Summiting Pinnacle Peak: Catching the Northern Lights and soaking up the beauty in the Tatoosh!

With the Northern Lights in the Forecast we headed to Mount Rainier National Park to get into the mountains. Having recently badly broken my ankle I was only about 7 weeks into my Rehab, so we choose to set out sights on Pinnacle Peak. This mountain maximized our overall climbing experience for a relatively low distance and elevation gain. We also dragged our oldest daughter along for her first significant mountain! We hiked up to set up camp just below Plumber Peak, where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset in the company of Betty the mountain goat (our camp mate) The stars were incredible, and while the Northern Lights didn't come out as bright as we hoped, we did get treated with a faint red and green glow to the north! The next morning we set out for the short hike down to the base of Pinnacle, naturally we got off route, but eventually found our way scrambling up the south ridge. The climbing was steep Class 3, nothing difficult, but great exposure. Kaihla did great overcoming her fear of heights! After down climbing the way we came, we traversed across and climbed down to the Pinnacle Glacier Lake for a chilly but refreshing dip! We then explored around the back side of The Castle (scouting out a future climb!) and headed back to camp. Betty was hanging out and we enjoyed a chill afternoon (trying not to be eaten alive by mosquitos!) That evening we scrambled up to the top of Plumber for another epic sunset.