We drove up to Reflection Lakes at Mt Rainier National Park today to hike up to Plummer Peak, about 4 miles round trip with 1,500 ft of gain. The views are wonderful, there were still some wildflowers in bloom and we did not see any other hikers until we were hiking down after our lunch break.
We enjoyed seeing Mt Rainier reflecting in Reflection Lakes before we started up the trail on the other side of the road.
There were many ripe huckleberries along the lower section of the trail, yum!
It was't long before we began to see views of Mt Rainier between the trees as we gained elevation.
I'm always happy to see paintbrush in bloom.
We also saw pasqueflower seed heads.
Zoom of a pika up in the scree field.
I kept stopping to turn around and enjoy the views of Mt Rainier.
As we neared the Saddle at Pinnacle Peak, we saw a marmot on the trail.
zoom of the marmot
view from Pinnacle Peak Saddle included the Goat Rocks and Mt Adams to the south
To the southeast, we saw Unicorn Peak and a field of wildflowers below us.
To the southwest is Plummer Peak, our destination today. The maintained trail ends at the saddle, but there is a good boot path going up to Plummer Peak.
View of Mt Rainier and Pinnacle Peak from a short ways along the trail.Another view a little bit further up the trail: Rainier, Pinnacle Peak and the Castle
Further up, view of the eastern Tatoosh Peaks and a distant Mt Adams
On the peak of Plummer Peak looking north to Mt Rainer
view to the south including Mt Adams and Mt St Helens in the hazeview to the north/northwest, including the Tatoosh Peaks to the west
As we started to head back down the trail, I saw one of the Reflection Lakes far below to the right.
We found a nice rocky spot off the trail in the shade to take a lunch break and enjoy the view of Mt Rainier, below us is a marmot.
zoom of the marmot
Another view of Mt Rainier as we head back to Pinnacle Peak Saddle
View form near the saddle looking north, I love this section of the trail.
As we headed down the switchbacks in the scree field, we saw a marmot enjoying the view.
Before I could zoom in, the marmot ran up the rocks and found a nice ledge to take a break.
To the far right is a pika pile, to the left of the pile is a pika right by the trail!
zoom of the pika
A couple more photos of Rainier as we head down the trail. It was wonderful to hike down with these lovely views in front of us!
some of the wildflowers and flora seen along the trail today:
