[Slugman]

I gave a ride to Mowich to two young ladies from New York, per this thread, and then started my own hike for the day at 10 am. I took the lakeshore trail from a pretty depressing campground, Mowich lake, towards the ranger cabin, turned right onto the walkway to the cabin, then took a left just before the porch of the cabin. This turned out to be the Knapsack pass trail, so that was a bonus. The trail is not signed. But it starts right behind a sign that says something like "End of maintained trail". At first it's through some nice forest, then there's a cool little waterfall, then I reached some meadows with a view across Mowich lake to a fire lookout. The trail heads up and up into some cool alpine country, great flowers, plenty of marmots, and of course mosquitoes. Lots and lots of mosquitoes, the kind that Moses might have inflicted on Pharaoh. My permethrin shirt kept them off my body, DEET on my hat and bandanna helped, and then I sprayed my legs. The bugs have to be pretty bad before I will put DEET on bare skin. I put lots of DEET on my skin.

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I spent two hours getting to Knapsack, at the usual sluggish pace, then I hung out there for another hour, having the first of several "lunches". There's a lot to see from there. It would be a good up and back hike from Mowich. I saw a helicopter going over, and back, and thought "uh-oh". Yep, there was an accident on the mountain.

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The descent down the other side was a little hinky at times. There is loose scree, which shifted with every step, sometimes causing the scree above to start moving down onto my feet, and the transition to the snow field took a little planning to end well. Veteran scramblers would have no real trouble, but it definitely wasn't any kind of trail hiking. There is still lots of snow in this area, but it was good for walking on, soft enough for good purchase with my cross trainers, firm enough not to post hole. This was my favorite part of the trip, it felt like a real adventure, but wasn't really that hard. I took a long break in this area, it was just so cool.

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I made my way to the shoulder of Mt Pleasant, and there is a good trail down from there to Spray park. It skirts the cliffs looking down to Mist park, then meets the Wonderland trail.

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I wandered around Spray park, had another lunch, and by now it was like 5:30, so I went down to Spray falls and hung out there, thankful for the cool mist coming from the falls and the rushing creek, and that the mosquitoes had stayed up in Spray park when I left.

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Then I went to the last little cool spot on my itinerary, Eagle Cliff viewpoint. I stayed there from 7:30 pm to almost 9, watching the mountain turn red in the sun's glow.

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Then I did the last, annoying 1.5 miles back to the car, with lots of ups and downs, in the fading light. I got back to Mowich at a little after 10 pm, no flashlight needed, but it was pretty darned dark. I thanked the darkness for saving my eyes from the eyesore that is the Mowich lake campground, lol. All in all, it was a great day. Mosquito repellent and sunscreen kept me from suffering, the loop was a fun adventure but not too challenging for a solo trail hiker, and the flowers, wildlife, mountain and far-off views kept my camera busy. I saw exactly six people all day, four of those after I descended to Spray falls, the other two being two rangers who passed by going towards Knapsack as I was heading away.

[the Zachster]

Sounds like a really nice day! I did the loop once (Spray to Observation to Knapsack) and remember how cool it was. Perhaps this will be the year to do it again! Maybe when the bugs settle down a bit...Thanks for the report.

[Magellan]

I thought this might be just the right amount of adventure for you Slugman. Good stuff.

[Slugman]

Thanks for the suggestion of this hike, you and reststep. It was just the right amount of adventure. If it weren't for Spray falls and Eagle cliff viewpoint, there would be no reason to ever hike the annoying section of the WLT up to Spray Park, in either direction. That little detour turned a nice but ordinary hike into something much better. The complete absence of other hikers was also a bonus.

[Backpacker Joe]

Great looking trip. Sorry I missed it.

