Pinnacle Peak Saddle and Plummer Peak Fall Hike Mt Rainier Nat'l Park

 Drove up to Stevens Canyon Road in Mt Rainier Nat'l Park to do a couple of short hikes today. The first hike starts at the Reflection Lake parking area.

 I took the Pinnacle Peak Trail up to the saddle (a 3 mile rt with 1,150 ft elevation gain) and then took the boot track up to the top of Plummer Peak. This made for a 4 mile rt with 1,800 ft elevation gain overall hike. This is a gorgeous hike with nice fall colors and gorgeous 360* views!

The trail starts in the woods, climbing up towards the saddle.

 Before long, the trail opens up with views looking back towards Mt Rainier.

 As the trail continues to climb, you begin to see Plummer Peak in the distance,

 and then Pinnacle Saddle comes into view.

 I saw a cave along the side of Pinnacle Peak, but did not go exploring.

At Pinnacle Saddle, looking south, there were views of the Goat Rocks, Mt Adams and Mt Hood.

to the north Mt Rainier and Pinnacle Peak (wide angle photo)

Looking up at Plummer Peak from the Pinnacle Saddle, there is a nice boot track going to the top.

 Nice view of the moon above Plummer Peak, as the trail wound around the north side of Plummer Peak.

 the trail then switched over to the east side, before coming back up on the north side.

Panorama from atop Plummer Peak looking north: Mt Rainier and some of the other Tatoosh Peaks: Pinnacle Peak, The Castle and Foss Peak.

Panorama from atop Plummer Peak looking south: Foss Peak, the Goat Rocks, Mt Adams, Mt Hood, Mt St Helens, Wahpenayo Peak, Chutla Peak and Eagle Peak 

 zoom of the Goat Rocks

 zoom of Mt Adams

zoom of Mt Hood

zoom of Mt St Helens

 Looking south and down into the Butter Creek Research Natural Area (Mt Adams in the background)












The hike back down towards the trailhead was great, walking into the views of Mt Rainier.

With the sun higher in the sky, the fall colors seemed brighter.

Some of the fall color, fungi and other plants I saw along the trail today: