Echo Rock is located on the north side of Mount Rainier... at the foot of the Russell Glacier... and while our attempt to get above the haze wasn't completely successful, we did find better conditions than at lower elevation.
We parked (4929') at Mowich Lake... walked into the campground at the end of the road and turned left (most folks turn right and go to Spray Park)... then made the tenth-of-a-mile hike along the lake shore to the Patrol Cabin... where we walked around the "End of Maintained Trail" sign and followed a good path up to Knapsack Pass (~6200').
We continued over Knapsack Pass and gave back 300 feet of elevation as we worked our way down to a shelf on the east side of the pass... then followed a combination of path and cairns over to the east ridge (~6160') of Mt. Pleasant... where we gave back 200 feet of elevation down to the upper part of Spray Park... then continued on a good path that quickly joined the Wonderland Trail... which we followed for a quarter-mile or so before leaving it on a good path that took us directly toward Echo Rock and the foot of the Flett Glacier... where we continued up on the inactive portion of the glacier between Echo Rock and Observation Rock... then worked our way over to the gentle terrain (~7600') on the south side of Echo.
The last 270 feet of elevation to the summit consists of 160 feet of very loose Class 2 terrain to the base of steep cliffs on the west side of the summit... then traverse underneath the cliffs toward the north side of the summit area... then a 60 foot section of Class 3 climbing on fairly sound rock before reaching easier terrain that leads over to the summit block... leaving a Class 2/3 scramble on the south side of the summit block for the last 30 feet up to the knife-edged summit (7870').
On the return trip we traced our steps back to Spray Park and followed the Wonderland Trail down through Spray Park and back to our car at Mowich Lake.
11.2 miles of hiking/scrambling, gaining 3868 feet of elevation.
Pros and Cons of reaching the upper part of Spray Park:
(1) Take the Wonderland Trail from Mowich Lake... more mileage than the Knapsack route... with the first three miles or so in the trees... but all mileage is on a well-maintained trail.
(2) Take the Knapsack Pass route from Mowich Lake... less mileage than the Wonderland Trail... with 99 percent of the route in open terrain... but all of the mileage is on a reasonably good, but "unmaintained" path.
If you are in a large group, consider taking helmets... the scrambling portion of the route convinced us to take the "one person at a time" approach several times for the last 270 feet of elevation gain to the summit.
Photos, trailhead directions and downloadable GPS track of our trip to Echo Rock.
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"Teanaway 70" Peaks List... a guide to hiking and scrambling in the Teanaway Area.
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"Teanaway 70" Peaks List... a guide to hiking and scrambling in the Teanaway Area.
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Looks like you had ever so slightly less haze than we had last Friday.
Our original plan was to also include Observation Rock... however, iraman slipped and turned his ankle at the foot of the Flett Glacier. He turned back and told us to continue. Snowdog had never done Echo Rock... so we hustled up it and then called it a day.
Echo is a lot more sporty than Observation... but Observation has the better views.
"Teanaway 70" Peaks List... a guide to hiking and scrambling in the Teanaway Area.
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"Teanaway 70" Peaks List... a guide to hiking and scrambling in the Teanaway Area.
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Was up there on Saturday and Sunday early AM. Beautiful, hazy, chossy rock though. Did climb through the chockstone at Knapsack Pass. Beautiful old granite up there.
Thank you for this report and for the gorgeous pictures! I'm new to the site and have gained a lot of helpful information to backing in the Pacific NW. My husband and I are planning a 12 day backpacking trip on the Wonderland Trail at the start of September. If it's anything like you experienced the smoke won't scare us away!
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