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Moon and Alpenglow from the Spray Park trail

Mother Mountain Orbit

May 04, 2025 by Willis Wall

This was a very popular loop hike when one could drive to the Carbon River entrance or Mowich Lake. Covering 16 miles and 4,000’ vertical, it was in the wheelhouse of most hikers as a day hike. Not so much now with the road closure to these entrances. However, the Spray Park trail is an alternate route for the Wonderland and many many hikers choose to go over this gem, especially if the weather is good. And in the filming this past year, I in fact had great weather on two transits, one CW and the other CCW owing to cranking out 3 Wonderland Trail hikes last year to reach 40 transits at age 70. This allows me the opportunity to show a complete CW transit from Mowich Lake, and the CCW transit from Mowich to the Carbon River suspension bridge. Both of these trips were early evening with appropriate light. Please enjoy this lingering view of Spray and Seattle Parks, along with the Wonderland trail portion through Ipsut Pass. Filmed in 4K, run time 33:23.

May 04, 2025 /Willis Wall
mt rainier loop hikes, mt rainier mother mountain loop, hiking mt rainier

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