My friend Craig (Yetiman) and I hiked into Spray Park at Mt Rainier NP on Sunday. We started from the Mowich lake trailhead at 9:15 am, and made our first stop at the Eagle Cliff overlook, which has a great view of Rainier. But the picture-taking there is lousy in the morning due to the sun being behind-ish to the mountain, leaving it half sun and half shade. We then headed over to the side trail to Spray falls, a more-than-worthy detour. These falls are some of the cooler ones I've seen. Be sure to climb up the way trail that goes up almost to the base of the falls. Awesome! Then it was up the couple dozen switchbacks that took us up to Spray Park itself. This is an amazing place. Flowers everywhere, of every type and color imaginable. Mt Rainier up close and personal. Rock gardens, tiny lakes, snow fields, side trails for exploring. This place has it all. We took our time, checked out some prime viewing spots, met some nice people, and just absorbed the wonderous surroundings. Even on a nice Sunday, with dozens of parties on the trail, there was never a feeling of crowdedness in the park, because of all the cool places to go and explore. Anyone wanting some solitude could find it easily. Except from the mosquitos. Full body coverage with DEET was required to achieve protection. After exploring the lower levels of the park a while, we got back on the main trail and headed up some more, to about 6,100 ft, where we found the one thing I wanted for sure to see: a great view down on Mist Park. Just turn left at the first big cairn you come to. We slipped in between a rocky cliff and the top of a snowfield, and settled in for a nice shaded, air conditioned, mosquito-free break. Our beers went into the snowbank, and we lounged for over an hour. By then it was 4 pm, so we headed up again to the ""top"", the place where the trail starts to descend, at 6,600 ft. This was the topper of all. Great views down to Spray Park below, snowfields on Rampart ridge, Mt Rainier closer than ever, cool boulder fields we named ""Tranquility Base"", and views off into the hazy distance in three directions. We stayed until 6 pm, and then hunger and a lack of more beer drove us to return to the car for re-supply. We made it back in two hours of super-fast walking, plus 1/2 hour to enjoy and photograph at Eagle Cliff. The descent from the first open area of Spray Park to the side trail to Spray falls, intense and rocky switchbacks, took only twelve minutes. It is without a doubt the fastest I have ever moved in my life. Craig, a tennis pro and model/actor in great shape, tried his best to ""drop"" me, but I stayed on his heels the whole way. It just seemed easier to go fast, and was easier on my feet as well, since I wasn't putting on the brakes at all. We got back to Mowich lake at 8:30, and drove a short way down the road to get a great view of the sunset at a wide bend in the road. We had a couple more beers, and listened to Pink Floyd performed by a reggae band. I was prepared to hate it, but I was completely won over. I now feel that Dark Side of the Moon was MEANT to be reggae. A ranger came by, put his flashers on, and came over to the car. Busted! (I think you're not supposed to drink in your car, even if you are way under .08) But no, he just wanted to make sure we were OK, not broken down or anything. We told him we were just watching the sunset. He looked out at the complete darkness (it was 10 pm), nodded like he'd seen it all now, and went on his way. I used my blood alcohol ""computer"" to determine my level (it's a little card with a slider that figures in drinks, time and body weight) which came out to be .03, so off we went home. We arrived in Lynnwood at 1 am, totally exhausted. I slept for twelve hours. I give this hike a nine on a scale of ten, with 1/2 point deductions for crowds and mosquitos. I can't say whether the flowers were at their peak or not since I have never been there before, but they were spectacular and abundant and varied.
Comments