Pinnacle Lake

Good news! The road to the Pinnacle Lake/Bear lake trailhead is repaired and open. From the turnoff where FS Road 4020 splits from the Boardman/Ashland Lakes road, it's in great shape if a bit narrow, with a brand new bridge.


The trail itself is another matter. Pinnacle has always been a challenging route of rocks and roots, but it has been little used and neglected as of late, and it shows. The small bridge just after the Pinnacle trail splits off from Bear Lake is missing planks, slick & slimey and leaning at a precarious angle. I crossed OK on the way up, but slipped and bent the tip of one of my trekking poles on the way down. Use caution, or better yet find another way across the creek.



The trail soon turns into a rut which is probably a stream during wet weather. It is very narrow and deep in many places, and doesn't improve much until after the first mile, when the grade lessens as you follow the spine of a forested ridge. Look for nice "teaser" views of Three Fingers, Dickerman, Glacier Peak and Mount Baker.

Close to the top there is a somber note, a small sign memorializing the two hikers, Susanna Stodden and Mary Cooper, who were killed here in a senseless and as yet unsolved crime. Pay your respects, but don't let the bastard(s) take even more by making you fearful to visit. It was a tragic but isolated and random incident, and you are safer here than you were in your own neighborhood or on the drive up I-5.

When the ridge finally levels out, you'll come to some seemingly permanent mudholes, but please just slop on through. The wallows seem to get bigger each year as people try to skirt the edge and end up widening them. If your boots didn't get sucked off, you'll round a corner to a lovely tarn surrounded by huckleberries, now in nice fall colors. Many visitors mistakenly believe this is the lake, but it's still 1/10th of a mile away. Just follow the well worn track around and beyond the pond, and you'll be rewarded with a good sized trout filled lake with some level granite slabs to sit on while you watch the fish jump and admire a big hunk of Mount Pilchuck rising up from the other end of Pinnacle Lake.

If you didn't stop by Bear Lake on the way up, be sure to take the detour when you get down. It's a nice tranquil spot to relax and maybe fish before climbing into your car for the bumpy ride back to the Mountain Loop road.