This is an easy 6 mi 1200ft hike to a great view point. The road to Mowich lake is in good condition. The pot holes have recently been filled. The trail is in great condition. A few flies present below Eunice lake. The view includes almost all of Puget Sound including Seattle and Tacoma and the Olympics to the East. Baker, Glacier, and Stuart to the North. A great view of Rainier to the Southeast and of St Helens to the South. Clearcuts in the foothills to the west are pretty ugly but are not visible until you reach the ridgeline. I saw about 15 people on this beautiful Friday. I imagine that it gets pretty crowded on weekends.

What a great day for hike! The sun was out this morning so we headed up to Mowich. We were not the ones with the same idea - the parking lot was full! Throngs of hikers were heading to Spray Park, we opted to go the other way towards Tolmie Peak. It was a good choice as we hiked alone most of the way - minus the bugs. There were large biting wasps on the trail. Eunice was beautiful! But why stop there? We hiked up to the old lookout just in time to catch a glimps of Mt Rainier before cloud cover set in. It was a bit chilly with a small breeze to keep the bugs away. After a bug-free lunch, we headed down the trail, totally content with a good days hike. This hike is a must, but wait until after bug season - maybe in September? see ya on the trails

Beautiful day, full parking lot at Mowich Lake Trailhead. Not many signs point to the trail for Tolmie Peak, but take the trailhead just before the lake that is labeled ""Lakeshore trail/Ipsut Pass"" follow to Eunice Lake from there. 2.2 miles through up and down switchbacks get you to Eunice Lake. With views of Tolmie Peak Lookout from there, and Mt Rainier from the opposite side of the lake (Major photo op) you ascend the last .8 miles to the lookout. Mt Rainier is boldly in front of you with 360 degree views all the way up to Glacier Peak and Mt Baker (unfortunately Mt Adams is hidden behind Rainier). Round trip 6. miles. Directions: follow 410 east to 165 south towards Wilkerson/Carbonado. Follow for about 20 minutes then at the y you can go left towards Ipsut campground or right towards mowich lake. Follow this road for 16 miles, the upper 5 miles are pretty rough, but every car generally makes it w/o a hitch. scott@nwog.org

After sleeping wonderfully late this Saturday, I decided to check out the Eunice Lake/Tolmie Peak trail in the Mowich Lake area of MRNP. To get to the trailhead, take Highway 169 south from I-405 (Exit 4) to Enumclaw. Instead of turning east on 410 toward Federation Forest and Cayuse Pass, take it West to Buckley, where it intersects 165. This will take you through Wilkeson to both the Carbon River and Mowich Lake areas of MRNP, depending which fork you take later on. The Mowich Lake fork ends at the walk-in campground at Mowich Lake. There were a large number of cars at the campground when I arrived about 2:30pm, but I saw surprisingly few people on the trail. The Spray Park trail, which starts here as well, is apparently much more popular. The hike to Eunice Lake is about 2 miles and is deceptively easy at first. It follows the Wonderland Trail for the first mile or so, then branches off to the left downhill. The downward hike is short, then the switchbacks up to the lake start. After what seems like 12 hours and a million switchbacks later, you're at Eunice Lake. Very nice views of Tolmie Peak over the lake, but unforunately, Mt Rainier is blocked by trees. The hike up to the Tolmie Peak Lookout is a must, and runs about a mile up hill. The switchbacks aren't quite as steep as the hike up to Eunice Lake, but its close. There are magnificent views of Rainier over Eunice Lake on the way, so take plenty of rest stops to enjoy them. The best view is at the lookout, though, which is a full panorama, including all of the nearby ridges and Mount St Helens in the distance. The best view, of course, is Rainier over Eunice Lake. After making sure I had my headlamp and flashlight, I decided to stay for sunset and hike back in the dark. I met a very cool couple (Bob and Laurie from Enumclaw) at the lookout, so the time passed quickly and I snapped quite a few photos of Rainier and the lakes. The sunset wasn't quite a golden as I'd hoped thanks to appoaching haze, but it was still a wonderful view. The hike back was mostly in the dark, and uneventful thanks to sufficient light and good company. The only problem on the hike were the bugs. The flies on the lower part of the trail were bad, although not as bad as other places I'd been earlier this year. As long as you kept moving they left you alone. At the lake, the mosquitos were horrible. After practically taking a bath in DEET, they left me alone. I highly recommend this hike for the views of Rainier at the end, but it's a bit of a climb. And be sure to take plenty of water, then you won't have to get some from generous couples from Enumclaw at the lookout because you ran out.

Looking for a short scenic hike to get the kids out to take advantage of the incredible weather the dad came up with ""Eunice Lake"". Turns out this was not an original idea. There was about a mile of cars lining the Mowich Lake road. Still the trail was not incredibly crowded and the hike was scenic and pleasant--the kids greatly enjoyed the biting black flies and proudly filled a bag with their ""dead fly collection"". At the lake the kids fished for polywogs (catch and release) chased frogs and salamanders (which we admonished them not to catch), and we all went swimming to escape the heat and mosquitos. The most effective strategy against both, other than swimming, seemed to be wearing wet long sleeved shirts. No ripe huckleberries, but the kids declared the small green ones to be delicious.