Fall colors are now a little faded at Spray Park, the vegetation in general looks a bit dry, no surprise given the dry weather we've been having. Still, there were some eye popping reds in the small leaves, and the views were very clear Mt. Rainier right there of course, - we could see Glacier Peak and Mt. Stuart from the Mist Park overlook area. A beautiful day up there. We also saw one mountain goat. No bears, though.

I forgot that the 1800 foot elevation gain doesn't really start until after the spray park falls side trail, making that next 0.8 mile steep, and quite rooty in places as you ascend to the park. Saw maybe 15 other people on the trail. 

It took us 2:15 from NE Seattle to the trailhead at Mowich Lake. The road is a bit rocky with some moderate potholes, but I've seen it much worse/more wash boarded in the past. 

Oh, that road to Mowich. It is 15 miles of rocky, pot-holed washboard road. It is do-able, but I wouldn't want to be in a smaller car. The good news, is that a hike on this side of the mountain is one that you have to work for. The trail begins in the campground at Mowich Lake. There are restrooms, open and stocked. You'll descend right from the beginning on this one. The first couple miles are in the woods with no view to speak of. Definitely take the spur to Spray Falls as it is a quite impressive sight. After this junction for the falls you will begin to climb up toward the meadow at Spray Park. Lots of switchbacks make for a slower .8 miles, but when reach Spray Park you're in for a treat. Fall colors are exploding on this trail and mountain views are gorgeous. Continue through the meadow and back through more woods to begin the climb toward Seattle Park. Here, the park and mountain spread out before you with spectacular views. I saw evidence of the resident black bears but no sightings on this day. Beautiful hike. You'll want to hurry if you expect to do this one before closures of Mowich Lake road which is slated for Oct 17th. 

Spray Park is one of my favorite Fall hikes for the colors and the occasional bear sighting. I don't think I've ever been there without seeing bears chowing on berries somewhere in the meadows! https://youtu.be/WmDNcz3ThUY

The colors were pretty much at their prime and starting to dull, and the bushes are getting low on berries. I think the bears will probably move on to better grounds soon.

We ran into 2 sets of momma bears with 2 cubs. 1 set was about 5 minutes from the trailhead while the other was in the meadows. None of them seemed to care about humans at all.

We arrived at the trailhead parking area at noon (A very late start for us). Parking lot was full so we thought the trail would be crowded. However, it wasn't at all. All those cars must have been people headed somewhere besides Spray Park. There's a privy at the trailhead. It was clean and stocked with TP. The trail starts downhill (blah', LOL). Trail is in good shape. After the long downhill part, its up and down after that until you get to the switch backs which start right to the left of where the trail splits to the falls. The trip down to the falls is easy and worthwhile. The switch backs do seem to go on for quite a while, but they weren't bad at all. Pretty steady grade, nothing super steep. After the switchbacks, it opens up into meadows. We weren't really sure which one was Spray Park, so we kept going until we reached a big lava field. We passed maybe 6 people once we got to the numerous meadows. There were multiple bootpaths/social trails. For anyone that doesn't already know this, THOSE ARE NOT THE OFFICIAL TRAIL. DONT GO THERE. IT HARMS THE ENVIRONMENT. I saw a guy who appeared to be in his 60s, looking like a seasoned hiker, who took off boldly onto one of those trails. I called out, "Hey. Do you realize that is not the trail? " He said yes, and kept going, even after I said it ruins the meadows. Jerk. Rant over. 

Anyway, the colors were changing and it was beautiful. Reds and yellows and oranges.  Rainier was so close we could almost touch her. The sky was blue, the temperature was perfect. No bugs, no mud, no snow. Just miles of perfection. 

We stopped at the lava field, then backtracked a bit to a slightly shaded rocky spot on the trail, sat and had our lunch and enjoyed the solitude. 

It took us 3 hours up and 2 hours down, but that was with a side trip to the falls and lookout, A 30-minute lunch break, several water and photo breaks, and a few chats with other hikers. 

We clocked 9 miles. A lovely day of wander and wonder. 

We spent a night at the walk-in campground at Mowich Lake, and spent one day hiking to these wonderful meadows on a picture-perfect fall day that allowed us to bask in an close-up view of the mountain. 

The details: This trail is in great condition. It does, as another writer noted, start going down, so remember there will be elevation gain on the return. The two short spur trails are worth the visit -- one for your first great view of the mountain, the other for Spray Falls. To get a good view of the falls, you do need to cross a river. It's not hard, but we took it slow to make sure we didn't slip on the wet rocks and logs. 

The signs say that you reach Spray Park just about a mile after the falls -- and you do, after a set of switchbacks, but don't stop there.  After the first meadows, you go through a little more forest, then break into miles of 360-degree views.  At one point, we even spied the top of Glacier Peak peeking out to the north.   When I reach meadows like this, any fatigue from hiking uphill seems to melt away, and I feel like I could go on forever.  For this trip, we wandered as far as we guessed was the junction between Spray Park and Seattle Park -- from a mostly meadow-and-mountain landscape to a rockier one.  We didn't see the bear and two cubs that others reported -- apparently they were hanging out right on the trail for awhile.  We did see an eagle and a marmot with a mouth full of some kind of grass -- building material?