Just some eye-candy for you to enjoy. Abundance of color right now, but some flowers are starting to pass their prime and gentians are starting to bloom. Surprisingly, very few mosquitoes today!

It's 4:30 AM in Seattle. A hot day is predicted, so I'm up earlier than usual. Blue Towel and I load our gear into the Honda, and we are off while it's still dark. We find our way to Buckley, then south through Wilkeson, past Carbonado, across the one-lane bridge over Carbon River and onto the Mowich Lake road. To the lake it's seventeen more miles, all unpaved and dusty. At the lake, a dozen cars are in the lot, apparently folks tent-camped in the designated area. The lake is pretty, but the camping area itself looks rather stony and dusty, and not particularly appealing. At 7:30 AM campers are just getting up, and we are out on the trail ahead of most of them. A few bugs are in the air, but they aren't biting yet. Perversely, the trail begins with some downhill before leveling out. At Eagle Cliff, we take the short (1 min) side trip down to the viewpoint, and enjoy a great view of the mountain in early morning light. Further along, we bypass the side trail to Spray Falls for now, choosing instead to climb the switchbacks up to Spray Park while it's still cool (relatively.) We will revisit the falls on our way down, when there likely will be more melt water flowing anyway. We reach the lower end of the park and the bugs become unfriendly, so corrective measures are needed. There are flowers here, even an occasional early gentian, but no avalanche lilies. We expected that. As we gain elevation, the mix of flowers changes. Soon, we are surrounded by a profuse growth of lupine, interspersed with magenta paintbrush, bistort, and others. The incredible, sweet aroma fills the air. Soon, we begin to see a few remaining avalanche lilies, in sheltered locations, and there are other flowers, a mix of different colors. While I pause to take photos, Blue Towel goes on ahead. She notes two marmots close to the trail, but they are spooked by another hiker before I arrive, so I miss them. We continue on until we are well above Spray Park. The main route goes on to Carbon River and Mystic Lake, but here it disappears temporarily under a short snow bank. This is as far as we intended to go today, but we note the unofficial, long-established, trail heading upslope directly toward the mountain. We recall taking it several years ago and we take now, up into alpine tundra, where we find dwarf lupine and a few very hardy orange paintbrush. Somewhere below Flett Glacier (now snowfield?) we find a stopping spot to enjoy the views up to the mountain and down to Spray Park, where we note a few other hikers arriving now. Temperatures are rising and it's time to head back down, very slowly, to savor the flowers as we go. Another marmot appears for us, and we note some bear scat (not fresh,) but there's no sign of the bear. On the way, we take the side trail to the falls (it's only five minutes, and well worth it.) A lot of water is coming down, and the setting is very picturesque. We continue back toward the parking lot. It's quite warm now, and there is that uphill section to look forward to... A very satisfying day, with a good mix of wildflowers, and great views of the mountain.

Finally I made it to Spray Park and actually saw something! Everytime I make the drive down there it's cloudy. Nice to see what I've been missing. Also forgot how crowded the place is - especially this weekend with free entrance to Rainier. Parked way back on the road and walked to the ranger cabin, then up to Knapsack Pass. Some nice flowers and a great waterfall back there. Trail up to Knapsack was pretty decent too. Turned left and followed a boot path up to Castle Peak (EDIT: I think it was actually Mother Mountain). It looks intimidating from a distance but once you get there it's a simple walk-up. Dropped back to Knapsack and since it wasn't too hot went over to Fay Peak. I lost the boot path partway and traversed level on the loose hillside, which was tedious and slow. Got cliffed out on the false summit but then found I had to backtrack, drop down on the other side of the ridge to skirt the cliffs, then up to Fay. Stayed on the boot path the whole way out and it was much easier. Ran into a few climbers up there and saw a group making a direct assault up some snow fields and rock slabs. I heard a lot of "rock!rock!rock!" as they went. Descended over Knapsack and worked over to Spray Park. Great views down into Mist Park here. Caught the real trail here and slowly wandered through the park, smelling lupine everywhere. I couldn't have hiked fast if I wanted to either; so many people! I think I had to step aside very 20 ft to let some people go up trail. Lots of lupine, paintbrush, and even some avalanche lilies holding on. Made a side trip to Spray Falls and climbed up right to the base of them and stood underneath, getting soaked by the cool mist. What other humongous waterfalls can one stand under and not be crushed by falling water? Great on a hot day. Quick hike out and then a long, dusty drive out. My silver car is now brown. Note: do not drive this road after just washing your car.

Spray park was a fantastic day hike with tons of gorgeous wild flowers and fantastic views of Mt. Rainier. This was my first time to Mt. Rainier and I was not disappointed. It is a nice hike, with only a short distance of moderate switch backs. The payoff once you reach the meadows is great-- spectacular views of Rainier and the northern cascades. I spent equal time exploring the meadows as I had during the whole climb. There were still patches of snow right where the trail merges with the Wonderland trail. There were tons of butterflies and quite a few mosquitoes (although I wasn't paying too much attention). There were also some bears spotted on the peaks surrounding the meadows. All and all one of the best hikes I've done this summer!