Mount Daniel
I had Mount Daniel in the back of my mind for a long time as as a peak for high potential for simple, laidback fun at the end of the summer climbing season. Robert and I left the night before and drove out in thick clouds and rain. Miraculously, as is often the case, as we pulled into the trailhead parking after a very long dirt road, we saw stars in the sky. We set up the tent, had some wine, and crashed. For some reason, we were up numerous times during the night quick runs to the outhouse. We’d only had a little wine.
The luxurious trail was super easy to follow. I’ve become very thankful for nice big trails, especially after trips that demand a lot of off-trail travel, which is quite common in the Cascades. The clouds had moved back in and were obscuring the sky as we ascended. Beyond Cathedral Rock, however, we could see the blue peaking through. It appeared the Mount Daniel might be clear. There are some pretty impressive waterfalls coming off of Daniel, the water eventually makes its way to Circle and Deep Lakes. At Peggy’s Pond, we took a short food break and continued up the slopes and arrived in the broad cirque on the east side of the mountain. Easy talus slopes led us to the base of the route where the snow slowly became deeper.
We aimed for a spot where it looked like we could swing around the eastern summit and head for the main summit. It turned out, however, that we emerged on the ridge only 50-75 feet below the summit. So, we tagged the summit, grabbed a little food, then down climbed the ridge to a point where we could easily traverse below the eastern summit and head for the main one.
The route over to the main summit is pretty simple. There’s some fun class scrambling at the very end to gain the true summit. We took a few pictures here as the clouds swirled around us. After descending the true summit, we decided to make it a trifecta and climbed the last remaining summit, staying on top for maybe 5 seconds, no lie.
We slogged our way back to the car. A fun, easy trip.
Tags: Circle Lake, Deep Lake, Peggy's Pond
