A great day peak bagging, fall foliage gawking, and wildlife spotting with Kidz Wont Hike at Mowich Lake side of Rainier. What a beautiful spot with fall colors on fire in the expansive meadows. We caught sunset on the way out, as an unplanned event. And of course Rainier in all her glory. Summer in October is amazing! We tagged Observation Rock, Echo Rock, Ptarmigan Ridge, and Mount Pleasant in a 10 hour day. No other hikers on those peaks all day, though we did run into a few people on the trails in the meadows.
We had the fortune of spotting some elusive creatures. A momma bear and 2 cubs foraging on the way in and the same 3 plus another bear on the way out. In the morning, we had to divert off trail to keep our distance. Just after exiting the snow on the Flett Glacier, Kidz spotted a wolverine watching us from above. It continued to stay at a distance but watched us as we hiked for about 5 mins. We also saw what looked like 4 white-tailed ptarmigans on the rocks.
We did a full loop hike, entering via the Eagle Roost Camp side and returning through Knapsack pass side. The Eagle Roost side is a gentle and smooth trail for the most part, though longer probably by a mile. The Knapsack Pass side is rugged and steep and not something that you want to do in the dark. We donned headlamps for the last 30 mins and had to be careful on the root laden trail. The other challenge was the Flett Glacier as it's pretty icy with some small crevasses and lots of running water this late in the year. It's steep in sections. Microspikes worked nicely, but coming down in a shaded steep section gave me some concern on traction as it was hard ice and we quickly moved over to rocks to bypass. All the peaks are class 2 walk ups other than Echo Rock which has some class 3 scrambling.
Stats: 14.3 miles, 5414' gain, 10:00 total time, 2:00 stopped time.
Water sources all the way up to and including the glacier.
Gear used: Hiking shoes and trail gaiters, poles, helmet for scrambles, microspikes for glacier. Brought ice axes but didn't use.
Road and TH conditions: Long gravel road to get to TH with some small potholes and washboard, but any car could make it. Campground at TH with fully stocked and clean restrooms. Plenty of parking. Was surprisingly busy at 9am.
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