Main Photo: Memorial bench to Mitsuo and Kimiko Mukai at the summit
Whittaker Peak is named after world-famous mountaineer Jim Whittaker. The trail leading up to the peak is named Nawang Gombu after Jim’s sherpa. This is the main established named peak in the park and is on the Issaquah Alps 24 list. I found this section of trails, especially the intersection above the HWY 900 trailheads, to be more interesting regarding terrain and rock formations. There are many glacial erratics strewn about. The trail skirts rocky cliffs and has some decent elevation gain, making this an excellent short conditioner. It was over 90 and very humid that day. I aspired to knock out all my remaining trails on Cougar Mountain, but the heat and humidity gassed me. I was sweating profusely, lost a ton of water and salt, and was getting lightheaded due to a drop in my blood pressure resulting from excess sweating and salt depletion. I decided to cut my itinerary sort and head back to my car, a good decision given that completing the remaining trails would take me two more attempts (one over 80% re-hiking and backtracking to gain a measly one mile, and the other 10 miles, which were farther than appearing on the map.
