Spray Park - Round 2

The first time I had heard about Spray Park was when Valerie went there on a cloudy day a few months ago. I had no idea what to expect, but my mind was definitely blown away.

A friend and I had planned to go on a hike somewhere off of Chinook Pass, but when we got to Enumclaw, there were hoardes of people talking about going to the same place. So we enacted plan B: head to Mowich Lake.

The road to Mowich Lake is not too bad, for the first few miles after the town of Carbonado. Then you hit dirt. Literally. It's about 13 miles of gravel road, filled with potholes. Not as bad as Middle Fork Road, mind you, but not exactly fun.

After getting a nice coating of dust on the car, we arrived at Mowich Lake, packed up our gear, then headed to Spray Park. The trail was nice and cool in the trees and it felt great to stretch my legs after that bumpy ride. We stopped at an overlook and I was blown away!

After the overlook, we continued on to Spray Falls. I loved how the falls weren't one big stream of water, but many small streams. I snapped a few pictures, then we headed on our way to the main attraction.

I had been so busy chatting and paying attention to the trail that I hadn't noticed where we ended up. I turned around, and WHAM! Mt. Rainier right in your face!

Look at those pictures! Isn't is so gorgeous!??!

After a quick snack and getting eaten alive by mosquitos, we headed up to the Hessong Rock - Mt. Pleasant Saddle. That trail was steep! It looked so long, but didn't take us that long to get up there.

Mount Pleasant

The view from up there was spectacular! You could see most of Spray Park with Mt. Rainier in the background.

Hessong Rock

We then hiked back down and headed back to the car. I was so tired but I still wanted to grab some shots of Mowich Lake before we left. It was super late when we got back, but I still had lots of fun.

Total time: 6 hours 

Distance: 7.5 miles, 1600 ft elevation gain (including side trip to Hessong-Pleasant Saddle)

Passes: Mt. Rainier entrance fee required
Location: Mowich Lake Trail head, GPS: N 46 55.978, W 121 51.833

Skyline Trail - Mt. Rainier

So in my previous trip report, I went exploring on the east side of Rainier on a Saturday, and now in this post, I am going to tell you about my hike on the west side of Rainier that occurred the next day.

Driving out to Rainier is no easy feat if you are coming from downtown Seattle. To get to either Sunrise or Paradise, it will take about 2.5 hours. Luckily for me, I live about an hour south of Seattle, so I shaved an hour off my time for both days!

Tina, Crystal and Dasha all met at my place early in the morning so we could meet the rest of our group at 9 in Puyallup (try saying that!). We stopped at Starbucks in South Hill while waiting for the others. I eventually got a call that they were at the Starbucks in the Fred Meyer while we were at the other Starbucks across the parking lot! Doh!

We met up, did introductions, then got on our way. The driving instructions to Paradise from where we were were pretty simple: turn right out of the parking lot, turn left when you get to the stop sign in Eatonville, turn left when you get to the stop sign at Alder, then follow the road into the park until you hit the parking lot! The only problem was it was about 20-30 minutes between each turn!

We got up to Paradise with no issues, other than a short wait at the gate to the park. The mountain looked gorgeous and the sun was out! I was really hoping to see a marmot snoozing on the snow. They are so cute!!!

The Skyline trail is a really popular trail, as we found out on our way up. The first two miles are up and up! (About 1400 ft in elevation) The last four miles are all down hill through gorgeous meadows.

There was still quite a bit of snow on the trail, but the flowers were blooming and it was just so gorgeous! The two guys in our group decided to slide down on their stomachs on some of the snow, with only t-shirts and shorts on! Ouch! (And no one got a video of it either!)

The snow slide. You can see their tracks!

 We hiked up to Panorama Point, which gives you a fantastic lunch spot, with views of the Tatoosh mountain range. We soaked in the views before making our long descent. I was surprised at how crowded it was up there!

Tina and I

As we followed the trail back down to the parking lot, we watched people practicing an ice axe arrest and other climbing skills. We also saw quite a few marmots! I was really hoping to see a marmot do this:

Photo by Ingunn from Trail Snail

The only marmot I got a picture of. Still pretty cute!

