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| Trip Reports |
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| GuideBook | scrambles guide |
| Weather | hot hot hot |
| TrailConditions | hot, no snow anywhere |
| Owned By | mike |
| Mailed to WacList | 08/05/2005 |
| RowId | 316 |
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| Mountain |
Elevation |
Summitted |
|---|
| Plummer Peak |
6370 |
true |
| Pinnacle Peak |
6562 |
true |
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| Report |
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I spent the day Thursday in Portland, where it was about 8500 degrees. Give or take a few. So I was hoping that getting up a few thousand feet would cool things down a bit. And it may have, I suppose, but it was still toasty today.
My dad and I headed out from Reflection Lakes a little before noon, and started up the trail to the saddle. I had enticed him to come up here by telling him that I always see marmots and often see goats. Well, we did see one marmot, but we saw no goats. I think all the animals with fur coats were all too smart to be out in the sun.
We did talk to one woman who had seen a goat earlier in the day, and another party who had seen a bunch of marmots. One of them tried to tell a fairly lame little marmot story, so I had to whip out the Eldorado Toby's Axe Theft Epic. They were in awe.
When we reached the saddle, I tried to talk Dad into climbing Pinnacle, but he opted out. However, a guy named Ernie from CA was interested. Dad suggested I could work off my excess enthusiasm by going up with Ernie, since I knew the route and he didn't. Meanwhile Dad hung out near the saddle, resting and enjoying the cool breeze that seemed to blow there and nowhere else.
Ernie and I cruised up Pinnacle, with Ernie quizzing me on climbing in the Cascades and telling me about what was the same and what was different in the Sierras. Upon our return to the saddle we gave Ernie recommendations for where to eat near the park border (Copper Creek Inn) and directions on how to drive to Windy Ridge to see St. Helens.
Then Dad and I headed up Plummer. At the summit we saw what appeared to be some sort of bee mating flight. Perhaps. After checking out the views (we could just barely see Hood through the haze), we descended back to the car.
On our way out we decided to take our (my) own advice and get something to eat at the Copper Creek Inn. It has actually been a couple years since I was last there, but I was pleased to see the place seems revitalized. The menues were new, the food was good, everything seemed to be spiffed up, and the waitresses were all very pretty. All in all, it was a fine place to stop for dinner.
This is a great little mid-day hike/scramble (Plummer is a hike, Pinnacle is an easy scramble). But I would stay away on a weekend. It just gets too crowded.
http://scrambles.wacweb.org/trips/pinnacle.html
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