[neek]

Dave and I headed to Mowich Lake Sunday morning to hike Observation and Echo Rock. We hit a few smaller peaks on the way back and went part way up Ptarmigan Ridge to get as close to Rainier as possible. Nearly everything was on trail or bootpath, with a few minor scramble sections. We wore boots, but someone willing to get their feet wet in slushy snow could probably get by with shoes and microspikes. The road to Mowich Campground is long and washboard-y, but low clearance wouldn't be a problem. Parking wasn't as issue, although we arrived fairly early. Bugs were only an annoyance in a couple of places. People were surprisingly sparse. Flowers are still out, but waning. We started up the Spray Park trail, taking the short side trip to the impressive Spray Falls. Soon we reached the well-worn path to Observation/Echo, crossing a few snow fields and finally the soggy glacier to reach the base of Echo. I found the volcanic rubble to be slightly more stable than typical Cascades choss, probably because of how rough the surface is. Echo has an obvious path to the summit with a short scramble section. The rock is delightfully red, and we were glad to find that smoke wasn't obscuring our views, maybe even enhancing them. Observation Rock is even easier since there's a trail all the way. We heard a lot of rockfall on Rainier and saw huge dust clouds rising up. Rainier is really awe-inspiring from this side. After lunch and a nap on Observation, we walked up Ptarmigan Ridge a little bit to get even closer. We noticed some yellow object sticking out of the Russell Glacier, which a zoom shot revealed to be probably a tent that had blown away in the wind. Unfortunately it wouldn't have been safe to retrieve without proper glacier gear. It was hard to leave the area, but we eventually turned our backs to the mountain and retraced our steps to the Spray trail. Wanting to make a loop, we soon turned right on the Knapsack Pass trail/path, which also provided the opportunity to climb a few more peaks. First up was Mount Pleasant, with a quick jaunt over to Hessong Rock. Trail pretty much all the way. Delicious blueberries between the two peaks slowed us down. From Pleasant we dropped back down to the Knapsack trail and ran into a family of 4 who had heard the trail looped back to Mowich but seemed pretty nervous about it. I explained the route to them and assured them it would go. They were moving very slowly and we quickly left them behind, hoping they wouldn't have trouble where the trail, as it turns out, disappears into scree. From Knapsack Pass we tackled First Mother, which looks pretty gnarly when you see what the actual summit looks like, but which has a trail up the easy (if steep) side. Then it was back to the pass, down a little, and up the very steep path to East Fay. From there we planned to traverse to the main Fay peak (which somehow is not quite as tall as East Fay), and found there to be a trail here as well. About half way we crossed from the north to the south side through a fun little notch. Right before that we saw the party of 4 reach Knapsack Pass, which was a relief. From Fay, there was some easy scrambling off the west side, then a mile of trail back to the car. A perfect day in one of the country's best national parks. About 17 mi with 7200' of gain. Thanks Dave!

Spray Falls

Spray Park

Flett Glacier

Sluiskin and Old D

Echo Rock

Rainier and Observation from Echo

Heading up Echo

Observation Rock

Looking down from Echo

Lone hiker heading up snow

Observation

Volcanic garden

Huge dust clouds from rockfall

Trail to Observation summit

Echo from Observation

St. Helens

Our perch on Ptarmigan Ridge

Looking back at Observation and Echo Rocks from Ptarmigan Ridge

Yes it's windy

Ice climbing group returning

North side of Hessong Rock

Fay Peak

Mount Pleasant

Heading to Knapsack Pass

First Mother

Rainier postcard

Looking across Knapsack Pass

Party of 4 reaches the pass

Crossing to S side of Fay to complete traverse

Mowich Lake

Rainier zoom

Cones

Mother

route

[williswall]

That’s a lot of peaks for 1 day, nice job!

[puzzlr]

Awesome zoom you've got there. St Helens is a long ways away! A long time ago we did all those except First Mother but split them into two days (in so-so weather). Is it always windy in Observation Point? We could hardly stand up there.

[ozzy]

Wowww... amazing photos, all of them!! I love that corner of the park, probably my favorite! Observation rock was one of my first peaks. Those views are hard to beat from there! It took me a total of 3 different trips to do what y'all did! It's always nice to have a reason to go back there. Sweet trip guys!

[BarbE]

Day hike and 6 summits on the Mountaineer 100 Rainier list, plus stellar photography! Impressive!

[Fletcher]

Some very quality pics of Scoutmaster Dave in this post!!

[zephyr]

Missed seeing your report earlier for some reason. What a hike! Some truly amazing photos in this collection. Those reds at Observation Rock and Echo Rock are something else. I need to get up there. I have been to Fay Peak at least. That's just the front door. This one is quite evocative.

[neek]

[zephyr]

[Schroder]

That used to be a Peak Pin group with the Mountaineers if you also did Mother Mtn

[neek]

[zephyr]

[Gregor]

Great pictures! Obs rock looks so different than I remember from 15 years ago.