Spray Park and Spray Falls

Fabulous hike up to Spray Park and Spray Falls from Mowich Lake at Mt Rainier National Park. About 8 miles round trip with 1,400 ft of elevation gain.

From Mowich Lake a short spur trail joins the Wonderland Trail. Head east along the Wonderland to reach Spray Park.

The first 2 miles of the trail is gentle down and up ramble through forest and an open meadow area. There are several creeks along the way. At 2 miles, there is a turn off to Spray Falls, we decided to wait to visit on our hike back out.

The trail then starts climbing up in a series of steep switch backs on the way to Spray Park over the next mile. We were glad this part was forested on a sunny summer day.

The trail crosses over Grant Creek and into a meadow with views of Mt Rainier. The Wonderland Trail travels over a mile through Spray Park on the way to Cataract Valley and Seattle Park.

There were many wildflowers in bloom along the trail.

The trail wanders through Spray Park giving a variety of views of Mt Rainier.

We enjoyed the views and the flowers.

At times, the mountain was hidden behind trees and hills, but the fields of flowers continued brightening our way.

 A look back showed us that the valley below was covered in clouds.













There are still some patches of snow, most of them are not on the trail.

 There are many boot tracks in Spray Park, we were careful to not go on any boot tracks where logs had been placed to discourage further damage to the meadows.
We did follow some paths that had no logs or rocks across the path. Here we found a tarn, with a reflection of Mt Rainier.

 There were still fields filled with avalanche lilies, evidence of recent snow melt.

 Looking across the park toward Mother Mountain.











Photos do not capture how amazingly beautiful this park is.

Wide angle view of Spray Park from further up the trail,

 and a pano from the same spot looking on the other side of the trail:

 We took our time is this gorgeous place.













There was one large snow field we crossed before the trail leaves Spray Park. We found the snow soft in the late morning and did not need to use traction.

View from near where we turned around to take the Wonderland Trail back to Spray Falls and Mowich Lake.

We walked back slowly, soaking up the views in the opposite direction.

So many flowers and we noticed the clouds were rising up along the valley.













Another unblocked boot path closer to the west end of Spray Park led to another tarn.

Slow hiking as I continued to turn around in all directions, enjoying the views.

 Soaking in the blooms as we began descending out of Spray Park back into the forest,












and enjoying another look back.

 Near the bottom of the switchbacks in the forest, is a spur trail to view Spray Falls. There is a lot of snow melt and lots of water in Spray Creek. I did not feel comfortable crossing the creek for a better view as I have done in years with less water in the creek.

I did find a scramble path possible up the near bank to get a closer look to the falls.

















Some of the many flowers we saw along the trail today: