8/24, Saturday. Partly sunny. The sunny parts were very brief. 5 of us met at S. Renton P&R at 7am. Hardik "Uber"ed here. He was late. After a bathroom stop at Longmire, we started hiking around 9:35, and we reached Pinnacle Saddle at 10:15, end of maintained and over-engineered trail. I warmed up quickly with this steady pace. Too cloudy to see Adams. Rainier showed up briefly. On the way, quite a lot of gentian.
Turn left (east) towards Castle, follow the user trail. The trail goes on to Foster and Unicorn. Purple aster was very good on this northern slope. Coupled with some paintbrush and early fall red leaves. Open vista, I really like this part. 
It's a short scramble up to the saddle below and east of Castle. As my group prepared for the climb (seen on this photo), I scrambled up its south lower peak. Good view, but the clouds have thickened. Can see a group with helmet and rope going up Pinnacle on the eastern ridge. Looks jagged and dangerous from afar. 
I left my pack at the bottom, was feeling cold waiting on the top (more wind), so came back down, on a different route. Hardik led the climb. One rope, 4 of them, slow going. I put on my fleece and waited below. Later put on my down vest. I got cell signal here at times. The tarn was completely dry. Little flowers left. I had to walk around to find this patch of color.
Coming down from the saddle, my group decided to use rope again at where we climbed up. I skirted around the eastern and lower end, easier walking. So had to wait for them again.
Next is Pinnacle. We took the left ridge. Even though looks steeper, but if you keep to the ridge (left), the rocks are solid, so a straight forward scramble. Go under and right of a big boulder close to the top. The rest is easy. The view is again, outstanding. I cannot make out what's said on this geological marker. My group took many silly photos, including topless shots. Zusana brought Rainier's Summit beer, shared with the others. Hardik doesn't drink alcohol. Coming down, for some reason, my group was very slow. Even after taking a bio-break, I was still way ahead. Maybe because of the steepness (see photo). The rocks are solid, I was able to walk down facing forward.
When we were back at the saddle, saw more people: a pregnant lady and her husband carried their baby, and a group of 3 Chinese campers with large backpacks. Yes, this is a popular and short trail (1.3 mile). Not sure if the campers would be able to find water. There was a tarn between Castle and Foster last time when I was here in July. But at this late season, not sure if it would dry up. We kept going west now, to Plummer. This is a walk up, easy. Again, great view, but still no Adams. Clouds shifted constantly, quite pretty.We stopped at Basecamp for dinner. Nice big table with lawn chairs and some small umbrellas. Good at this time of the day when the sun is not baking. I had a salmon burger, a bag of chips and 2 oranges. All was fine except for the buns. Hardik is vegetarian, didn't have many choices. Back to P&R ~9pm, end of an easy day.
