I started my hike from Cathedral Pass Trail with the goal of reaching one or more of the Mt. Daniel prominences (something that had been on my bucket list since last Summer). I originally considered doing an overnight, but ended up doing a car-to-car single day push instead (which I don't recommend, having done it once).

The drive in is paved until after the Salmon la Sac campground and is bumpy/washboarded the remainder of the way. I saw low-clearance vehicles at the trailhead, but I would recommend a higher clearance vehicle for comfort and because Scatter creek is still flowing over the road a few inches.

Arrived at 10:30 and had to squeeze in an awkward spot right in front of the trailhead by the grass (fortunately I wasn't visited by field mice this time!!).

Got out of the car and got bombarded nigh instantly by mosquitos. I stuffed my gear in my pack as quickly as possible and set out with my Oboz Bridgers as my approach boots. This was pretty much a theme the rest of the trip, minus the windier/snowier sections.

The trail up to Squaw Lake was very wet/muddy in sections and steeper than I anticipated for the distance. Much of the water was shallow on the way to the lake.

Squaw Lake is completely thawed and there's a small creek [outlet] that needs to be crossed on the east side of the lake. The best way to negotiate this (since it was going up over my Bridgers) would be to use sandals or hop along the rocks to the side.

After Squaw Lake there was patchy snowpack with standing water over the trail in areas up to Cathedral Pass. One can avoid most of the standing water by sticking to the snow if at all possible, using gaiters, or by just bringing higher top boots. My Bridgers worked ok in this area, but I did my best to not run through or splash the puddles ;).

The traverse from Cathedral Pass to Peggy's Pond was a narrow, steep goat trail along rock, some loose scree, and through more durable forested area. The path was snow free up until the last 1/4 mile with a single tree that needs to be hopped over to get to the pond. From Peggy's Pond to the Mt. Daniel east peak summit block, there's pretty much persistent snowpack.

After reading recommendations and talking with folks, I decided to not take the summer trail. Instead, I tested the snowpack and after deeming it largely stable I hiked up old [glacial] terminal moraine. I didn't use my crampons on the ascent (I used my ice axe, a trekking pole, and climbing helmet), but I used crampons on the descent for safety. There was tons of rotten corn snow on the top-layers made the descent tricky in the afternoon, even with crampons, and the layers underneath which had been skied on were pretty icy/hard Cascade Concrete consistency.

I observed some D1 wet loose conditions on the descent along with some top-layer sliding and my kicking down fist-sized rollerballs with my crampons.

The east peak summit block is snow free in the last 300' (it's a light class 2+/3 scramble). I opted against down climbing to the other higher peak because a) I was tired, b) it was more socked in, and c) I didn't want to up and down climb up kitty litter scree part of the way.

For the record, there's no good way to glissade down safely due to cliffing and exposed rock; the old terminal moraine can be skied down if one is nimble and comfortable doing steeper (double black) slopes.

There are lots of creeks underneath the snow that I noticed starting to open up on the way down from the summit, as well as tarns/lakes.

I did the walkout as the sun was setting with the final hour being done entirely in the dark. I finally got back to my car around 20:00 and was both mentally and physically exhausted (thankfully I had some caffeine in the car waiting for me).

18 miles R/T and 5k'+; took me about 6.5 hours to summit and 4.5 hours to get back to the car (discounting breaks, transition times, time spent chatting with hikers/campers, etc).

I took 3L water and ran out approximately 4 miles from the end of the trail. I would have filtered more, but my water filtering gear was buried under climbing gear that would have been extremely annoying to untangle while being mobbed by mosquitos. I ended up eating clean snow wherever I possibly could to avoid risk of getting Giardia.

Gear Requirements

• Climbing helmet.
• Ice axe.
• Mountaineering boots or hard boots (for skinning).
• Mountaineering microspikes or crampons (recommend the latter).
• Layers (it was nippy up there with the wind/temps).

Day-hiked to Squaw Lake on late afternoon of Saturday 7/4. Parking lot at Cathedral Pass Trailhead was packed—-but must have been mostly backpackers because we only passed a handful of folks to and from Squaw Lake. Trail conditions were good. Some snow patches still, but mostly off the trail. Bugs were pretty bad, especially at the lake.
Road conditions on 4330 were not great. We made it in a Mazda5 and saw a couple other lower clearance vehicles—-but I wont do it again without a higher clearance vehicle. Super bumpy spots and a washout that was about a foot deep of water for a length of about 20 feet of road.

Our original itinerary was to begin on the cathedral trail, pass squaw lake then hike on to Deception Pass on the PCT and camp for two nights before hiking out by Hyas Lake. Due to snow we were unable to make it to deception pass from Squaw Lake, but it would be no problem to get there from Hyas Lake.

The road leading to the trailheads is very rough, and for most of the way all vehicles would be okay. About three miles before the parking lot a quite significant stream flows over the road which you have to drive through. It was higher when we arrived on Saturday, and was lower when we left on Monday (6/29), our midsize SUV was fine crossing both days. 

We hiked to Squaw lake and noted some brief snow fields that pose no real problem on the way up. They are shallow and when the trial disappears beneath one there is a well-trodden footpath showing the way. there are some downed trees that we had to crawl under and generally the trail was very wet with lots of small stream crossings. We initially continued past Squaw lake towards the trail's intersection with the PCT. Once you pass 5000 ft the snow fields are much larger but still have well-established footpaths showing the path all the way to the PCT at Cathedral Pass. Unfortunately we were unable to follow the PCT once we found the intersection as there were no foot-paths to follow and we did not bring a GPS. We returned to Squaw Lake for the night.

The following day we went back up to the intersection with the PCT and had some fun ascending part of cathedral rock and then using our rain jackets as sleds to head back down on the large snow fields. 

The final day we hiked out on the cathedral trail which we came in on, and left our packs in the car while we hiked to Hyas lake to eat lunch. On the way down from Squaw Lake the snow fields were considerably smaller and if they keep melting that fast they should be gone in the next two-ish weeks. the trail to Hyas lake is beautiful and flat, really a pleasant stroll through the woods.

First off i didnt make it to Squaw Lake due to snow on the trail, and I lost my way, so I camped just short of the lake. It is probably more about me as a navigator because others were hiking past my camp and I didn't see them turn around.

The 13 mile gravel road to Tacquala meadows is rough with numerous potholes and a few areas where the water is covering the roadway. It is passable by most cars (except low riders) but takes patience.

The trail is mostly clear except at the beginning where the stream is quite large and takes some hopping across on boulders. There are also a couple of large blow downs but easily able to get around them. Lastly, there is a lot of water run-off on the trail which can make it muddy but nothing to be concerned about.

Enough about the boring stuff :)

The weather was ~75 degrees and scenery beautiful. Squaw lake is a perfect quick hike or training hike for the upcoming season. It starts with ~1/2 mile meandering through the forest then starts up the hill to Squaw Lake. There are 3 long switchbacks which makes the trail a modest climb and not too strenuous. While you are mostly in the trees there are occasional peak-a-boo views across the valley. Most of the hikers I came across had ski's as they were continuing to Cathedral Rock or Peggy's Pond.

I read a couple trip reports dated a couple years back mentioning a snow-free hike to Deep Lake mid-June, so we gave it a shot. The drive up the forest road was littered with pot holes - plan for a long drive.  I saw one passenger car with it's bumper half off from all the bumps. Long story short, we got to Scatter Creek and it was running about 3 feet over the road. We didn't take the chance and just car camped nearby. Regardless, the snow level appeared low enough that we'd be trekking through a bunch of snow.  Looks like July is a better month for problem-free trip to Deep Lake.