We passed waterfalls and more meadows and more marmots. I was so happy to see three of those cute, fat, fluffy animals! I think I love them so much because they remind me of my cat, George, who is cute, fat and fluffy! And now here are lots of pretty pictures of  the meadows!

As we got back to the paved trail, there were more people, so we booked back to the cars. I really enjoyed this trail (except for the massive amounts of people at the end) because the views of Mt. Rainier were truly fantastic!

Back at Longmire, we stopped to take a look at this bridge over the Nisqually because it's just so cool looking! Overall, this was definitely one of my favorite hikes. Next time, I think I want to make it up to Pebble Creek, and eventually Camp Muir!

Total time: 4 hours 

Distance: 6 miles, 1400 ft

Passes: Mt. Rainier Entrance Fee or Annual Pass
Location: Paradise, Mt. Rainier

Thanks for reading!

Franklin Falls and Denny Creek

I hiked to Franklin Falls twice last year, and didn't once get a picture. Finally, on my third trip there, I got plenty of pictures, as you will soon see!

Franklin Falls is a rather large waterfall that is right under I-90 Westbound, just west of Snoqualmie Pass. I have driven over I-90 hundreds of times in my life, but never knew it was there. The first time I went, the falls were roaring, but we could walk around the pool at the base of the falls.

This time, however, there was so much water, we all got stuck on this little ledge and had to take pictures from there. The whole area at the bottom of the falls was covered by several feet of water! I was not expecting that!

Buddha and Tina

From Franklin Falls, we walked back to the trail head, then off to the Denny Creek trail head. From there we hiked up into the forest, until we came across Denny Creek.

Now, last year, it was low enough that we could rock hop all the way across. This year, we had to do the balance beam on a log dam. I was so proud of myself for not getting wet on the way across, but on the way back, I stepped in the water on my very last step! (Thanks a lot, you unstable but stable looking rock!)

Once we got across Denny Creek, we meandered though the forest some more before coming up to the rock field and hiking our way up in the heat. We stopped several times where ever there was shade to drink water and snack.
 

Our group. Photo by Valerie.

We got to Keekwulee Falls, which we couldn't see because of all the brush in the way, but then we arrived at Snowshoe Falls. Isn't that pretty? I do love me some waterfalls!

Snowshoe Falls

After that, we decided to trek as far as we could go before there was too much snow and we had to turn around. While we were taking a rest break, a guy stopped to let us know that the snow cover on the way to Melakwa Lake was rather thin and that he had fallen several times up to his waist because of snow bridges. He had also tried to cross the creek, and said it was very difficult when he did it. Not wanting anyone to get hurt, we got to the first large snow patch, Tina made a snow angel, then we packed it in and headed back down. 

Rebecca and Buddha near the waterslide. Photo by Tina.

We stopped to dip our toes in the icy water of Denny Creek at the "waterslide," which is a natural rock formation that kids use in summer as a waterslide. It didn't appear to be working very well, but the kids that were there were still having fun!

Maxwell hitching a ride across the logs. Photo by Tina.

Then we crossed back over the log jam and headed back to the cars. I am very tempted to make the trip up to Melakwa Lake, but I'm definitely going to wait until the snow has melted! 
 

Total time: 6 hours 

Distance: 2 miles, 400 ft for Franklin Falls, 4 miles, 700 ft elevation gain to Denny Creek
Passes: NW Forest Pass required
Location: off exit 47 on I-90, GPS: N 47 24.780, W 121 20.493

Thanks for reading!

Surprise Lake

Today we hiked to Surprise Lake.  It was a great trail and unfortunately my pictures do not do it justice.  The Surprise Lake trail is off of Hwy 2, about an hour and a half from Seattle.  It is approximately 9 to 10 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 2700 feet.  From the lake you can continue on to Glacier Lake or you can connect to the PCT.  One of the most amazing things about this trail was that there was hardly anyone on it.  We only saw 9 groups on the way up, I had to count because for the first hour we didn't see anyone.  I was amazed.  Starting at 10:30am on a Saturday I thought it would be much more crowded.  Many of the groups we did see were backpacking, there is great camping at the lakes but no fires allowed unfortunately.

