Our destination today was Knapsack Pass over to Spray Park out of the Mowich Lake trailhead. The route we chose would not be recommended for inexperienced hikers. My hiking group met at 8:30 in Wilkeson at the parking lot in the middle of town. We were surprised to find the public restroom open, clean and stocked with supplies. It had been closed all of last summer. After driving the 15+ miles of washboard road we arrived at the Mowich parking area just before 10:00AM and snagged a couple spots just North of the straight in parking stalls on the right side of the road. Cars were parked for about 1/3 mile back from overnight camping or backpacking. The sky was clear blue and it was in the 58 degrees with a nice breeze when we started hiking.. The vault toilet facility was being cleaned by NPS staff and had a line up of 8 hikers. We decided to skip that and use the Green Door further up the trail.
Following the trail on the south shore of Mowich Lake we headed up the unmaintained trail to Knapsack Pass. The trail has several narrow spots, few switchbacks, many challenging step up situations. Most of the wildflowers are past their prime except Gentian that was popping up everywhere. Once over Knapsack Pass a few lupine, magenta paintbrush and lousewort were still looking good and Monkey Pod was in full bloom along stream crossings and water ponds. Blueberries and blue huckleberries were ripening everywhere. We only meet 2 other hikers until with reconnected with the Wonderland Trail at the eastern edge of Spray Park. Several folks from UW were in the meadows doing wildflower studies and we passed about 10 other groups of day hikers and backpackers completing the Wonderland Loop. We were hoping to see wildlife but only saw clumps of mountain goat fur on both sides of Knapsack Pass and going up toward Mt. Pleasant, plus a few chipmunks and bird species. After descending the pass and negotiating the loose scree slope followed by the large boulder field we took a much deserved rest a lunch / rest break on a huge rocky outcropping with a 360 degree territorial view of Seattle Park and Mt. Rainier. Initially we followed an All Trails App for what was touted as a 6 mile loop hike. Once on the side of Mt. Pleasant and looking at the terrain we decided to back track about 1/3 mile and take a longer but easier trail down to the Wonderland Trail. We arrived back to our vehicles just after 5:00PM completing a 9 mile loop. Hikers and backpackers were still heading out on the trail at that time. Another fantastic day to be out in nature with friends.
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