Introduction
I won the Wonderland Lottery for 2024 but I was given the last window to make an itinerary before reservations were open to the public. I spent weeks logging on before my reservation window to check what was available. I built itineraries just to see them disappear the next day.
I gave up trying to find a trip in August. However, based on the historically low snowpack winter 2023-2024 I looked to July to steal an early-season trip. As 7:00 a.m. approached the morning of my reservation window I was extremely nervous.
After successfully making my reservation, I couldn't believe I got a six-night itinerary spanning the west and north sides of the Wonderland that included Klapatche Park, Golden Lakes, and Mystic Lake.
This series of posts is about my amazing six-night trip on the Wonderland Trail's west and north sides in mid-July 2024.
Day 5: Eagles Roost to Cataract Valley via Spray Park
Destination:
Getting Started
I woke up very early. I slept well in my hammock at Eagles Roost Camp but was anxious to get started and try to meet my brother at Mowich Lake. It was a beautiful morning. I had my backpack ready to go so it was easy for me to hit the trail.
I climbed the hill back up to the Wonderland Trail from Eagles Roost Camp and started back toward Mowich Lake around 5:45 a.m. I had told my brother to get there early but I wasn't sure how early he would get there, maybe he said he would try to reach the trailhead at 5:00 a.m.
I passed three hikers with skis strapped to their day packs on the trail. If I remember correctly, they said they were going to the Flett and Russell Glaciers.
I continued on and crossed Lee Creek again and not long after, coming down the trail, it was my brother Jordan! Funny, we both probably looked irritated to see the other. He thought he would meet me in camp and I thought I would meet him at the Mowich Lake parking lot. It was a, you aren't where you're supposed to be, moment. Anyway, that quickly passed and I gave him a hug happy he had made it. He passed off my food resupply, and a few other things I asked him to bring and we started back to Eagle Roost. Being out on the trail in the morning is wonderful, even if we are just heading back to camp.
My uncle was awake and making coffee when we arrived back at Eagles Roost but my brother and I moved into a vacant campsite (the group left early in the morning) to make breakfast and some coffee of our own. My cousin woke up and we spent time visiting and getting our gear together.
Having a group change brought a lot of life back into the trip. It's hard to understate how nice it was to have someone new and familiar join on. It would have been even better if my uncle could stay on the trip too, but that wasn't the case.
After sorting out the food and gear my brother brought we hit the trail just after 9:00 a.m.
The Hike
We didn't stop at Spray Falls on our way out and quickly began climbing up toward Spray Park. The trail is steep but is maintained making the steps easier and less likely to cause a slip.
The plan today was to hike into Spray Park, take a side trip further up into Spray Park to a lake, then, my uncle would head out, and we would continue on to Cataract Valley Camp. Reaching the top of the climb to Spray Park we stopped by a log foot bridge over a small creek. On the other side of the creek was a stone walkway into a green meadow. Behind the meadow was Mount Rainier.
Entering Spray Park was magical. We hiked slowly, looking around in awe at the landscape. The meadows were green, and many areas were blanketed with wildflowers. The air was clear and calm, and the temperature was cool. In 2017, I backpacked the same stretch of the trail with my sister, and the experience was similar.
The Spray Park area has many trails, including some nice splitter trails leading to cool areas. I wanted to note splitter trails and wander off on a few. One potential side trip that we didn't take was up Hessong Rock or Mount Pleasant. That said, I did take a picture of the trail leading up the saddle between the two peaks.
Not long after entering Spray Park, we detoured to a small tarn off the trail that I noticed using my Maps3D app. Many of the small lakes, tarns, and rivers were full and flowing this early in the season.
Continuing on I kept an eye out for the splitter trail that would start our side trip for the day. Side trips are better taken from camp, while not wearing a full pack, but today the side trip was up through Spray Park. I found a trail leading up into Spray Park to a lake further up that I thought we could reach. The start of the splitter trail wasn't hard to find and soon we had split off making our way toward Mount Rainier.
Lake Below Observation Rock
I researched a few side trips for the day. The options were to scramble up to Mount Pleasant or Hessong Rock, hike up into Seattle Park (closer to Cataract Valley), or take a trail up to a lake below Observation Rock. I thought the trail up to the lake below Observation Rock would be the best. Spray Park is an incredible sub-alpine area and this trail cuts right through it. Also, I read a trip report from July of 2023 that had pictures of the lake showing not much snow.
The turn-off onto the trail was obvious, but it was not marked. We stepped over a few branches directing people to stay on the main trail and started heading toward the mountain.
The trail looked well-traveled. It was narrow, and wet in some areas, but was easy to follow.
I didn't map the trail to the lake as very long or with much elevation change. I believe I estimated it at around 3 miles round trip. Everything was beautiful and good until we started hitting snow.
