Spray Park — Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023

Got to the trailhead at 10 am on a nice Saturday. There was plenty of road parking about 1/2 mile to 1 mile from the trailhead, but nothing closer. The Mowich road wasn't bad, but was pretty wash-boarded with small potholes. Every car should be able to make it, but the road was kind of rough as well. There was a ranger putting warnings on people's windows for cars that didn't have the appropriate pass, but no tickets. 

Even though the road and parking area were busy, almost everyone else was heading to Tolmie. Once we got on the trail, it was pretty calm and empty. About a mile on the trail we heard some rustling down the hill and saw a shy goat who was running through the brush. He walked along side us for a while, and then got spooked that we were still on the trail and ran off up the hill. 

The view from the Eagle Cliff overlook was amazing, and we met someone doing the Wonderland Trail in 6 days and talked to them for a bit. We tried to go down to the Waterfall, but it was kind of a madhouse there with people slowly trying to climb across the boulders to get a better view. We left without really trying to get the better view. 

On up to Spray Park. It was stunning today. We wandered around for about a mile or a little more, enjoying the view, the colors, and several little tarns. We saw a ptarmigan, and saw several spots of bear scat. No bears though. We found a spot on some rocks next to a tarn with a beautiful mirror view of the mountain to have lunch as our turnaround spot. We headed back to the trailhead from there. When we got back around 3 pm, there were a few more spots, but it was still pretty crowded. 

10.2 miles round trip 
2062 ft elevation gain