The Spray Park Trail is a popular subalpine day hike in Mount Rainier National Park that rewards hikers with exceptional views of the mountain, also known by the native Puyallup tribe as Tahoma. It is also part of several longer backpacking loops, including the Wonderland Trail (via Spray Park Alternative between Carbon River and Mowich Lake), the Mother Mountain Loop (also known as the Spray Park Loop) and can also be combined with the Northern Loop.
What is now referred to as the Spray Park Alternative was the original route of the Wonderland Trail.1 While the trail has been continuously maintained, the Wonderland was shifted to a lower altitude route up Ipsut Pass in the 1960s to reduce impact on the fragile sub-alpine meadows.2 The Ipsut Park route also melts out sooner, extending the hiking season.
We hiked the Spray Park Alternative as part of our 12 day thru-hike of the Wonderland Trail in August 2024.
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Wildflowers on the Spray Park Alternative
Today was the day we finally got to hike Spray Park! This had been one of the most anticipated segments of our entire Wonderland thru-hike. It would be at least 11 miles into our next camp, excluding any potential side trips to Spray Falls and our resupply at the Mowich Lake Patrol Station, with a 200ft climb up and over Seattle Park.
We hit the trail around shortly after 7am while the meadows on the northwestern face were still in the shadow of the mountain. In less than half an hour, the nondescript forest opened up into the most enchanting sight.
Wildflowers galore! Creeks, streams, and a veritable fairy wonderland. I had expected to be in awe of the views from the top, but had no idea the beauty that awaited us on the way up to Seattle Park. The entire distance along Marmot Creek was absolutely magical.
The Wonderland Trail was really living up to its name!
Areas along the trail were thick with flowers. I couldn’t take five steps before pulling out the camera again. I was completely mesmerized by the sheer abundance of blooms – the asters, lupine and paintbrush in the meadows and the monkey flower and groundsel along the banks of the creek.
By the time we reached the Marmot Creek Crossing the flowers had started to give way to heather and other low lying shrubs. Had to be very careful on this crossing as the same mossy growth that lent it a beautiful blue-green hue against the rock also made it exceptionally slick.
Seattle Park via Cataract Valley
Before long we had made it to what the rangers had referred to as “bug spray park.” Up until this point we had encountered very few bugs of any variety, but the moment we stopped to break with a view of the summit the mosquitoes started to swam. And I mean swarm. While the DEET kept them from biting, it didn’t keep them from circling around our faces. We paused long enough to grab a few bites of landjaeger and Cheez-Its (add a few dried cherries and olives and it’s basically backcountry charcuterie) but pressed on to get away from the high pitched buzzing around our ears.
Fortunately it seemed as though the mosquitoes were largely relegated to that particular stretch of trail – we didn’t see any further on. They favor the areas of fresh snowmelt as it creates the perfect habitat for a new generation to hatch.
Further up, the snow pack hadn’t fully melted off and there were still a few lingering snow fields as we climbed along the boundary between Seattle Park and Spray Park.
The sections of talus were interspersed with deep cut trails through the alpine meadow, with the face of Tahoma peaking out from behind.
Cairns marked the route in places where the snowpack obscured the trail.
The high point of Spray Park trail is marked by a painted rock indicating the elevation. Mother Mountain dominated the immediate view, and the visibility was so clear it was possible to make out Mt Baker and the various peaks of North Cascades National Park in the distance.
Hiking Spray Park
The descent into the subalpine meadows for Spray Park happened quickly, as opposed to the long march up from the Seattle Park side. There were a few pockets of avalanche lilies in bloom, but none of the vast fields that we had hoped to see. These are one of the first flowers to bloom after the snow melts, and based on how clear the trails were that happened at least a week ago, probably mid/late July.
It’s impossible to time a hike on the Wonderland Trail in a way that hits the wildflowers on all sides of the mountain and all elevations. Even without the fields of flowers, there were still so many beautiful angles of the mountain from Spray Park.
Less favorably, by the time we’d made it to the top, the affects of the altitude were making the already uncomfortable sinus pressure from what began as a cold yesterday excruciating; it was difficult to appreciate the otherwise amazing views. Bailing out at Mowich Lake had been raised as a distinct possibility.
Despite having encountered only a small handful of other hikers and backpackers on the Seattle Park side, once in Spray Park the number of people on the trail increased. I began asking everyone we passed if they had any cold or sinus medication, but no one did. Not terribly surprising as we’d reentered day hiker territory.
