Spray Park

We drove up to Mowich Lake on the west side of Mt Rainier National Park to hike up through Spray Park. We did 8.5 miles round trip with 1,700 ft of overall gain. The first 3 miles or so are in the forest. We crossed a couple of streams, and

crossed a meadow in the forest with lots of flowers blooming.

We stopped at the Eagle Nest Viewpoint for a look at Mt Rainier.

About 2 miles from the trailhead, the trail crosses a small creek and then goes up a series of switchbacks.

I love this view upon leaving the forest to cross a creek into Spray Park.

The trail goes through another forested section, where we saw lots of beargrass in bloom,

and in the open spaces, wildflowers right next to the trail.

More beargrass

We took our time enjoying the wildflowers and the views.

We took a short spur trail to a tarn with this lovely view of Mt Rainier reflecting in the water.

lots of tadpoles in the tarn

Some of the views as we continued up the trail.

We only had one snowfield to cross today.

View of Mother Mountain form our lunch spot along with 

distant views of Mt Baker, Glacier Peak and Mount Stuart.

Zoom of a hazy Mt Baker and 

a zoom of Glacier Peak.

Lovely meadow full of magenta paintbrush and avalanche lilies along with other wildflowers.

So many flower filled meadows in Spray Park.

some of the wildflowers seen along the trail today: