Mowich Lake
Elain and I drove to Mount Rainier National Park hoping to climb the North Face of Observation Rock. Failing to get a permit for the Flett Glacier alpine zone, we camped in the Mowich Lake car-camping area. It was a terrible experience camping in the car-camping area. There were many loud parties of campers in the area, making noise until late at night. Finally at midnight, Elain had had enough. We got up, put our tent away in the car, and started sorting our gear for the climb. At 12:45 AM, we started walking down the Spray Park trail, towards Observation Rock. It was still dark when we reached Spray Park at about 3:00 AM. At that time, a thunderstorm came through. We counted the interval between lightening flashes and the thunder, to determine whether the storm was moving towards us. It was approaching. The lightening got more frequent, and we decided that Spray Park, above treeline, was no place to be hanging out in a lightening storm. So we started walking back down the trail towards treeline. Another lightening flash, this one rather close, and we started running down the trail. Another lightening flash, and at this point we veered off the trail and headed for the nearest clump of trees. We huddled in the trees waiting for the storm to pass. After a half hour or so, we got up and started back up the trail. Another lightening flash convinced us to turn around and head back to the trailhead. We had had enough of the lightening. We reached the trailhead at about 6:00 AM, just as a group of Mountaineers were packing up for their attempt on Observation Rock. (We later found out they turned back due to the storm also).
Mowich Lake
Mowich Lake
Elain, in front of Mowich Lake