I hesitated with the title of this post since this is clearly a ground squirrel and not a chipmunk, but I grew up in the east and when at dinner I stuffed my cheeks the way this squirrel has, they told me I had “chipmunk cheeks”.

Like that was a bad thing.

To the casual observer, a golden-mantled ground squirrel might appear to be part of the chipmunk family given the light-and-dark stripes that run the length of its body, but it is, you might have guessed, a ground squirrel. Even with a quick glance, you can tell the difference as in chipmunks the stripes extend into the face, while in ground squirrels they do not.

When I reached the top of the Pinnacle Peak Trail, this bold golden-mantled ground squirrel hoped I would offer up some of my food, and when I did not, tried to help himself.

I did eventually shoo the little thief away, not because it was being aggressive, but because its constant movements were kicking fine dirt onto my camera bag and I didn’t want to risk it also getting on my camera gear and gumming up the lenses. I saw many ground squirrels on this trip, even on trails more popular than this one, and even on this trail just a short distance away, yet this is the only one that approached me offering to lighten my load.

How often do you see a squirrel in a lava flow? Taken near the trailhead of the Trail of Molten Land at the Lava Lands Visitor Center.

I thought I knew what these ground squirrels were but I happened to glance through the back of my mammals guide while on this trip and realized there are two kinds of golden-mantled ground squirrels in the Mount Rainier area, the regular kind and the Cascade kind. I’m not sure which one this is yet, after I finish editing all my pictures (or if I finish editing all my pictures) I’ll try and find out.

Some of these squirrels didn’t have a strong black line above the white line, only below, but I don’t know how definitive of an ID mark that is. One thing I do know is that they sure are cute! This one wasn’t too far from the top of the trail where another ground squirrel was trying to steal my food, but this fellow wasn’t interested in me. It would stand on its hind legs and grab as many seed pods as it could, extract the seeds and stuff them into its already full cheeks, then move nearby and repeat repeat repeat until it must have filled its cheeks and sprinted off to the other side of the hill.

It’s Karaoke Night on the Pinnacle Peak Trail!

I was surprised but not disappointed to come across this ground squirrel at Panorama Point on Mount Rainier’s Skyline Trail and see that it didn’t approach me for food as did the squirrel at the top of the Pinnacle Peak Trail. The Point is also a popular hiking destination and a natural spot to stop for a bite to eat so after my earlier experience I expected the squirrels here to also be looking for handouts.

However, it was definitely timid but like most squirrels also a bit curious so over the course of twenty minutes I watched its movements and pre-positioned myself to get the backgrounds I wanted. Since the squirrel had gotten used to me, I normally would have stayed longer but the wind was merciless (you can see it lifting up the fur in the first picture) so I continued round the loop to warm myself up.

I’ll take a break from pictures of snow in Portland for a picture of snow in Mount Rainier. I originally wanted only the ground squirrel to be in focus with a blur of the snow of Mount Rainier in the background and the rock in the foreground. However, the rock closer to me had just enough texture that I found it distracting so I cropped that portion out. There’s a sunbeam that has broken through to illuminate just the squirrel’s eye, a lovely little touch for which I can take no credit.

This squirrel at the pinnacle of the Pinnacle Peak Trail is one of the most tame squirrels I’ve ever met, probably fed by hikers stopping to eat at the top of the trail as they enjoy the fantastic view of both Mount Rainier and the distant Cascade peaks.

As I sat down in the dirt and opened up my bag of snacks for some of my prized dried mango, I felt some very small hands atop my own. I looked down and this little squirrel was constantly looking up at me or down at the bag, trying to grab some food while the bag was open and I was distracted by the beauty before me. This tête-à-tête continued for a while, the little fellow not discouraged at all that I refused to share my bounty.

On the one hand, it’s disappointing to see a creature in such a wild environment be so tame, but on the other it did allow me to enjoy the squirrel at a much closer range than I would have otherwise. I did see some other hikers feed it, but mostly I saw it forage naturally on its own, and it wasn’t overweight so I doubt it was indulging too heavily in tasty treats.

