I kinda had a head cold all week, not a very bad one, but enough to give me an excuse to use some long built up sick time and take half of Thursday off. It wasn’t much of a cold, in fact it might have been a severe allergic reaction to kitty litter. We had ripped out the carpet in the closet under the stairs last Sunday where we keep the litter, it was smelling bad. It was a good thing we did too, years of “spills” soaked thru to the subfloor. I think it might have been the dust that did it.
Anyway, Saturday was a pretty reasonable day, started off cloudy and 60 and started burning off late in the day. But I didn’t do anything Saturday. Sunday was different however. Thinking ahead Saturday I was trying to decide where to hike on Sunday and I wanted to do something new. Since I hadn’t been to Mt Rainier proper in years, that would be my first choice. Esmerelda Basin up in the Teanaway northeast of Cle Elum was second choice. I got up Sunday around 6:30 and felt real good, no more runny or stuffy nose. The clouds were still low in the hills, but the forecast was looking to be very nice by afternoon, and warm again., I had a real hard time deciding which to do. Almost to the point I didn’t go anywhere. While I would have liked to been all ready to go and hit the road by 7 or 730, I didn’t start the car until 8. But I finally decided Mt.Rainier would be it, no more thinking and away I went.
I got to the Paradise entrance at 10:30 and bought an annual pass, figuring it will make me go again a few times I hope. Up at Paradise itself at 11 and the main lot was full and cars were parked half a mile down the road beyond. Lots of families going to do some of the many local Paradise hikes. It reminded me of a busy day at Rattlesnake and I couldn’t bear the thought of joining them, so I headed back down to the small lot at Reflection Lakes which is the trailhead for Pinnacle Peak. There were plenty of people there too but not throngs. It was a good alternate.
I started on the trail at 11:10 (abnormally late for me but considering the distance I had to come, not a problem) and it seemed like there were very few people. The maintained part of the trail was only 1.5 miles up but very strenuous. I got a mile before I saw anyone else, and they were a couple who passed me going up. By the time I got to the “pass” or crest, there were numerous others around, but not bad at all. From that point, the trail broke off in 3 main directions but they were not maintained trails and the warning signs were out. Since it was so nice out I turned right and went just a few hundred feet and found a nice flat rock with a view for my lunch. It was just noon and time to eat.
After my sandwich and while I rested and let the sun dry my back, I took a few shots of the area.
Mt Rainier
Mt Adams in the distance
Pinnacle Peak
The trail I just came up
I looked around and saw the closest trail headed up the hill behind me and it didn’t look any more strenuous than the first part. There were a few people coming down so I decided to head up and explore. A few more people including a ranger made way for me, and after another half mile I found another flat rock with a back rest and a great view, so I plunked down and rested for another half hour or so, but could have stayed for hours. And if I’d kept going another half mile or so I could have made it to the top of my hill as most of the other people were doing. It wouldn’t have been particularly dangerous, but I was tired enough at this point, since I hadn’t hiked since Aug 3.
At 2:20 I decided to head down thinking I might yet stop at Sunrise to check it out. It took less than an hour to get back to the car, I changed out of my boots, had a snack and some more water, then drove on towards Sunrise. But by the time I got to the Sunrise entrance I decided it would take too much time and I wouldn’t get home until after 6 so I just kept driving. Now that I have an annual pass I can make a point of returning a couple times.