Hessong Rock and Mount Pleasant, Knapsack Pass, Observation Rock via Echo Rock & Ptarmigan Ridge (Mount Rainier) — Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022

Wow, what a spectacular day up in Spray Park and beyond with Glen99!! First time for me in this part of Mount Rainier NP, and all I can say, is what took me so long. Use any adjective to describe the amazing scenery, and you would not be wrong. Once we left the forest and got into the meadows of Spray Park, it was non stop views for 9 hours. We also saw a momma bear with her two cubs twice, once on the way up, and again as we were descending. There was also another solo bear, near the momma bear and the cubs. It looked like they were keenly aware of the other bear. We also saw just at the base of the Flett Glacier, what appeared to be a Wolverine. (pic 4). It could of been a Fisher, but it was quite large. We also saw 4 white Ptarmigans. To top things off, we got an amazing sunset coming down Knapsack Pass.

Glen 99 and I got started at 9 am, took the forested trail(Eagle's Roost) up to Spray Park, and then on up to the Fett Glacier to get up to Observation and Echo Rocks. We first encountered the bears up on a hill at around 6600ft. The trail was heading right at them, so we veered to the right, staying on rocks to avoid a direct confrontation with them. They were busy feasting, and the momma bear was huge. 

Once at the Flett Glacier, we put on microspikes and headed up to Observation Rock. Some minor scrambling to get up here. On the summit, Glen99 pointed out a trail that went up to a higher peak up on Ptarmigan Ridge, so we took that up to Point 8700ft. Views up here were incredible. Such a nice day with limited smoke. We could see St Helens, Puget Sound, Olympics, Baker, Shuksan, Glacier Peak, Sloan, Alpine Lakes Wilderness Peaks, Stuart Range, and many others.

After this amazing high point on the ridge, we dropped down to the top of the Flett Glacier and went over to the base of Echo Rock. We dropped our packs at the base of the boulder field, and headed up. There is some nice class 3 scrambling with some minor exposure, so I was able to make it up.

After a short break on Echo Rock summit, we headed down to our packs, and on to the Flett Glacier for the descent. Microspikes worked well coming down and it really was not that steep, so we didn't use our ice axes. There were a few small crevasses, but were easily avoided. There is a running stream that you can hear underneath, so please avoid this section. There were also some holes that need to be avoided also. At the base of the Flett Glacier is where we saw the wolverine / fisher. It was quite large, maybe 40lbs?

Once down to around 6800ft we ran into a couple of hikers who had spotted the bears. We joined them and watched the momma and her two cubs forage down below. There was a fourth bear fairly close, but they kept there distance.

On the way back we decided to go a different route back to Mowich Lake by taking Knapsack Pass. On the way over there we dropped our packs, and scampered up to Mount Pleasant. Once back down to our packs we made the traverse over to Knapsack Pass. This part was tricky, and maybe the hardest part of the whole trip negotiating the boulder field. It also could of been because we were tired.

Once on top of Knapsack Pass, we had a treat in store for us with the beautiful sunset. Just amazing colors coming down!!!! Once down into the forest near Mowich Lake it got dark, so we donned headlamps for the last part out.

We finished at 7:10pm  14.1 miles with 5844 ft elevation gain

More Information on this Trip Report

• https://caltopo.com/m/8LNUT