Just over half a mile into the hike we hit a large snow field filling a drainage before a creek. This was where things became more difficult. We lost the trail and tried side-stepping the snow field. After seeing no direction over the snow field I suggested we scramble over rocks around the snow field and try to meet up with the trail on the other side. From here on, things became a bit of a misadventure.
We climbed up a creek bed before wandering around trying to keep off the meadows and relocate the trail.
After failing to identify a trail my brother and cousin decided to find a nice area to sit and enjoy the view. My uncle and I dropped our packs and continued thinking we could still find a way. Up closer to the lake the snowfields were large. It was much more snow than I thought would be up here.
I was uncomfortable in the snow and wanted to stay on the rocks. However, my uncle found some ski-touring tracks that lead up and across a snow field. My uncle ski tours. Therefore, he trusted the ski tracks and began shuffling his feet making his way across the snow field. I tried to follow but immediately felt uncomfortable and turned back. I rejoined my brother and cousin.
Shortly after, my uncle gave us a George of the Jungle holler and we could see him up by the lake. I didn't make it to the lake, but this area of Spray Park is incredible. The meadows, rocks, trees, and creeks are unique. I hope to get a cross-country permit to come back here and camp at either Spray Park or Seattle Park.
We made our way back down to the main trail, navigating the same snow and rocks that caused us trouble on the way up. It was nice traveling away from the snow and sun. My face was starting to feel hot and my eyes were starting to bother me. We all needed to have sunglasses.
It wasn't the side trip I hoped for but I'm glad we went up there and gave it a shot. After making it back to the main trail we said goodbye to my uncle and we continued along the trail to Cataract Valley Park.
Snow in Spray Park
We had split off onto our side trip pretty early in Spray Park. We still had a good amount of climbing to do before reaching the apex and descending into the trees on the other side.
The snowfields were becoming consistent and I was surprised by the size of many of them. Even though they were large the snow was soft and easy to kick footholds in.
It was manageable but made the going a little tougher. Making things more difficult, adding to the threat of injury from post-holing through the snow, was not knowing quite where the trail was. Some tracks went in the wrong direction or went away from where we needed to meet up on the other side of the snow field.
On our side trip up into Spray Park, the large snowfield my uncle traversed, which I did not, was right about 6,400 ft. Similarly, the high point on the alternate route through Spray Park was just short of 6,400 ft. In both instances, we hit large snow fields right around that elevation.
Now, going down the trail, we had to drive our heels in or shuffle down the hill following the footsteps of previous hikers. The snow was soft but I still slipped, playfully falling back, as I was prepared for some of my short slides.
The going wasn't easy. We had to be ready to post-hole if we wandered over any melting creek areas. The views were amazing between the snow fields and trying to re-find the trail.
Mother Mountain is a collection of peaks near Mowich Lake that offers adventurous day hikes from the parking lot. The same range is visible on the traverse through Spray Park and I think I spent more time photographing and looking at Mother Mountain than Mount Rainier.
Off in the distance, we saw other Washington volcanoes. We debated whether we were looking at Glacier Peak or Mount Baker. Glacier Peak is more pointed and easier to spot. Mount Baker was obscured by Mother Mountain for most of our hike but we did see her a couple of times.
Managing the snow was much worse on our descent toward Cataract Valley. The trail was a deep trench and the water from melting snow cut under the snow patches in multiple areas on the trail. My cousin post-holed up to his thigh at one point.
I was looking forward to being done with the snow. My face was red from the sun reflecting off the snow and my boots were wet from trouncing around and down the fields. I felt bad for the groups and people we saw going in the opposite direction. It was much more difficult to work up and over from this side than the way we came. I remembered this area well from my previous trip here and took many of the same pictures. Still amazed by the views.
We were done with snow fields but still had quite a bit of descending to do.
Descending to Cataract Valley
We came up on a group of backpackers resting off the trail as we worked down the snowfields. Annoyingly, it seemed that as soon as they saw us they decided it was time to stop resting and hit the trail. Two men in the group would routinely hike up behind us, then stop and wait for the ladies in the group.
It was an uncomfortable situation because it felt like they were pressing up on us and we should let them through but it wasn't their whole group. Additionally, they may be heading to the same camp as we were and I didn't want them to get their first.
My cousin was in the back, taking it slow after post-holing through the snow a few times and dealing with other pains, like a rolled ankle from two days previous. These guys were on him quite a bit, but my brother and I were stretching the pace to try and put a little distance between us and them so we didn't have to hear their conversations the whole descent.
Finally, it became a bit ridiculous and my cousin wasn't down for a race to the bottom. I resolved to stop and wait with my cousin, letting the group pass us, but I told my brother to hike ahead if he wanted. This isn't how you're supposed to do things. The rules are the group needs to hike together, for safety reasons and also, I think, so rangers can account for all members when checking permits. Regardless, Jordan continued down into camp.
On the descent, I kept an eye out for the trail up into Seattle Park. Going up into Seattle Park was a potential side trip for the day. It's a popular place to get a cross-country permit. We wouldn't make it up to Seattle Park this time, but I took a picture. of the side trail at these coordinates: 46.93158 N -121.80874 W.
The trail on the descent was good. There were plenty of places to filter water at this time of the season. Also, I knew there was a creek running through camp and we would be there soon. Somewhere down in the trees, we walked up to the camp sign. Turns out, the group that was trailing us, eventually passing my cousin and I was not staying at the same camp. We were in camp, after what felt like a long day on the trail. The stats are below:
Length: 7.08 miles
Duration: 6 hours 34 minutes
Asc.: 2,296 ft.
Desc.: 2,516 ft.
Max. Alt: 6,432 ft.
Min. Alt: 4,515 ft.
Cataract Valley Camp
Cataract Valley was the first camp I ever camped in while backpacking back in 2017. It was my first, and it was forgettable. Nestled up in the valley the views are non-existent. The sites aren't exciting either, but it does have a nice forest feel. The bear pole and water access are close.
My brother had gone ahead of us on the trail and arrived at camp before me and my cousin. I told him to grab a spot with trees for a hammock and two flat areas for tents. When we arrived, around 3:30 p.m., he was sitting in a great little site next to the creek across from the group site. Spacious enough for three tents (although we only had two tents) and with a few trees to pick from for hanging my hammock. I was worried about bugs, being so close to the river but they weren't an issue.
Most of the sites at Cataract Valley Camp get nice shade and it feels protected at the base of the valley wall. The bathroom is an exposed privy at the back of the camp, a little out in the open but protected by trees and shrubs for privacy. My brother started his day around 3:00 a.m. and I started mine around 5:30 a.m. We spent over six hours trudging through snow in the sun. In other words, we were ready to relax at camp.
Climbing one of the snow fields, earlier in the day, my brother gave me fantastic news. He said, "I brought four beers." It wasn't surprising given how big and heavy his pack looked, but I was pumped. It meant I could have a beer today after the hike and a beer tomorrow after the hike! A post-hike (or aprè hike, as my cousin says) beer was going to hit the spot. We enjoyed it in the shade of camp by the creek after setting up.
Water
The water source for camp is a creek running through the middle of camp by the group site. Easy to get water from and close.
Bear Pole
The bear pole is, also, located near the creek. It's a good height. There's another bear pole located at the entrance to the camp, possibly across the trail from the entrance but it didn't look like anyone was using it.
The Cataracts
Spending time in camp catching up and joking around with my brother and cousin was a truly enjoyable way to spend the afternoon. Some of the best laughs come after a tough day on the trail. However, after a few hours, I was itching to find a creek to rinse off in and ring some clothes out. The other two were content with staying in camp so I packed up my things and hiked back on the trail to find a place that cut over to the creek.
Less than half a mile back up the hill the trail switches back. Just over a small rise, beyond the switchback, is a little creek. Approaching the creek and looking up to the hikers' right is a series of waterfalls (cataracts), for which, I believe, the camp gets its name.
The creek below the water where I stopped is located at 46.93752 N -121.80601 W. Each section of the waterfall rises higher and higher until it falls out of site. The water wasn't deep where I rinsed off but I used a trail rag to aid the process, hoping no one came down the trail and peaked around the corner.
The heat wave passed a day or two ago and the temperature during the day, and in the evenings was perfect. It was nothing but beautiful blue skies and quiet afternoons. Resting on a rock with my feet in the water I happened upon a nice little view down the valley.
It was around 6:30 p.m. but still didn't feel cold in the shade. We were getting close to the end of the trip and I wanted to appreciate all the moments like these, tucking them away for some time later when I would be hunkered in our Spokane home during the winter dreaming about being back on the trail.
I spent roughly half an hour below the falls before softly walking back to camp in my sandals. The light ducked under the tree branches as the sun set, hitting the trunks and backlighting all the underbrush projecting the bright green underbrush.
I didn't plan to oversell my side trip to the other two, I'm sure they were enjoying themselves just as much as I was. I didn't have a problem keeping my peaceful experience to myself. At least until I could write about it, of course.
Back at Camp
Things were just as I had left them back at camp. The only difference was Jordan's eyes were fully shut and his head drooped a little to one side as he fell asleep in his chair.
Brent was finally getting into the book he had been carrying around and was using his bear canister as an ottoman. Soon we made dinner and later played a bit of cribbage before going to sleep. The group site campers were a little loud but eventually quieted down. Plus, I had brought earplugs so most sound was muffled.
Tomorrow would be another long day. We would descend to the Carbon River Valley and then make the long and often steep climb up to Moraine Park before dropping down to Mystic Lake. It would be a long day, but a very scenic one.