8/3, Saturday. Cloudy. After the long gravel road to Mowich Lake (~5000'), it was pure luck to find a parking spot: cars backed up along the road for 0.8 miles. Outhouse, self-registered permit station for Mowich Lake is available. We took to Spray Park right next to the campground with good view of the lake. The trail goes down through trees first before gaining elevation. The Spray Falls is a must detour. Short and sweet. Need to hop over boulders to cross the creek in order to see the falls in all its glory. So far, no noticeable bugs.
Spray Park brings meadows and small tarns, as well as bugs. Despite of the cloud covering Rainier, the view is still lovely with many magenta paintbrush, white bistort, cream louswort. A few remaining beargrass. A steep trail goes up to Hessong Rock. Saw a big brown colored bear moving across that trail.Continued the trail for ~1/2 miles, we took an unmarked trail east towards Observation Rock. Gaining more elevation. Lost all crowds. More tarns and meadows. Saw a few potential campsite, but bugs found us quickly as soon as we stopped. More and more rocks, no more trees. Continued, eventually lost the sight of the trail. Had to rely on the GPS map on my phone. This is open country, so easy to move around. Eventually camped ~6600' near a beautiful blue lake under the shadow of Observation Rock, who blocks the view of Mt. Rainier. Less bugs here. XPTA is a large area, but only 2 parties are allowed to camp here. We thought we were alone.
Other than the common heather (both pink and white), paintbrush, some leftover avalanche lily and early gentian, saw these two flowers among the rocks: Talus Collomia (a phlox) and Alpine Candytuft (a mustard).
After washing, setting up camp, and cooking dinner, I headed towards Echo Rock and Observation Rock ~5pm. 10 minutes after taking off, I returned to the camp to fetch microspikes. After about 30 minutes, at the foot of Flett Glacier, I saw a party of 6 doing self rescue exercise. Two tents at the bottom of the melted stream from the glacier, ~7000'. 
Finally I saw Rainier again, now clear without clouds, even though dark clouds were spreading on the west. I put microspkes on, not 100% necessary, but certainly made my progress faster. The ice slope is gentle, not icy. Took the spikes off at the foot of Echo Rock, at the left side of the glacier. There's an obvious boot track all the way to the top. The lower half is crumbling, every step slides back half. The upper part is solid, even though looks more menacing, it's actually easier to scramble. At ~7850', the view is outstanding. 
The very top is actually quite leveled. Can move around relatively easily to pick a view point. Certainly a good vantage point to overview the route to Observation Rock. Echo rock took me about 30 minutes up and down.
Put spikes back on, walk to the right side of the glacier. Up another snowy slope (steeper than earlier). Took spikes off for the gravel hill, put spikes on the 3rd time for the last more leveled snowy ridge. At the bottom of Observation Rock, took off the spikes yet again. Circled to the NE side of the rock. Very crumbling. Eventually going up. Again, there are boot track(s) here. The upper part has solid rocks, easier to maneuver. The very top is somewhat leveled. Can move around to pick your viewpoint, or pick a rock to saver the view. Had to walk all the way to the west edge in order to see our blue lake. There's a registry and a survey marker (which says 8370', and $250 fine if disturbed). Dark clouds had finally dissipated. Hazy looking to the west. Sun was low but still bright. It was ~8pm. Time to hurry back (I didn't bring a headlamp for this scramble). 
. I practically ran down the glacier. Got back to camp at 9pm. Ate some more food, washed, and sat by the lake waiting for the 10% moon to set. However, the sky never got too dark. Light pollution from the cities of Puget Sound. Could see the milky way. The lake was not still enough to see star reflection.33K steps. 10-12 miles, ~3500' gain, ~2000' loss.
8/4, Sunday. Sunny, warm. Back on Wonderland Trail, continued on Spray Park Ipsut Pass loop. Gain a bit of elevation before dropping to Mist Park. More rocks, less trees, very pretty, until the trail drops down earnestly.
Once down into the woods, no more views. Also no more mosquitoes. Started to meet folks hiking the same loop, but in opposite direction. The only highlight is the suspension bridge over Carbon River. Here, there used to be two bridges to cross. Now one down, so need to hike a bit more east. At the north end of the bridge, a ranger was checking backcountry permit. The trail continued along the north bank of Carbon River, loosing even more elevation, until about 2400'. Crossed the river bed on boulders and log bridges. Here it was quite hot: no shade, all the rocks radiating heat. Once back on the south bank, more boulders, and then the trail starts to gain elevation. Met a young guy who got confused by the closed trail. He was doing the entire Wonderland. Odd that he was not aware of the closure.
At the next trail junction, turn left, zigzag up till Ipsut Pass ~5100, in 3.5 miles. I was getting quite tired by then, forgot one water bottle by the stream where I just filtered. Temperature was rising, but we were lucky that the trail is on the north side, so mostly in shade. The last mile to the pass had many typical forest flowers, no more streams. Once crested the pass, no more flowers, more and more people. 1.5 easy miles to the car.Took a dip in Mowich Lake ~5pm. Refreshing!
38.5K steps. ~14 miles, ~3000' gain, ~4500' loss.
