Alpine Scramble - Hessong Rock & Mount Pleasant

With an early start, the hike to Spray Park was pleasantly cool.  We took the time to do the short side trips to Eagle Cliff and Spray Falls.  Once we reached Spray Park, it was hot and buggy for the rest of the day, except for occasional short windy periods.  I made the mistake (which I've made before) of starting up the wrong gully on Hessong; you need to be patient and traverse farther west than initially seems necessary.  We took the path down the north side and traversed back to the saddle before doing the easy climb of Mt. Pleasant, then worked our way down to the route to Knapsack Pass.  There didn't seem to be a lot of enthusiasm for doing the side trip from there to First Mother given the heat and the bugs, so we left that for another day.  This was, as usual for this time of year, an excellent trip for flowers.