Decided to do Mt. Daniel to gather Verizon cell coverage with the Cairn app. The road is rough but passable. Our Rav4 made it through the creek crossing but talking to the ranger the depth does fluctuate. High clearance vehicles should have no problem, we did see a 2WD make it through.
Bugs were bad all the way and didn't let up till we were about 1000 feet below the East Summit.
The route to Peggy's Pond has some small snow patches but something my 7-year-old wouldn't have problems hiking.
Snow at Peggy's Pond and actual Pond was a mixture of ice/slush the easiest spot to get water is at the confluence with a creek that drains out on the south side.
For the actual climb, we did not head onto the glacier but used snowfields to access the south ridge then cut NW across a snowfield near 7100ft toward the saddle and East Summit. At the saddle we missed the trail to the West Summit and ended up climbing the East Summit, this is where most parties stopped.
We headed back down and found an intermittent trail at the saddle and traversed to the West Summit. On the way back we setup some Cairns so trail is easier to find, also track is viewable from searching Mount Daniel from the Cairn app.
Did not use ropes but ice ax and crampons came in handy on way up. We left Peggy's Pond at 4:30 am and made the West Summit near 9:20 am. Saw lots of skiers on way down and it was pretty hot by 10 am. Overall good Verizon coverage starts at 6,900ft depicted in blue on Cairn.
Comments