Plummer and Denman Peaks

A nice fall day, we headed up to Mt Rainier National Park to hike the Pinnacle Peak trail up to Plummer and Denman Peaks in the Tatoosh Range. The trail to the Pinnacle Peak saddle is 2.6 miles round trip with about 1,000 ft of elevation gain. Adding in these two peaks makes the trip about 5 miles and 2,200 ft of overall elevation gain.
When we arrived at Reflection Lake, Mt Rainier was covered in clouds.

There was some nice fall colors to be seen.

We found the trees and plants covered with frost on the Pinnacle Peak trail.

This reminded us that Winter comes early to the mountains.

We heard some pika as we crossed a talus field.

As the trail gained elevation, we saw the clouds had lifted, giving us gorgeous views of Mt Rainier.

Wide angle photo approaching the Pinnacle Peak Saddle, Plummer Peak is veiled by the clouds, Denman Peak is to the far right.

View of Plummer Peak from the Pinnacle Peak Saddle where the "maintained" trail ends.

Pano from near the saddle looking out at Mt Rainier and Pinnacle Peak.

On this trip, I found water in the Plummer Peak Tarn. Love reflections!

The boot track up to Plummer Peak was frosty, and in places, icy!

Part way up Plummer Peak there is a view to the southeast. Just above the clouds, we saw the Goat Rocks, Mt Adams and Mt Hood.

The final approach to Plummer Peak is steep and takes you through these trees and roots.

On top of Plummer Peak, Mt St Helens can now also be seen to the southwest.

Pano from atop Plummer Peak looking south: Unicorn Peak in the Tatoosh, and just above the clouds: the Goat Rocks, Mt Adams, Mt Hood and Mt St Helens

Pano from atop Plummer Peak looking north, Mt Rainier and the other peaks in the Tatoosh.

From Plummer Peak looking down at Denman Peak, our next objective, with clouds beginning to cover Mt Rainier.

As we descend Plummer Peak, the clouds came up obscuring the view to the south.

The boot track to the base of Denman Peak from the ridge, drops about 200 ft. Even with the frost, there were lots of ripe huckleberries up here.

There was some water on the trail, lovely fall colors and nice views of Lane, Eagle, Chutla, Eagle and  Wahpenayo Peaks

Nearing Denman Peak, we decided not to ascend on this southeast side.

From the southwest side of Denman Peak, we could look down on Cliff Lake, and the other Tatoosh Peaks.

There is 400 ft of elevation gain up to the top of Denman Peak.

We found a steep track that did not have too much loose rocks on it.

Pano from near the summit of Denman Peak: Mt Rainier peeking up, Pinnacle Peak and Plummer Peak. We could see our route up the side of Pinnacle Peak, over to Plummer Peak and dropping down towards Denman from here.

On the top of Denman Peak.











Pano looking north and west from Denman Peak:

Looking down on Cliff Lake

Some how the trail seemed steeper to me descending Denman Peak.

The trail between Denman and Plummer Peaks has some exposure. It was a bit frost and muddy today.

A look back at Denman and Lane Peaks on this trail.

There are many boot tracks up in this Tatoosh Range. We found ourselves on a different one near the saddle that was very narrow with a significant drop off.
















Some of the fall color and fungi we saw along the trail: