Naturalist Trip - Spray Park

We will meet at 6:00 AM at the 65th Street P&R under I-5. We will be north of 65th and at the far north end of the P&R. An early start is advisable to secure favorable parking at Mowich Lake.

If this  meeting location is inconvenient for you or you choose to drive separately e-mail Gary Brill after a "Welcome e-mail" is sent to you.

This trip is designed as a field trip in the Introduction to the Natural World Course, but is now open in Naturalist Activities. We will do a nice hike, but will also spend a fair bit of time observing and identifying primarily plants and birds. The weather looks cool on Monday with fog a good possibility.

This is a fantastic wildflower hike. The pace will be moderate but with stops to appreciate nature and identify wildflowers. We will walk along and then periodically stop and look in certain areas, and then continue to walk along until another interesting area is encountered. We will still cover a good distance.

We will do the hike as described in Washington Trails https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/spray-park to a high crest that looks down towards the Carbon Glacier. From this point, we will ascend about one-half more miles to rock gardens full of elegant lupine, cliff paintbrush and magenta paintbrush, among others.

If possible, I would like to return over Knapsack Pass (shorter but several hundred feet more vertical and steeper). The leader wonders if a steep snowfield might preclude doing this this year. But sign-ups should be aware this is a possibility. Options will also depend on group strength and desires.

After this field trip you may identify these species and more:
1. Broad-leaf Lupine
2. Common Paintbrush
3. Beargrass
4. Gray Jay
5. Blue (Butterfly)
6. Red Columbine
7. Glacier Lily
8. Tiger Lily
9. Thinleaf Blueberry
10. Sitka Mountain Ash
11. Sitka Alder
12. Alaska Yellow-cedar