This is one of my favorite hikes. The trailhead is at Mowich lake at the northwest corner of Mt Rainier NP. The dirt road to the trailhead is in very good condition albiet dusty if your behind someone. The trail starts out in the woods for the first 2.5 miles. A 100ft side path to Eagle Cliff View affords a great view of Mt Rainier. The meadows are very green and are accented with Avalance Lillies, Paintbrush and several others. Just a few small snowfields near the trail highpoint. Head off on an easy crosscountry meander over moraine mixed with interesting alpine vegetation. Try really hard to only walk on the rocks and avoid crushing these delicate plants. A loop can be made by returning in the open valley dotted with small lakes just to the south of the main trail. A .1 mi side trail to Spray Fall is very worthwhile and is best illumiated in the afternoon. There is a bit of a scramble to get an unobstructed view of the falls.
Flowers are at their prime but mosquitoes are also present in large numbers. Not too bad until you stop for more than 1 minute. The ranger told me that they were actually much worse 2 wks ago so maybe they'll thin out in the near future.
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