[Gray]

[Slugman]

Not just the absence of the ups and downs, you also get nice, expanding views from early on, a sweet alpine environment, and hardly any switchbacks, plus fabulous view from the pass and from Mt Pleasant, plus the great terrain of "upper Mist park"(my name for the area between Knapsack pass and Pleasant ridge.) Just follow the signs to the ranger cabin, turn right onto the path to the cabin, then take a left just before the cabin porch, that will take you to Knapsack pass on good, well-defined trail, then descend the pass on the obvious path through the talus, bearing to the right, then turn right and head over to the shoulder of Mt Pleasant. No other beta is needed. I made it with less info than that, and I'm no Daniel Boone.

[Hikingqueen]

Very nice! Great pics! You don't like the campground at mowich? How come? I was thinking about a social there sometime?

[wamtngal]

Nice Sluggy! Did that loop for the first time last year - loved it. It was also the first time out of 2 other attemps that we weren't hiking through thick clouds...nice to see what Spray Park is all about! Hikingqueen...the 'campground' is in the old parking lot for Mowich, so everyone is spread out in the same area (no defined campsite spots like Cougar Rock or Ohanapecosh). The only thing defining the spots are some picnic tables and tent pads -- no campfires allow either). If your goal is to just socialize, then it's a good desitnation (the lake is beautiful)...but if you want solitude, it's not the place for you. They did install some nice new bathrooms last year (I think it was last year) -- still outhouses, but no longer port-a-potties. They even have garbage cans to put your trash in (which is really nice if you're doing the Wonderland).

[Slugman]

Why I Hate the Mowich Lake Campground, by Slugman. I should have taken some pictures of the campground. It was awful. I really can't believe anyone would camp there unless it was some kind of emergency. It is all dirt. 100%, not a single growing thing, not even a blade of grass. And not nice packed-down dirt, but dusty, loose dirt, the kind that gets into everything. Oh, wait, not 100% dirt, there's also lots of rocks. Then they just plopped down a bunch of railroad ties in square patterns, and filled them with smaller rocks. These are the "tent sites". Just walking through it on the way to the trail to the ranger cabin depressed me. It was like a concentration camp for hikers. Every gust of wind caused blowing clouds of dust.

[Malachai Constant]

Only tried camping there once years ago with my kids. We set up and went for a hike to Eunice Lake, when we came back a Boy Scout troop had camped next to us filling the whole camp ground and they were lighting fires etc. We ended up moving to Carbon River (which was still open then). Never been back.

[wamtngal]

It IS a good place to have people bring you real food while on the Wonderland though... Here's a pic that shows the campground in the background. The big tent in the background was a big Boy Scout troop...the couple in the right hand side of the photo, behind my dad, ended up leaving because it was not the experience they were hoping for.

Our support team: my sister, Tiffany, and mom, Billie, brought us our food/gear restock supplies AND we had a very good BBQ! Yeah, it's cheating a bit, but since you can, you might as well, right?

[Slugman]

I think they have run a road-grader through there since your picture was taken. It seemed to me to be much more chewed-up dirt and pointy rocks. But one side of the campground wasn't quite as dismal as the other. The side closest to the lake was the worst. I also didn't like that some of the railroad tie "tent sites" weren't even filled with their small rocks yet. It was like a construction zone, or maybe like camping in the middle of a dirt road.

[sarbar]

The old bathrooms (and this predated the port-a-potties) were the most disgusting toilets EVER. I mean worse than honey buckets on day 4 of a Grateful Dead show. Yes, that bad. You could smell them 1/4 mile away. How people ever camped near them in the heat of summer is beyond me What I cannot stand about that CG is how there is no shade. No privacy. I have seen more weirdos up there camping than even in the actual car CG's of Rainier. The best one ever was the guy with his "family" and his family seemed to have a couple wives The "wives" were all in full length cotton dresses and head coverings. They had a massive van parked nearby. Tons of kids as well. And only one man

[Slugman]

Good call on the "no shade, no privacy" thing. I totally forgot about that. You better "love thy neighbor" if you camp there, because they will be in your business the whole time. And you will be privy to theirs, like it or not. It really is a shame that such a nice lake should have this slum right next to it.