The trail starts out fairly easy, not too much of a slope and it is very well maintained.  A lot of nice staircases, bridges over water crossings, and some boardwalks early on. 

At around 1.3 miles you will cross Surprise Creek.  It is a easy trek over a downed tree.  The water in the creek is amazingly clear. 

After this point there are a couple of places where the trail is overgrown but it doesn't last long and up ahead are some great views.

 

One of the reasons this trail is so awesome is there are a lot of breaks in the trees to catch glimpses of the beautiful peaks you are passing.  At around 3 miles the trail starts to climb more steeply until just before the lake.  However, the steepness of this trail is probably easier than Mount Si, so nothing terrible.

At around 4.7 miles you will reach the lake.  There is a lot of wilderness restoration going on around the beginning of the lake and areas are roped off.  However, this won't spoil your chances of enjoying the gorgeous lake. 

My one good lake shot came out fuzzy.  I am unfortunately a lazy camera operator when I am out hiking. 

We hiked on down the trail past the other groups that were already lunching on the rocks until we found a quiet area to eat. 

The water was cold but very clear and blue.  I don't think I could have swam in it but it was very inviting.

On the way back we stopped at the outhouse.  I climbed up and to my surprise it was just a latrine, no house.  Better than nothing I guess.  Luckily no one walked up behind or in front of me.  Anyway, from this little wooden perch there was an amazing view.  I had to stop and snap a picture of it.

Surprise Lake Trail
Stevens Pass, Hwy 2
Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest

10 miles round trip
Elevation gain: 2700 feet
Passes Needed: Northwest Forest Pass

http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/surprise-lake-1

Lodge Lake

I've been dragging my toes on writing this post, and I'm not quite sure why. Probably because I'm not really in a writing mood, but I'm going to get it done today!

On the 4^th of July, I joined a friend for a short hike up at Snoqualmie Pass. I had always wanted to hike around the Snoqualmie Pass ski area during summer to see what the terrain looks like without the snow, and I finally got my chance. 

 

 

We started out in this little parking lot off the side of Snoqualmie West, then hiked up to the ski slopes and under the chairs. There was still quite a bit of snow in the shade that we hiked over. Once we got to the ski slopes, there wasn’t any snow and it was rather hot out in the open. I was fascinated by all the landforms I had skied over and never knew where there, like the board walk shown above.

We got across the ski slopes and headed back towards Beaver Lake. Along the way we met an older gentleman who was planning on fishing at Lodge Lake, and was so proud of himself for carrying all his gear, including an inflatable raft. We chatted with him, as we walked over some snow patches, then he slowly trailed behind us. We met him again as he was setting up for fishing at the lake later in the day.

Beaver Lake is a small pond on the edges of the ski area. I would have never known it was there since its usually covered with snow! It was quite picturesque, but I was still wanting to get to Lodge Lake. We trekked along further into the forest, along the PCT, until we came to Lodge Lake. There were a few creek crossing, and we both had a few mishaps involving slippery rocks, but we made it there in one piece. 

Beaver Lake

Lodge Lake

The lake was absolutely stunning against the view of the mountains (I believe that is Denny Mountain in the background), and we lunched on a log that jutted into the lake. After a quick snack, we headed further along the trail, just to see how far we could get. We got to a small unnamed lake, then decided it was time to head back.

The trail was rather easy to follow, except for the snow covered parts. It was not very difficult and  didn’t have much of an elevation gain. This would be a perfect hike for small kids, or anyone who wants a stroll in the forest, without the crowds. I can’t wait to visit again!

Total time: 4 hours 

Distance: 4 miles, 400 ft elevation gain
Passes: NW Forest Pass required
Location: off Snoqualmie Summit West exit, turn R into parking lot, then follow to west end. There are no markings, but park there and follow the main trail to the ski slopes.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Rachel