After some false starts on the coordinating, and prompted by a NWHikers trip report, Friday 8:00am had Sue and I in her car, on the way to Rainier. The forecast called for 30% chance of rain before 11am. Hah!
There isn’t a whole lot to be said about this particular trip that can’t be better said by pictures. The road – long and washboarded though it is in sections – was just fine. The trail was a bit of a rolling romp through the mountains. And the weather was low-lying clouds and mist/drizzle all day. We had a wonderfully leisurely pace and portions of the trail that was bustling with people – mostly backpackers, a few climbers, even a couple of skiers, and a handful of very brave (or simply very unprepared) dayhikers with tiny packs, jeans, and cotton. I was happy for my gortex hat.
After much meandering through very traditional Pacific Northwest forest, with moss hanging from every available trunk and branch, we found a couple of fields of rocks, and a lot of small waterfalls along the trail. Of course, we knew we were headed to a huge waterfall, but didn’t know whether or not they were related. Eventually, a small sign along the trail pointed us to the right for a tenth of a mile, to Spray Falls. And oh my, what falls they are. You can hear them from everywhere, smell them from a distance, and feel the mist before you can see them.
Spray Falls
We posed for a few minutes to get pictures, to admire just how far up the falls keep going, and to see if we could get across for some better angles for our photographs. Perhaps if I had a change of shoes with me, I would have attempted the crossing, but instead we tried climbing up for a while – and I do mean scrambling more or less vertically – but found our path only moving us away from the falls, and too steep to feel comfortable continuing. So on to the park.
Once past the falls, the trail does indeed climb a bit more steadily. It’s a well worn path with lots of exposed slices of rock, and gnarly roots to trip the unsuspecting. More than once, I wish I had brought my poles, which I had gotten out of the habit of using since I started taking my dog on hikes. But it was worth it for the lush waterfalls and the park waiting for us.
As with all hikes that have a “destination”, if I haven’t been there, I always wonder how I will know the destination when I see it. This time, there is no question. You literally round a corner in the trail, and emerge from thick tree cover to an open field full of wildflowers and a stone path right through it. And, of course, the first thing we must do is “oooo” and “aahhhh” over the lush, multi-colored, riotous flowers. That is what this hike is about, after all.
It’s deceiving, however, as the field is pretty big, but doesn’t scream “Park” to you. So, there must be more. And more there is. The stone lined pathway continues for at least a mile, showing you fields of lupine, gentian, mountain heather, mountain laurel, paintbrush, lily seed pods, and so many more flowers that I have forgotten the name of since Sue told me. She’s read up on her flowers, and is quite familiar, so we took plenty of time lingering over the bright colors and lush size that the flowers were displaying. Not to mention merely that so many were in bloom at once, and the show looked ready to continue for a little while, anyway. We even saw a marmot – certainly not sunning, but hanging out – on a small ridge watching the humans pass on the trail. He seemed quite content to just stay there, and let the mist coalesce around him.
Eventually, as must happen on all hikes, we turned around. The weather had offered a bit of clearing, and was still quite damp and misty, but wasn’t heavily raining. The time pressure meant that we did indeed have to turn around, but we did at least reach the snow fields that were still along the trail.
We continued to have spurts of complete isolation, and then run into medium sized parties one after another. Some were coming out, some were coming in. All had different destinations, and it was fun saying hello. The rain started to come down a bit harder. It hardly mattered, as we were so damp by then that it didn’t really get anything more wet. The only trouble was keeping the glasses dry, and fog free, so that you could see where to go.
We took our time on the way down as well, particularly exiting the park. Captured more pictures of the lovely flowers that were just endless. The mist settled a little closer, but there was nothing for it but heading back. We encountered a couple people who were doing some variety of loop – some just ending, and some just starting their journey into the four days of oncoming rain.
But we made our time commitments, and were back to the car (and, in my case, changed into dry clothes), and on the road by 4pm. A wonderful, if thoroughly drenching, day.
And it is well worth heading over to My Flickr Spray Park photo set to see the other 70 photos and videos.
