The Castle (Washington)

The Castle
The Castle
	The Castle, south side
Highest point
Elevation	6,440 ft (1,963 m)
Prominence	200 ft (61 m)
Parent peak	Pinnacle Peak
Isolation	0.18 mi (0.29 km)
Coordinates	46°45′28″N 121°43′42″W / 46.757752°N 121.728328°W
Geography
	The Castle Location of The Castle in Washington The Castle The Castle (the United States)
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	Lewis
Protected area	Mount Rainier National Park
Parent range	Cascades
Topo map	USGS Mount Rainier East
Climbing
Easiest route	Climbing class 5

The Castle is a summit in Lewis County of Washington state.^[3] It is part of the Tatoosh Range which is a sub-range of the Cascade Range. The Castle is located in Mount Rainier National Park, and it is 0.2 mile immediately east of Pinnacle Peak. Precipitation runoff from The Castle drains into tributaries of the Cowlitz River.^[1]

Climbing

The Pinnacle Saddle Trailhead is located at Reflection Lakes and the trail to the saddle is over a mile in length. From the saddle, a climber's path traverses the south slope of Pinnacle Peak. Reaching the summit of The Castle is minimum class 4 scrambling, with class 5 climbing options.^[4]

Climate

The Castle is located in the marine west coast climate zone of western North America.^[4] Most weather fronts originating in the Pacific Ocean travel northeast toward the Cascade Mountains. As fronts approach, they are forced upward by the peaks of the Cascade Range (orographic lift), causing them to drop their moisture in the form of rain or snow onto the Cascades. As a result, the west side of the Cascades experiences high precipitation, especially during the winter months in the form of snowfall.^[4] Because of maritime influence, snow tends to be wet and heavy, resulting in avalanche danger.^[4] During winter months, weather is usually cloudy, but due to high pressure systems over the Pacific Ocean that intensify during summer months, there is often little or no cloud cover during the summer.^[4]