dom15931
New member
My first trip out west! I was going to take my girlfriend up to Maine and NH to show her how beautiful it was up there. However the forecast was not at all. We decided, instead, to head out west last minute because of the foul weather in Maine at the time and our happening upon cheap plane tickets, and because neither of us have ever been anywhere near there. The only unfortunate thing was we both still dealing with stubborn chest colds. Meghan was a few days behind me, coughing a bit more. There was just no room for an opt out of our anticipated week off work. That option was simply off the table. What follows is the highlight of our week long vacation and our greatest vacation and hiking ever.
We arrived at the trail head at about 9:15 AM PST. This trail would lead us to the 'saddle' between Pinnacle and Plumber Peaks.There were only a few cars there considering the excellent early fall weather. The skies were partly cloudy and there was a hint of fall in the mountains. Soon after leaving the trail head you encounter a nice pond with a breathtaking view of Mt Rainier. It's really hard to stop taking pictures of this mountain. It is so extremely prominent and it literally jumps out at every chance it reemerges into your view. The picture taking became an involuntary reflex for us. Temps were warm, barely a different than in the valley thousands of feet below. With a trail head starting elevation around 4800' This was surprising. You work your way through dense evergreen forest to the sub alpine area at about 5500'. Here switchbacks begin and the views of the Tatoosh Range really open up.Upon reaching the 'saddle' the maintained trail ends, which looks to be a frequent occurrence in the cascades, as the degree of difficulty and amount of exposure changes drastically at it's end. Meghan was happy to venture here and that was the plan. There where scattered snowfields here, which were easily avoidable. Meghan would decide soon later enjoying some of the Lord of the Rings like views to come most of the way up Plumber peak with me. It looked easy enough and was. You only need your hands once right before the summit. I now figured I'd make an attempt on Pinnacle Peak. Little did I know that scrambling/climbing that summit cone was going to make me me really glad that I had the Trap Dyke and the Eagle slide under my belt in past years in the Adirondacks. I was about to get a feel for what a western style rock scramble was. Steeper, more exposed, and with rocks that you gotta be real careful with. I have since learned that the Tatoosh Range is known for its brittle rock.
Pinnacle Peak is aptly named. From the saddle it does not mess around. According to the ranger station it is a technical summit and requires ropes, etc. The ranger on duty the day before said he considered it an easy class 5. A bit of an overstatement. You could argue a four probably, but two groups I would later meet, one prior to my summiting, and one after, would say that it is a tough class 3/maybe barely 4 by western standards in dry weather, snow free weather. I'd always though of the aforementioned hikes in the Adirondacks as being in this range. Maybe they are, I am no expert, but the steep sections were much higher/longer, less obvious in route and with brittle rock. The exposure to serious falls and potential for injury was greater also. Later I would find this, that suggests more of a class 4.
http://www.wta.org/~wta/cgi-bin/wtaweb.pl?3+tg+fetch+english+1085
Who knows, we all know it seems an endless debate. It does, however, advise rock gear on the mountain. There are many trip reports I have since read without it as well though. (writing this I am really thinking it is time to go to the Seneca Rocks Climbing School, its barely 3.5 hrs from my home)
Upon leaving the saddle the trail rapidly disappears after a brief bit and becomes numerous possible routes on the initial scramble. The brittle rock and loose scree become apparent right off the bat. Traveling along the top of a massive talus slope and boulderfield I first realize that 'I'm not in Kansas anymore' figuratively speaking. The scenery is incredible. Snow capped 12000' Mt Adams is now in the distance and Rainier has vanished behind the mountain I am about to be eye-level steep with. Mt. St Helens was indecipherable. I followed the advice that I received from several climbers earlier, to rapidly go at the mountain's peak after exiting the small brushy area heading towards 'the white rock' near the summit. I kept thinking...The route will go to the right and it won't be as steep. Nope. The last 300' of gain comes very, very quickly and it just gets steeper as you go to the point you are eye level with your next move. Looking down was scary realizing this is the only non technical route up the mountain and that I will have to decend this same route. I focused on what was in front of me.
The last 100 or so feet is extremely steep and unlike anything I have ever scrambled up, with several hundred feet of tricky terrain already at my back, and the still steep drop of the talus slope behind me. This final pitch like having 3-4 consecutive 'waterfall' pitches (from the Trap Dyke in the Dacks) in a row with no comfort spot to be found and loose and cracked rocks instead of solid rock. I was encouraged and made a bit nervous at the same time by the attachment I seen for ropes near the top. I knew I was going the right way, but I also knew it was there for a reason. I carefully examined each move and made it up this last pitch without any near incident.
