Daemon Peak was the primary objective of this outing. Daemon is unnamed on a map but it identifies Pt. 7514 in the Shull Mountain Quad of the Pasayten Wilderness. Most visitors are attracted to Daemon because it is one member of the 144 peaks in Washington state that have 2,000 ft of prominence or more from an adjacent saddle. My partners, Jeff Hancock and Dave Galvin provided spirited mountain comraderie as I ticked off another peak from this list. John Roper, Andy Boos, Paul Klenke, and Martin Shetter are the only climbers to have completed this list so far. These two peaks offer solitude travel on seldomly used trails in the Pasayten.
Going over Hart's Pass we descended on the road that accesses Slate Creek. When reaching the bottom at Slate Creek you will have to stop the car as further travel requires a key to the elephant gate on the other side of Slate Creek. Slate Creek has many placer mine claims which are actively used and those mine owners have the coveted key. We boulder hopped across Slate Creek and continued to the Chancellor Campground some 3.7 miles further along a road that was as smooth as any forest road ever gets.
Friday night was spent at the Chancellor Campground allowing an early jumpoff Saturday morning. We crossed the bridge that spans Canyon Creek adjacent to the campground. There is a trail on the west side of Canyon Creek which we hiked north for 0.9 miles (south takes you to SR-20 in 9 miles). We boulder hopped across the North Fork of Canyon Creek shortly after the confluence with Canyon Creek coming in from the northeast. A sizable cairn marks the spot where an established, albeit disused, trail switchbacks its way up the southern ridge of Center Mtn (named on the map). The trail does not go over the top of Center Mtn so when beneath the summit we dropped our packs for the final 350 ft of vertical gain granting satisfaction to the peakbagger urge within us.
After Center Mtn. the Green Trails map reveals the trail as "Hard to Follow." It has actually been obliterated by the encroaching blueberry and heather plants but one can merely follow the broad shoulders of this ridge to the next objective, Sky Pilot Pass. After Sky Pilot Pass the trail becomes much easier to follow as it goes through Deception Pass. We opted for a campsite close to the only dependable water to be found since leaving Canyon Creek. A USGS map will show a blue ribbon angling SE between Pt. 7514 and Pt. 7203. Even after the recent 46 day drought this watercourse still had a steady flow from the snowmelt in the large basin above. About 100 yards past this refreshing brook we made camp at an established flat campsite.
We pitched our tents and hung our food aloft before leaving for Daemon Peak. The summit was 1,500 ft above us and we had ample time to reach it before supper. We hiked into the basin surprising two mule deer and contined traversing NE to reach a sparsely forested ridge. Once at the ridge we hiked NW toward the summit. There is a false summit but once over this obstacle the summit pyramid is a Class 2 romp. This summit offers crisp views of a world without any lines visable at all. No roads, towers, or even evidence of trails can be seen. On this stellar day the fusion of the Pasayten Wilderness, North Cascades National Park, Glacier Peak Wilderness, and even Manning Provencial Park in Canada provided the pleasant experience of one continuous enveloping landscape. After enjoying the immersion my eyes were attracted to Three Fools Peak to the north which is another peak on the 2K prominence list.
It was disquieting during the night to hear the sky spit rain on the tent fly. By breakfast the sky cleared though and the forecasted rain for late Sunday did not start early. We continued on the trail going through Devils Pass before heading south on a trail towards the headwaters of Devils Creek. At a "Y" intersection the maintained trail goes downhill to the right. We continued by traveling left on an abandoned trail heading upwards towards Anacortes Crossing. There isn't a sign saying "Abandoned Trail" but when you have to step over a log blocking the trail you have an inkling that things are going to get spicy. This trail has also been erased by overgrowth in the meadow but at the edge of the meadow one can see a faint path through scree which we followed to reach Anacortes Crossing. This pass is a long way from the city of Anacortes but the crossing is named after the nearby Anacortes Mine http://www.mindat.org/loc-16215.html After the pass the continuation of the trail is difficult to discern. It lies almost directly below the pass itself and has a serpentine route through copses of fir and yew trees. The trail will take the hiker to the abandoned Anacortes Mine. The mine has interesting mining relics lying about but if any of them weighed under 100 lbs I didn't see them. The rocks extracted needed to be crushed to access the flakes of gold inside. Heavy iron crushers called stamp mills were used to pulverize the rock into ore. http://nevada-outback-gems.com/Quartz_mining/stamp_mill.htm The Anacortes Mine used this method as many of the 100 lb iron stamps are still lying about.
The trail from here back to the Chancellor Campground could definitely be in the running for the most neglected trail in Washington. A Green Trails map shows a dashed line indicating the not-maintained status. It is actually an abandoned road which was used to bring the heavy machinery for the Anacortes Mine. For the steeper sections of the road block and tackle methods must have been used to haul up the heavy loads. But don't let the fact that is was a road lead you to think it will be easy to follow. The mine was shut down in 1943 and over next seven decades no one has spent five minutes on upkeep. There are several places where the word "exposure" could be used as a misstep would certainly involve injury. Blowdowns, old growth Devils Club, and vine maple make this trail an adventure. Steep scree/clay gullies make it a risky undertaking. For six hundred vertical feet the trail threads its way through very tight contours and for better or worse you and the trail are partners. We summited the two above mentioned peaks via a circular route and recommend anyone following our path to do the same counterclockwise direction we took. To take a clockwise course would bring you into the misery of this trail at the onset of the hike. This would at the least discourage a hiker and might possibly derail the trip entirely due to the frustration encountered. I forgot to mention that leather gloves or some form of hand protection is needed for this so called trail. Time required; Allow two days from Chancellor Campground Elevation gain; 7,800 feet. Distance travelled; 30 miles.
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