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Tinkham summit.jpg

Trip Report    

Alpine Scramble - Mirror Lake & Tinkham Peak

A nice chill scramble for a hot day.

Mary Lou Biggs Mary Lou Biggs
August 24, 2025
  • Road suitable for all vehicles

  • Trails are in good condition. The turn-off from the PCT to gain the Tinkham ridge is easy to miss. Even having done this trip before and knowing this, we walked right past it. Luckily, a trip participant who was paying more attention than the leader noticed that we were descending when we shouldn't be and alerted us before we went too far astray.

Although starting at Windy Pass provides more of a backcountry feel, the road to the Mirror Lake trailhead is suitable for all cars and makes the drive more accessible. With an early start, a route that is largely treed, and an easy pace, we managed to keep from overheating. The scramble of the summit block by the "standard" route is easy, but one could make it more challenging by taking a variation. In addition to an old bronze summit register, the peak is home to not 1, but 2 geocaches. Who knew?

The other benefit of starting at Mirror Lake is having a nice alpine lake to jump into at the end of a hot day. None of us availed ourselves of this opportunity, but it was nice to have the option.

All in all, this was a very pleasant trip with 6 well-prepared Mountaineers who all worked together to make this a very successful and enjoyable trip.