Spray Park — Wednesday, Aug. 19, 1998

Mount Rainier Area > NW - Carbon River/Mowich

I hadn't been on this trail for a while. It appears to have received some major upgrades. The lower part of the trail has some rooty and rocky spots, but for the most part it's easy walking. Just beyond the Eagle Cliff view point there were a couple of deer blocking the trail so I picked them up and moved them aside. They just stared at me and blinked their eyes. There are hundereds of wood check steps along the trail making the steep portions easy to negotiate. The trail through the meadows has been built up with large flat rock-lined turnpikes filled with gravel and many rock steps all of which appears to have been brought in from off site. Many side trails have been blocked off for revegetation and camping is no longer permitted. The meadows are filthy with marmots and I also saw one small black bear along the trail. The flower show is past its peak, but there are still lots of Explorer's Gentian, Lewis' Monkeyflower, Magenta Paintbrush, and Alpine Asters. As you leave the delicate meadows and continue along the Wonderland Trail you enter rocky basins which still have some lingering snow. Here there are more opportunities to wander off the trail and scramble up to view points. I watched one avalanche on Rainier.