Lined a mile down the road for Tolmie on my way home.
• Wildfire Smoke: It was prevalent this morning. I could smell it and it muted the fall colors this morning.  The smoke did blow through the area once the inversion layer lifted and the wind picked up.
• Crowds: I only saw 3 groups today.  6 people total.  Rather shocking for as busy as Tolmie was.

I will break my hike down into sections.

Hessong Rock and Mt Pleasant:  I started the day at Mowich Lake taking the Spray Park trail to the connector trail that brought me to the saddle between the two.  I headed up to Hessong Rock first hoping to take in the sunrise.  I got there a little early.  It was too cold and windy to stick around.  Headed over to Mt Pleasant hoping for better timing for sunrise.  It worked perfectly.  It was fun to watch the constantly changing lenticular cloud/s during sunrise.  

Mt Pleasant to Spray Park Trail (east end):  I took the trail east that dropped down from Mt Pleasant to the connector trail between Knapsack Pass and Spray Park.  I have always found this trail is one of the best for fall colors in the area.  It did not disappoint!

Spray Park to Flett Glacier Tarn:  Spray Park trail to the Flett Glacier trail turn was carpeted with red fall foliage.  It was pretty stunning.  I had not been on the trail to Flett Glacier tarn since 2006.  In 2006, the trail was well defined, easy to follow and there were never any snow crossings.  Reading trip reports from 2022, it sounded like there may have been some snow crossings.

I was shocked how much the trail to Flett Glacier tarn had not only changed since 2006, it looks like it has changed significantly since 2022.  

The once aquamarine tarn is brown with glacial silt.  The first half of the trail (0.75 mi) from Spray Park to the tarn is consistent with my track from 2006.  At 0.75 mi, the trail has disappeared.  Navigation is required. It looks like there may have been a recent slide/avalanche.  Silt looks somewhat fresh.  

Flett Glacier is significantly different from last year where trip reports were showing ice climbers.  There is no glacier/ice to climb.  In fact all of the snow shown in late August 2022 trip reports is gone!  There is a small portion of an ice field left.  Maybe 100 ft long and 20 ft wide. It can be easily avoided.  No other snow all the way to the glacier.

Spray Park Trail back to the Parking Lot:  Fall colors are most prevalent above 5,500ft as in other areas of the park.  Once below 5,500ft, there are very few fall colors present.  The 2.7 miles from the spur trail to the TH seem to have deteriorated since I was on it last about 3 weeks ago.  The roots seemed more prevalent today. Possibly due to heavy foot traffic?

This was my 3rd time hiking to Spray Park, but the first time I made it all the way to the top at Spray Pass.  Hiked today with a good buddy, and his friends who recently moved to Washington from New England.  Great hike, the weather was cool and mostly cloudy.  The top of Rainier was visible at Mowich Lake, but a large lenticular cloud obscured the top of the mountain once we arrived at Spray Park. 

We began hiking around 11:30am got to Spray Pass at 3:30pm, and we're back at the car by 5pm.  The info from this site lists the distance as 8 miles round-trip, but we clocked it at around 9.25 miles.  Our altimeter listed the elevation of Spray Pass at just over 6,470 feet.  LOTS of Fall colors in the meadows, a few wild blueberries were still available just before entering Spray Park.  No bears today, but a Pika crossed the trail.  The section of trail between Spray Falls and Spray Park is by far the most strenuous.  Next time, I want to hike up to Observation Point, and possibly do Knapsack Pass.

Started at Mowich Lake campground and went clockwise up knapsack pass around around through Spray Park. This was a great hike that had a little of everything. We saw a marmot, a bear, a snake, and many birds. Another group told us they saw mountain goats as well. Bugs were extremely minor and we didn't get bit once. Going clockwise puts all the gain at once at the beginning which I think was a fun way to do it. Made it from the trailhead to the ridge at the pass in 1.5 hours. The slowest going part is getting over all the boulders after the ridge at Knapsack. There are many routes but the cairns are a decent guide. Once over the boulders, keep scrambling, staying to the right and once through it, you will find the trail again and see great views of the valley below. Eventually, if you follow the trail you will intersect with the spray park trail which you take a right on to follow back to the trailhead, nearly downhill the whole way. Very worth it to take the short spur out to the falls on the way back too and get cooled by its mist.

Total mileage was somewhere between 6 and 7, if you count all our meandering. Overall, this was an amazing hike and I will have to do it again.