Upon reaching the crest there is one final small scramble left. The first thing you notice prior to finishing the peak off is that looking over the other side of the mountain now there is a 500' free fall merely an arms length away. The views now are incredible, sweeping, and Rainier again is the backdrop of the scenery. How lucky I felt to have had such wonderful weather for early fall.
At the summit is a USGS marker, not that you need it. The summit here is quite quite obvious. I now have stood at 6562', the highest I have ever set foot. (I was slightly bummed that I was still slightly lower than the highest ridge crests of the Black Range in the southern Appalachians, but realized they are walk ups...so oh well) Despite being in awe that I made it here I decided that the only time for victory was when I was back at the saddle.
Re approaching the decent was daunting. At the top of the massive pitch, again, you are left with the sheer fall to the right adjacent to you, and the ladder like decent falling off before you. It however went surprisingly smooth. Having once had to descend the Trap Dyke with a friend from halfway up 'the waterfall' because of a downpour must have made me more comfortable with this kind of stuff. I took my time, going at at least half of my speed up and being sure all my foot placements and handholds were on solid rocks. I treated this as the toughest section of the peak. Before I knew it I was back down off of the steepest section.
Arriving back at the saddle I found that Meghan and the friendly hikers that gave me the directions of the route had watched me go up. She said they told her 'I was moving good'. That put the icing on the cake for the victorious feeling I was overwhelmed with. She also got a close up zoom shot on her camera of me at the start of the final pitch.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2387620270058707914GAeVNc
The trees in the foreground are not near the mountain, this is zoom in of the final stretch. If you make it full size you can see me just to the right of the foreground evergreen.
The trail back was very enjoyable with the constant views of Rainier. This is a place I will be back to, and the place that ensured there will be many other more distant destinations in the future.
Enjoy the following pictures. There are 200 in this album alone. The Pinnacle 'post-saddle' pictures of my solo climb to the summit are on pages 9 and up, with some odds and ends at the end.
These pictures are in this album, all of which are from this particular set of mountains:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/567739326NWPmMM
There are seven other albums marked 'New' at the start from this trip. Here there are photos of the NW temperate rain forests, wildlife, coasts, islands, northern Cascades from the Glacier Peak Wilderness at the Pugh Saddle, Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics (drive up, not the best weather) and downtown Seattle.
http://community.webshots.com/user/dom15931
If you've ever wanted to go to these places I can tell you you won't regret it!
-Dom
We arrived at the trail head at about 9:15 AM PST. This trail would lead us to the 'saddle' between Pinnacle and Plumber Peaks.There were only a few cars there considering the excellent early fall weather. The skies were partly cloudy and there was a hint of fall in the mountains. Soon after leaving the trail head you encounter a nice pond with a breathtaking view of Mt Rainier. It's really hard to stop taking pictures of this mountain. It is so extremely prominent and it literally jumps out at every chance it reemerges into your view. The picture taking became an involuntary reflex for us. Temps were warm, barely a different than in the valley thousands of feet below. With a trail head starting elevation around 4800' This was surprising. You work your way through dense evergreen forest to the sub alpine area at about 5500'. Here switchbacks begin and the views of the Tatoosh Range really open up.Upon reaching the 'saddle' the maintained trail ends, which looks to be a frequent occurrence in the cascades, as the degree of difficulty and amount of exposure changes drastically at it's end. Meghan was happy to venture here and that was the plan. There where scattered snowfields here, which were easily avoidable. Meghan would decide soon later enjoying some of the Lord of the Rings like views to come most of the way up Plumber peak with me. It looked easy enough and was. You only need your hands once right before the summit. I now figured I'd make an attempt on Pinnacle Peak. Little did I know that scrambling/climbing that summit cone was going to make me me really glad that I had the Trap Dyke and the Eagle slide under my belt in past years in the Adirondacks. I was about to get a feel for what a western style rock scramble was. Steeper, more exposed, and with rocks that you gotta be real careful with. I have since learned that the Tatoosh Range is known for its brittle rock.
