Pinnacle Peak Saddle

I drove up to Reflection Lakes at Mt Rainier National Park to do the first of two short hikes today: Pinnacle Peak Saddle, 3 miles round trip with 1,100 ft of overall gain. This short, steep hike starts out in the forest and then crosses several scree/talus fields for views. There were some wildflowers in bloom and also saw pica, several marmots and 4 bears! Fabulous morning!!!

Before starting the hike, I walked down to the shore of Reflection Lakes to enjoy the gorgeous view of Mt Rainier reflecting in the lake

Some of the views and scree/talus fields along the trail

a couple of pika seen in the rocky areas

View of Mt Rainier from the Pinnacle Saddle

View to the south from Pinnacle Saddle with a distant view of the Goat Rocks (zoom) and Mt Adams (zoom)

Looking to the southeast is Plummer Peak, I hiked around the lower area of the saddle for a while

Looking back at Pinnacle Peak and the Castle, below on the meadow I first spotted a momma black bear with two cubs, one black and one brown (zoom); further down the meadow I spotted a single adult brown colored black bear (zoom)

To the east is Unicorn Peak at the far end of the Tatoosh, views to the south and east

some of the marmots I saw and a squirrel (all zoom photos)

Another view of Mt Rainier as I returned to the trail and headed back down to Reflectionsl Lake

Some of the wildflowers, berries and fungi seen along the trail this morning: