Today we completed our 29th National Park with our first visit to Mount Rainier National Park with the completion of the Knapsack Pass and Spray Park Trail.
As we increase our hiking within the upper left part of the country, we purchased a new hiking book to track our hikes. We learned this trick from my aunt and uncle during our early Glacier visits and have been doing so in that book since 2010. We decided it was time to add a new book, new trails and new names to the book.
The trail started off really well marked and full of waterfalls and glimpses of Mount Rainier as the fog lifted and rays of sunshine filtered throughout the tree line.
We ran into a fellow hiker who noted that he observed a sow and cub passing over the trail in a rocky valley just up the trail from us. On alert, we unfortunately did not see the pair, but did see their paw prints in the snow pack.
After the quick snack and a gorgeous view of Mt. Rainier, we took back to the trail. Thankfully we checked the awesome AllTrails app shortly after departure as we had an alert that we were off trail. We did a slight mile extension to our trip, but at least it was not a goat trail this time! Though there were no trail markers that we saw, we later learned we were suppose to take the trail towards Mount Pleasant.
However, this little excursion led us to come across a Mountain Goat and her baby! Though there seems to be a developing theme here with Mountain Goats recently....
After getting back on our planned route, we were surprised to come across a field of boulders. When I think about a rock scramble, I immediately think...how steep, what's the size of rock and path of the trail, is it snow covered and are there tree branches to hold on to? Now, I like big rocks, I cannot lie, especially in comparison to a goat trail. But after fifteen minutes, I want to raise my hand and ask if someone can get me off of the merry go round I am on. Scrambles can be fun. It can be like solving a puzzle on an obstacle course, but recently I feel like we are testing our navigation abilities.
The trail up Knapsack was more challenging than expected. I would estimate the scramble at a sixty degree incline (hence no photos or videos...) the trail was covered with some snow, loose rock and sand mix and some goat scatt, which led for careful hand placement. If that wasn't enough to heighten your nerves, a helicopter literally flew 100 feet above us over the pass. Trust me, it definitely added a level of anxiety and fear.... My first thought was, "oh crap, we are not on trail and someone called in a rescue crew." Thankfully, we were on trail and gave the crew a thumbs up as they hovered over us. Unfortunately the helicopter was apart of a search and rescue mission looking for an individual now missing for eight days. We also came across several groups looking for the missing person.
We downloaded the trail from AllTrails before our accent and would highly recommend investing in the app. We would have most likely been way off trail without it. The trail is unmaintained from the ranger station all the way until you come down the ridge from the saddle near First Mother Mountain, and the boulder field can be difficult to traverse and wasn't always intuitive. Silver lining - the app and a red coat from a member of the search and rescue crew near the saddle helped us find our way.
After we reached the saddle near Frist Mother Mountain, we saw the amazing view of Mowich Lake and started our steep and very muddy decent. We figure we hiked 7-10 miles as All Trails said we completed 7.3 miles and my Fitbit record 10 miles.
Park #29 of 62 NPS completed.
"Every journey begins with a single step." ~ Maya Angelou
So many beautiful pictures! A little scary at times.