Eagle Peak
Mount Rainier National Park
The Eagle Peak Trail climbs 2920' in 3.35 miles to a saddle, where a challenging Class III scramble continues approximately .15 miles to the summit (5,958'). This craggy peak on the NW side of the Tatoosh Range offers terrific views of Rainier, the Nisqually Glacier, Nisqually River Valley, Mount Adams, Mount Hood and Mount St Helens. Chutla Peak is also accessible from the saddle by a rough way-trail and Class II-III scramble.
A way trail splits east across an exposed, rugged ridge to Chutla Peak (6,001')
The Nisqually River flows 78 miles from its source at Nisqually Glacier to the Puget Sound
Mount Adams (12,776') is capped by 12 glaciers: Adams, Klickitat, W. Salmon, Lava, Mazama, Lyman, Avalanche, Rusk, Pinnacle, Wilson, Gotchen and Crescent
The final approach climbs a blistering 790' in the last half mile to reach the saddle
The Tatoosh Range was historically used by the Taidnapam (Upper Cowlitz) Indians as a late summer hunting and gathering ground
The name 'harebell' is tied to folk beliefs that the flower either grew in places frequented by hares or that witches used juices squeezed from this flower to transform themselves into hares
Mount St Helens (9,677' before the 1980 eruption, 8,363' today), has erupted more than any volcano in the Cascade Range over the last 4,000 years
The maintained trail ends on a thin saddle, where a Class III scramble with some exposure continues approximately .15 miles to the summit
The 15,725 acre Tatoosh Wilderness is located along Mount Rainier's southern boundary
It's all relative! Eagle Peak - 5,958' (right) and Mount Rainier - 14,410' (left)
The Tatoosh Traverse covers 13 peaks topped by Unicorn Peak (6,971')
Views of Mount Rainier are only partial from the saddle - you have to reach the summits of Eagle or Chutla for the full view
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