We stopped at a large trailside rock alongside to try to mitigate Andras’s headache. I shielded his eyes from the sun with my jacket as he lay down, cooling his forehead with a cool rag. This did not bode well for another 8 days in the backcountry. If the absolute perfect weather, gorgeous scenery and lottery winning itinerary wasn’t enough to rally, he was really in bad shape.
We continued down the trail towards Mowich Lake. I hung back to video a butterfly I saw on patch of alpine asters (grappling with the possibility we’d need to leave the trail) and saw a group of backpackers take over the rock we had recently vacated. I headed back uphill to ask them the same question I’d asked everyone else.
To my great relief and amazement, one of them said yes! He pulled out a full medical kit with Sudafed, Thera-flu . . . the works. I was so thankful! They were finishing their backpacking trip at Mowich so were more than willing to give us anything we needed. Who says trail magic can’t also come from your fellow hikers?! They were our Trail Angels for sure.
The cold medication combined with the lower altitude allowed Andras to start feeling human again. Riding high on the possibility that our trip may have just been saved, I wasn’t paying good enough attention when I bent down to filter water at a creek and cut my leg. A minor enough wound, but it made me realize that my first-aid kit largely covered musculoskeletal injuries and gastrointestinal issues; I’d never considered needing sinus medication on a backpacking trip before. Lesson learned.
The last two miles to Mowich weren’t strenuous but felt like they were taking forever. We stopped to eat – chicken salad wrap with cranberries and walnuts – at Eagles Roost. Nice view from the toilet but a steep climb up and out. We met a mother and daughter duo there who had lost their water filter at Spray Park and wanted to know if we had a “fast water filter.” We carry a pump filter, not a squeeze filter, so yes, it’s fast, but we ended up providing them with clean water from our packs instead as we wouldn’t need the full 2L I’d recently filtered (we almost ran out of water on our very first backpacking trip and I will never let it happen again. They say you carry your fears, but being fearless in the backcountry is a good way to meet SAR).
We arrived at Mowich Lake Campground shortly after 2pm, and I immediately headed over to the ranger patrol cabin to pick up our resupply bucket. The ranger was there when we arrived so we were able to give him our mostly empty bucket to take back to the Carbon River Ranger Station for pick up after our hike (this it not a routine service offered at Mowich Lake – the discarded buckets get donated to the park and are used for all sorts of maintenance activities). I had planned a “heavy” dinner for the evening of the resupply, and in this bucket I’d packed some olives for a new lemon chicken couscous recipe I was testing out.
The weather was also nice enough that I could wash my hair in the lake without worrying about my hair staying cold and wet for an extended period of time! Well, washed* because I didn’t actually use any soap. Even biodegradable soaps can disrupt the ecosystem of sensitive alpine environments, but I did submerge my head in the lake, massage my scalp, brush my hair and rinse off. It was greatly refreshing and I felt like a new person – not bad for having spent three nights in the woods.
We spent over 2 hrs here before all was said and done, but still had several miles remaining before reaching our camp for the night. Once we left Mowich Lake we’d be committing to the remote West Side of Mount Rainier, with no trailheads of access roads until Longmire. Onward!
Hiking the Spray Park Trail
How to Get to Mowich Lake and the Spray Park Trailhead
As a day hike, the trailhead to Spray Park is located at Mowich Lake. The road to Mowich is a 15 miles unpaved road and the status – when opened – is often described as “rocks, potholes and misery” by the rangers stationed at Carbon River, who have to drive up to Mowich Lake regularly to service it. We’d definitely recommend high clearance; this road is in rough shape even on its better days.
From the parking area, continue walking in the direction of the road towards the information kiosk. The trailhead is located behind the restrooms on the right side of the path towards the campground.
The trail to Spray Park is not located on the opposite side of the road/parking area than the lake.
Read more backpacking trip reports from Mount Rainier’s Wonderland Trail!
- Days 1 – 3: The North Side: White River to Cataract Valley
- Day 4: Spray Park Alternative from Cataract Valley – that’s this trip report!
- Days 5 – 7: The West Side: Mowich Lake to Devil’s Dream
- Days 8 – 9: The South Side: Longmire to Maple Creek – coming soon!
- Days 10 – 12: The East Side: Summerland, Indian Bar and Completion – coming soon!
Planning your own trip along Mt Rainier’s Wonderland Trail? Check out our Guide to Backpacking the Wonderland Trail
- 1941 Trail Guide to Mount Rainier National Park ↩︎
- NPS Cultural Landscape Inventory of the Wonderland Trail ↩︎
Preparing the hike Spray Park on Mount Rainier? Let us know what questions or comments you have below!