Important stuff:
-Scatter Creek car crossing was shallow enough for a sedan
-Tucquala meadows wildflowers are peaking, go now.
-At least 3 campsites are uncovered of snow at Peggy's Pond- at least one can hold 2 tents comfortably.
-Mosquito frenzy starts around 4pm, none in the a.m. or during the day.
-Snow has melted out of Peggy's pond just enough for a Wim Hof-worthy swim workout right near the outflow.
- Schedule yourself 2 nights for a bonus at Deep lake- completely free of snow with a beautiful meadow at the far end. It's about 6 more miles to Spade lake from Deep lake, mostly on the PCT...
-Bring your full-coverage eye protection
It was just supposed to be an overnight at Peggy’s Pond, a pretty little alpine lake…
I’m a reluctant/delayed mountaineer since I’m not adequately trained for ropes/crevasses yet and frankly still too lazy and unfit for the gain and distance required for the classic PNW objectives (I do walk ups under 6k gain and 18 miles RT. NO MORE…!).
I decided to attempt Mt. Daniel since I was already 2/3 of the way there with a day to spare. It was Too Close with low miles/gain/non-technical beyond playground equipment scrambling and a group of 5 that arrived at the basin invited me to join them the next morning seconds after I rolled my ankle slushing around the base camp for a better look.
YODO …
7/17 7ish start- I started out on the ridge (standard) approach -which was about 50% snow free- and would eventually require one or two short but horrifying 45+ degree snow/slush traverses or a death scramble 
I made it across the first short patch of sner but looking at the second one gave me chills and vertigo, and the brief scramble over a rock around the other side of it was certainly doable skill-wise, but was 100% exposed- see video4beta (message me for this...) and no idea what was on the other side of it since the topo map doesn't account for the snow is doing on top of it.
The other option was to traverse a rapidly softening snowfield with a 2 mile run out furnished with a couple large rock speed bumps…
Risk Assessment said Eff No.
The group I went up with was already at least 2/3 across the field by the time I realized I’d been sandbagged by the ridge route, and they’d been trailing me up the ridge
On checking resources, Energy and Stoke were both at around 500%, so Fomo and Summit Greed won out, gagged the Risk assessment, high-fived and off we went across EffNo field at a rate of 510 degrees Fahrenheit— My eyelids roasted: the only thing I couldn’t get sunscreen on until it started melting over them and into my eyes 
- over about 20mins-
- over about 20mins-…just a light toast 
The boot path was decent with some slushiness and it was almost a trench. I made it across without incident- starting out around 10:30am.
Summitted Mt. Daniel at 11:10a and hung out for over an hour blissfully unaware of the deteriorating snow ready to slide me back to the basin.
*Axe and spikes required. Crampons recommended.
I don’t know the appropriate tecknickle descriptions for all the Omggg/shartshartshart/eff
’s I encountered, so if you have specific beta questions, pm me and I’ll do my best.
’s I encountered, so if you have specific beta questions, pm me and I’ll do my best.On a side note- my butt is about 10 years younger after all the cryotherapy I got glissading on the deproach…
The rest, no words can do justice so I’ll let you enjoy the videos and photos…
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