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Trip Report

Tolmie Peak Lookout - Eunice Lake — Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024

Mount Rainier Area > NW - Carbon River/Mowich
Mowich Lake

Road Condition: The last 15 miles to the Mowich Lake Campground is unpaved. There were a lot of bumps and small pot holes but only 10 or so bigger pot holes. After the fee station, the last 5 miles get significantly better. The road is wide enough to fit two vehicles so you do have some maneuvering ability to avoid the bigger pot holes. It took me about 45 minutes each way in my Subaru Crosstrek. As a courtesy reminder...it's perfectly okay to drive slow to be comfortable but check your rear view mirrors and pull over to let faster cars pass!

I got to the campground parking lot a little at 8 AM to do a hike up to Spray Falls. I got one of the last few actual spots. There were about 20 cars parked along the road already but there were still plenty of room for more. I started from the trailhead on the left side of Mowich Lake campground. At the first trail intersection from that entrance (right before getting to the lake), the sign for Eunice Lake will point you into a flooded section of the trail. If you ignore the sign and go a little bit further on the trail, there is a large log that allows you to get across the flooded trail portion. If you don't want to do that, then you can start on one of the trail entrances from the road in.

The trail is in good shape and pretty mellow all the way through the branch off from Ipsut Pass. From there it heads down some switchbacks before heading back up some other switchbacks to Eunice Lake. The closer you get to Eunice Lake, the muddy and wetter the trail gets. It's all passable but left my trail runners quite dirty. Once past Eunice Lake, more switchbacks lead out of the wet mud to drier/nicer trail all the way up to the lookout. You can go up the stairs to the outside of the lookout.

Even though clouds blocked all views of Rainier, it was still a fun hike!

View of the Lookout from Eunice Lake
Looking back down at Eunice Lake
The Lookout!
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