A perfect sunny fall day for this hike. Tons and tons of cars in the parking lot and probably a half mile down the road yet a fairly uncrowded trail. Bear sightings and fall foliage. Start of the trail is downhill so end of hike is uphill. 

I started out at 0715 from Mowich Lake. I came across a mama bear and two cubs at the first bridge not far from the trailhead. Great views of the mountain while in Spray Park. I hiked to the other end of the meadows so my round-trip time was about 4 hours.  There were few hikers on the way out but plenty on the return trip. 

Hiked just to the falls after doing Tolmie Peak, views were limited with the fog along the way but the falls were beautiful.  After the long drive to Mowich this was a great add-on, I definitely want to return on a clear day to make it up to Mount Pleasant.  

We had planned to hike the Spray Park loop with a night at Eagle's Roost Friday and then at Ipsut Creek Saturday, but mediocre air quality (and a terrible first night's sleep) had us shift our plans to just one night + a day hike to Spray Park on Saturday. We definitely enjoyed the views even more with a few less pounds of gear on our backs!

As noted by other hikers, the flowers are long since past but the berries are ripening everywhere you look. We spotted two bears at different points in Spray Park, both of whom were very intent on their foraging and ignored us completely. The second seemingly came out of nowhere when we turned a corner in the trail which was a good reminder to stay alert (and make noise!) so as not to startle them. 

While you'd never guess it from the packed parking lot -- Spray Park had shockingly few hikers out and about. It seems like most people were headed to Tolmie Peak (or doing water activities in Mowich Lake). There were <40 cars in the lot on Friday evening at 6pm and hundreds(?... I didn't count but truly tons) on Saturday at 2pm when we were leaving. Based on that I truly couldn't believe how few groups we saw for most of our hike! 

Arrived at the TH around 11:40 a.m. The road in is in good conditions. Not too many potholes or big stones. It is a dirt road and washboarded most of the way, so expected a long, bumpy, slow ride--but that is the price you pay for avoiding the massive crowds at Paradise and Sunrise. It is easily passable in any vehicle.

I was surprised by how far down the road parking stretched--well past the Tolmie Peak trailhead. But despite all the cars at the trailhead, traffic on the trail was never too much. The TH bathrooms are in good condition.

The trail is in good shape. No blowdowns, barely any standing water, and bugs were barely noticeable. The wildflower season is nearly all done. But blueberries are abundant once you get up near Spray Park.

We made it to our turnaround point around 4 miles in and had lunch, then started back down around 2:30 p.m. Back to the car around 5:15 p.m.