Spray Park Loop — Tuesday, Jul. 23, 2024

Did the spray park loop CCW as a day hike on 7/23, and logged just over 18 miles on my watch. Overall it was a fantastic day, the wildflowers are starting to bloom and the mountain was out in full force! I encountered maybe 10 people the entire day, and none were doing the full spray park loop so most of the trail was relatively quiet.

There are some snow patches past spray park as you descend towards cataract valley, I managed just fine in trail runners but found poles helpful. Once you get past the suspension bridge over the carbon river, there is some parts where the trail washes out. I found it helpful to have a map downloaded so I knew the general direction to travel to link back up with the trail.

The climb up ipsut pass at the end of the day was fine after a lot of descent/relatively flat trail coming from spray park down the valley, but it did feel like a slog towards the end. Took me a little over 8 hours car to car, and it was a wonderful day!!