Pinnacle Lake — Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021

After 6 miles of bladder sloshing, Forest Service Road horror getting to the trailhead, Geezer Patrol headed out on our "replacement" hike for a poor weather report at Mt Rainier. 49F, misting and stuck in a cloud wasn't much of an improvement but we took it.

The short summary is that this hike sucks.  The trail is both steep and loaded with tree root climbs for at least two thirds of the route from Bear Lake.  Snow melt has simply washed away all the soils from this trail leaving just rock and roots.  Very similar to Heather Lake trail now but worse.  Maybe the combination of poor weather, old age and a tough trail is just making me whiney and crabby but the experience almost overwhelmed the usual joy of being out with good buds in the woods.  Enough said.  Make your own judgement.

There are great trees on this hike but the destination is pretty limited.  The small tarn just before the lake is interesting but the limited shore access once at the lake is simply not worth the effort in my opinion.  We did find solitude though.  Only one other hiker met on our way down.

I won't be going there ever again and I doubt the other Geezers will either.  But, maybe I'm just not counting my blessings.