Pinnacle Peak is aptly named. From the saddle it does not mess around. According to the ranger station it is a technical summit and requires ropes, etc. The ranger on duty the day before said he considered it an easy class 5. A bit of an overstatement. You could argue a four probably, but two groups I would later meet, one prior to my summiting, and one after, would say that it is a tough class 3/maybe barely 4 by western standards in dry weather, snow free weather. I'd always though of the aforementioned hikes in the Adirondacks as being in this range. Maybe they are, I am no expert, but the steep sections were much higher/longer, less obvious in route and with brittle rock. The exposure to serious falls and potential for injury was greater also. Later I would find this, that suggests more of a class 4.
http://www.wta.org/~wta/cgi-bin/wtaweb.pl?3+tg+fetch+english+1085
Who knows, we all know it seems an endless debate. It does, however, advise rock gear on the mountain. There are many trip reports I have since read without it as well though. (writing this I am really thinking it is time to go to the Seneca Rocks Climbing School, its barely 3.5 hrs from my home)
Upon leaving the saddle the trail rapidly disappears after a brief bit and becomes numerous possible routes on the initial scramble. The brittle rock and loose scree become apparent right off the bat. Traveling along the top of a massive talus slope and boulderfield I first realize that 'I'm not in Kansas anymore' figuratively speaking. The scenery is incredible. Snow capped 12000' Mt Adams is now in the distance and Rainier has vanished behind the mountain I am about to be eye-level steep with. Mt. St Helens was indecipherable. I followed the advice that I received from several climbers earlier, to rapidly go at the mountain's peak after exiting the small brushy area heading towards 'the white rock' near the summit. I kept thinking...The route will go to the right and it won't be as steep. Nope. The last 300' of gain comes very, very quickly and it just gets steeper as you go to the point you are eye level with your next move. Looking down was scary realizing this is the only non technical route up the mountain and that I will have to decend this same route. I focused on what was in front of me.
The last 100 or so feet is extremely steep and unlike anything I have ever scrambled up, with several hundred feet of tricky terrain already at my back, and the still steep drop of the talus slope behind me. This final pitch like having 3-4 consecutive 'waterfall' pitches (from the Trap Dyke in the Dacks) in a row with no comfort spot to be found and loose and cracked rocks instead of solid rock. I was encouraged and made a bit nervous at the same time by the attachment I seen for ropes near the top. I knew I was going the right way, but I also knew it was there for a reason. I carefully examined each move and made it up this last pitch without any near incident.
Upon reaching the crest there is one final small scramble left. The first thing you notice prior to finishing the peak off is that looking over the other side of the mountain now there is a 500' free fall merely an arms length away. The views now are incredible, sweeping, and Rainier again is the backdrop of the scenery. How lucky I felt to have had such wonderful weather for early fall.
At the summit is a USGS marker, not that you need it. The summit here is quite quite obvious. I now have stood at 6562', the highest I have ever set foot. (I was slightly bummed that I was still slightly lower than the highest ridge crests of the Black Range in the southern Appalachians, but realized they are walk ups...so oh well) Despite being in awe that I made it here I decided that the only time for victory was when I was back at the saddle.
Re approaching the decent was daunting. At the top of the massive pitch, again, you are left with the sheer fall to the right adjacent to you, and the ladder like decent falling off before you. It however went surprisingly smooth. Having once had to descend the Trap Dyke with a friend from halfway up 'the waterfall' because of a downpour must have made me more comfortable with this kind of stuff. I took my time, going at at least half of my speed up and being sure all my foot placements and handholds were on solid rocks. I treated this as the toughest section of the peak. Before I knew it I was back down off of the steepest section.
Arriving back at the saddle I found that Meghan and the friendly hikers that gave me the directions of the route had watched me go up. She said they told her 'I was moving good'. That put the icing on the cake for the victorious feeling I was overwhelmed with. She also got a close up zoom shot on her camera of me at the start of the final pitch.
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2387620270058707914GAeVNc
The trees in the foreground are not near the mountain, this is zoom in of the final stretch. If you make it full size you can see me just to the right of the foreground evergreen.
The trail back was very enjoyable with the constant views of Rainier. This is a place I will be back to, and the place that ensured there will be many other more distant destinations in the future.
Enjoy the following pictures. There are 200 in this album alone. The Pinnacle 'post-saddle' pictures of my solo climb to the summit are on pages 9 and up, with some odds and ends at the end.
These pictures are in this album, all of which are from this particular set of mountains:
http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/567739326NWPmMM
There are seven other albums marked 'New' at the start from this trip. Here there are photos of the NW temperate rain forests, wildlife, coasts, islands, northern Cascades from the Glacier Peak Wilderness at the Pugh Saddle, Hurricane Ridge in the Olympics (drive up, not the best weather) and downtown Seattle.
http://community.webshots.com/user/dom15931
If you've ever wanted to go to these places I can tell you you won't regret it!
-Dom
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