Knapsack Pass — Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023

A week before this trip, on the 7th, my Mom and a friend of hers backpacked in this area. Sadly, during this trip, my Mom's friend lost her phone. So this Saturday, the 14th, we all returned to the Knapsack Pass / Spray Park area to search for and hopefully find the phone.

We arrived at around 7 AM, and though it was still somewhat dark, we could tell that the weather was not going to be pleasant; mid-morning rain was forecasted. However, though it was mostly overcast, we never actually experienced any rain.

The Knapsack Pass trailhead curves up from Mowich Lake towards the pass. It starts with some steep, wet, muddy sections that made me pessimistic for the rest of the rescue mission. However, soon we were up in sub-alpine territory, with lovely meadows, and mountain goats sitting on nearby cliffs. Though the entire trail to the pass is steep, the second half is quite pleasant, as the seemingly straight-up trail sections are placed in-between short flat meadow sections.

From the pass, we had an incredible view of the beautiful Mist Park / Spray Park area, as well as some of Rainier here and there through the clouds.

After the pass, the actual trail switchbacks down through some rocky sections. This fades into a large area of rocks, in which you must find your own trail. A few helpful cairns do lead the way.

Eventually, this rocky sections temporarily ends, a nice meadow trail can be easily spotted. This lead us to the next rock section, were we suspected the phone was hidden.

Yes, we did find the phone!

Afterwards, we returned the way we came. Don't slip in the occasional mud.

Overall, this was a great hike, though the trail was a little primitive. There was no snow in any of the areas we hiked, apart from a few snowfields left over from last winter. The snowfields were off to the side, and did not block the trail.