Spray Park, Hessong Rock and Mount Pleasant & Knapsack Pass — Friday, Aug. 18, 2023

Hiked in a loop today, following a counter clockwise route from Mowich Lake, then on the nice trail to Spray Park, up the steep climber’s trail up Mount Pleasant before dipping down to Mist Park, climbing up Knapsack Pass back to Mowich Lake.

I originally set out for Summit Lake in the area but the road there seemed to be blocked by a forest service crew working on excavating the road? Either way I turned back and checked for an alternate hikes at the ranger station. The Spray Park trail seemed like a beautiful option on a cool and sunny Friday.

Long and dusty gravel road to this area of the park but well graded. The parking area is a little cramped by the time I got there at 10, lots of people! I was able to snag a spot after an early morning hiker left. Also it’s cool to see all the Wonderland hikers staging and camping at the campground.

The hike to Spray Park is pretty uneventful, you’re in the forest canopy for most of the way and not too much incline until right around Spray Falls, which is absolutely worth the side trip to check out. Saw a few pikas along the rock fields along this part of the trail, too.

From Spray Park, I climbed up the little trail towards Hesseong Rock and Mount Pleasant. It’s easy to follow the trail but it is very very steep and narrow! It just goes straight up the mountain and you need to watch out for loose rock.

I took a break up top, the view is beautiful! You have a 360 panorama of the whole area and Rainier absolutely dominates the view.

Then I climbed down the unmaintained trail into Mist Park towards Knapsack Pass. This part is a little tricky but it helps to take a good look at the trail to come from the top of Mount Pleasant. There’s a few talus fields, but my map, common sense and some cairns kept me on track.

I’ve read about lots of posts that talks about how hard it is to climb up the pass. I thought it was fine, I noticed a climbers trail through the scree. I was able to follow it from the climber’s left of the pass by the cliff, and I was able to get up there pretty quickly.

From the top of the pass I was able to look at Rainier one last time before setting out for my car at the lake. It’s an unmaintained trail back to the parking lot, and it is a little overgrown (some bad eroded root sections and steep), but not rocky at all and you get a nice view of the lake most of the way down.