May 15, 2004, Spray Park

I was tempted to try an early season Flett Glacier trip after reading the April 30th report by Charles. We brought bikes and ditched them after a mile or so and skinned up to Mowich Lake. Being unfamiliar with the Knapsack Pass route, we opted for the Spray Park trail and after stumbling around a bit, found it mostly snow free to Spray Falls and the same up most of the switch backs before entering the Park, where the snow is still 6-8 feet deep. The park was foggy with occassional showers and time grew short so the Flett just wasn't going to happen.  However, we did get up to 6200' or so and had a nice ski, with limited visibility back along our wanded path.  The snow, having had no sun, was superb - nice corn on top of hard pack.  The weather deteriorated and became steady rain as we hiked the trail back to Mowich Lake.  The road down was slow, even with fresh glider wax it just didn't have enough grade to allow for a continous coast. It might be worth a second shot once that road melts out a little more and while Spray Park still has coverage.