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

Spray Park

This weekend Brian and I headed out to the Mt Rainier area to hike the Spray Park trail.  It was about 70 degrees in town but it was in the 50s at Mt Rainier.  Of course neither of us checked the weather before we left, but luckily we had enough layers to keep us warm.

The Spray Park trail is one of several trails that set out from the Mowich Lake camping area.  The first two miles are fairly easy going, just a little up and down.  At 1.7 miles there is a look out.  Unfortunately, we were surrounded by clouds the day we chose to hike. 

After the look out, there are three water falls starting around 2 miles into the hike.  The first one, below, is small but pretty.  I liked all of the moss on the rocks around the falls.  The picture doesn't really do it justice.

Around this point there is also a turn off to a camping area that looked like it wouldn't be a bad place to spend the night.  Enclosed by the forest but reasonably flat.  There are also other places to camp on up the trail, however, I don't think you are allowed to have campfires. 

After this you will come to a fork in the trail.  You take the right side of the fork and come almost immediately to the second waterfall.  It was a little underwhelming to me. 

As you hike down to the third falls there is a good vantage point.  Still cloudy but nice to have a break in the forest.

Then you will come to Spray Falls.  It was kind of hard to see.  You have to stand out on a rock, one or two people at a time.  This was the best I could do. 

After the falls we headed back to the fork in the trail and hiked up several switchbacks.  It was a good, little workout.  We probably hiked for about three quarters of a mile to reach Spray Park. 

When we got to this first mountain meadow, we decided to eat our lunch.  The fog really rolled in as we were sitting there.  We talked to a couple who said that they didn't think the trail ever curved back around to spray falls but that there were several more meadows on up the trail.  At this point we turned around, had it been sunny we would have had some terrific views of Mt Rainier.  Luckily there were still great things to see along the way which made the trip completely worth it. 

Total time: 3.5 hours
Distance: 6 miles
Passes: Mt Rainier National Park day pass or a national park annual pass
Location: WA-165 S/Mountain Meadows Rd/Mowich Lake Rd