I did eventually shoo the little thief away, not because it was being aggressive, but because its constant movements were kicking fine dirt onto my camera bag and I didn’t want to risk it also getting on my camera gear and gumming up the lenses. I saw many ground squirrels on this trip, even on trails more popular than this one, and even on this trail just a short distance away, yet this is the only one that approached me offering to lighten my load.

This golden-mantled ground squirrel was another creature at Mount Rainier busy eating as much as possible. It was almost reckless as it sprinted around looking for seeds in the grasses beside the Pinnacle Peak Trail in the Paradise section of the park. I was able to get a variety of pictures before it exhausted the supply of seeds in this little patch and sprinted off to another location.

From this headshot you can see one easy way to distinguish this type of ground squirrel from a chipmunk: a chipmunk has stripes on its face, while the ground squirrel does not.

What follows is the welcome I got the moment I stepped on the trails in Mount Rainier National Park.

(Gasping in surprise) Oh my … Is that who I think it is? It cannot be but it is! It cannot be but it is! Hey everybody, Boolie’s here! Boolie’s here! Boolie’s here!

Are there any little rabbits in here? Because Boolie’s here! Boolie’s here! Boolie’s … what? Well how was I supposed to know you were asleep? I’m not even one year old!

(Speaking very softly) Are there any ground squirrels in here? Because if you’re not asleep, and you’re not very grumpy, Boolie’s here!

Nom nom nom … huckleberries huckleberries huckleberries … What was that? Did somebody say something? Nom nom nom …

It can’t be Boolie, he always goes to Yellowstone this time of year, let me go up and take a look. Well shut my mouth! It is Boolie! It is! It is! It is! If only we had a way get the word out to all the animals!

BOOLIE’S HERE!

(An elk bull halfway across the state in the Hoh Rainforest raises his head) What? What was that? Boolie’s there? Is he coming here? Can it be? OK OK, calm down. Deep breaths. All right listen up everyone, this is our chance to show him you don’t have to go to Yellowstone to photograph elk! On your best behavior!

(Here’s a description of the animals in each picture, maybe they all weren’t taken the moment I stepped on the trails).

1. The look of surprise on this American pika is actually it chewing with its mouth open. It was a part of a colony in a talus field near the start of the Palisades Lakes Trail in the Sunrise area of Mount Rainier National Park. I’ll be posting more pictures of this pika, it provided one of my favorite moments of the trip.
2. A black-tailed fawn nibbles on plants along the Skyline Trail in the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park. It was one of two fawns following its mother beside the trail.
3. A black-tailed fawn nibbles on huckleberry bushes along the Skyline Trail in the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park. The sections of the trail near the Paradise Inn are a great spot to look for does, fawns, and bucks.
4. A black bear eating huckleberries near the Skyline Trail in the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park. This bear was the most beautiful black bear I’ve ever seen, it had brown fur with blonde hair sticking up on its back. Bears were the biggest surprise of the trip, I ended up seeing at least seven with two being close to the trail, I actually saw more bears and got better pictures than I did in Yellowstone and the Tetons last year, where I only saw a few and got no good pictures.
5. A golden-mantled ground squirrel (possibly the Cascade species, I’m not sure yet) in front of a snowfield at Panorama Point on the Skyline Trail in the Paradise area of Mount Rainier National Park. More pictures of these charming little guys to come.
6. A hoary marmot calls out an alarm call at the end of the Summerland Trail in the Sunrise area of Mount Rainier National Park. I had never seen hoary marmots before this trip and was delighted to see them so often and up close, lots more pictures to come. This one was calling out a short alarm but it was pretty mild compared to the alarms that went out when a bear walked past a marmot colony, the marmots went berserk.
7. An elk bull sniffs the air in the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park. I enjoyed seeing elk in the lush rainforest and got a few nice pictures that contrast nicely with the elk in a sea of brown that I tend to get in Yellowstone.