Mt. Rainer - Spray Falls

I promise that this won't morph into a hiking-only blog. The problem is, that hiking is the cheapest way for us to get out of the house. It has finally turned cold, windy, and rainy though, so our hiking for this season is probably just about over. We knew the weather was turning soon, so last week we went out on the last sunny day that was forecasted. Spray Falls Trail takes quite awhile to get to. The road to get to the trail head is several miles of unpaved road. In fact, the road closes on October 8 or after the first snowfall because it isn't regularly maintained by rangers. The trail itself is considered easy and was about 5.5 miles round trip. It had great views of Mt. Rainer (the side we hadn't seen before), a towering waterfall, and started/ended by Mowich Lake. The most interesting thing about hiking around Mt. Rainer is how different all of the trails and areas are. Robb and I really feel as though every hike we go on has something completely different and amazing to see. For example, this lake was absolutely gorgeous (very blue, clear, and deep) and we saw a cray-fish crawling around. Who expects that kind of wilderness spotting on a mountain hike?