We decided to celebrate the end of summer with a big loop hike. It was a long drive to Salmon la Sac, but it was a beautiful day and we were eager get to the backcountry. Just before crossing the bridge to the Salmon la Sac campground, forest road 4330 is marked. Turn right here for a rough twelve miles on a dirt road, before arriving at the parking lot and trailhead for both Cathedral Pass trail and Hyas Lake Trail. For our clockwise loop, we started at the Cathedral Pass Trailhead at ten o’clock. The trail ascends almost immediately. I counted eleven switchbacks before we arrived at the junction with the Trail Creek Trail, then another switchback before arriving at pretty little Squaw Lake. We continued to gain elevation until arriving at the Cathedral Pass area which was simply gorgeous with fall colors and many charming little tarns before finally attaining the intersection with the PCT, at 5500ft. We stopped here for lunch with a nice close-up view of Cathedral Rock. The PCT then began a slow descent, going around Cathedral Rock, then down and down some more for about three miles until reaching the dreaded stream crossing from a large unnamed stream that roars down from Mt. Daniel. Fortunately, someone had strategically placed a couple of logs across a relatively tranquil part of the stream and we were able to cross fairly easily. I will admit I was grateful to get a helping hand, thanks Keith. Once across this stream, we were about halfway through our loop, ascending again to Depception Pass at 4400 ft. We were happy to stop here for a break, and thank the hiking gods that it was all downhill from now on. We headed down the Hyas Lake Trail as quickly as we could, passing the intersection with the Robin Lakes Trail, then passing the Little Hyas Lake and the big Hyas Lake, then another couple of pleasant miles as the sun set over Cathedral Rock and we finally arrived back at the car to complete our fifteen mile loop, with approximately 2700 feet of elevation gain, for a super hike for the last Sunday of summer. See the link below for more pictures.

This was it, this was the best weekend in the outdoors that I have ever spent in my entire life. I don't know what I did to deserve this weekend, but thank god for it. It's hard to explain, but you'll understand here shortly. Left Seattle at around 0800 (didn't bode well with me as I wanted to leave way earlier) and got to the FS road around 1030. Now the road is about 15 miles long, but the problem is the potholes and the washboards that you have to watch out for, which means it takes another hour to get to the TH because you're only going about 15 mph. Also there is a creek that you have to ford in your rig, our little Subaru Impreza hatchback did it just fine, water just barely covers the exhaust pipe up. Got to the TH at about 1130-1145 and headed out, you cross a bridge immediately and then start a slow climb up into some switchbacks for about the first 3-ish miles, eventually topping out and coming across Squaw Lake. My girlfriend and I decided this was a good place for a powerbar and a break, so we dumped the packs and sat down for 10-15 mins to just soak in the relaxation. The trout were active that day and you could see them everywhere. The coolest part of this break was when the butterfly landed on my girlfriends knee, she had never had that happen and to see the look of enjoyment on her face was priceless, it was a really awesome nature moment that I'll never forget. Anyhow, we loaded up and headed out, now just a warning to those who haven't hiked this trail before, this is where the real hiking starts. The switchbacks become more frequent the grade of the trail increases and you start huffing that's for sure. Eventually you get a small break and get to walk through a really awesome meadow for a half mile or so (i bet its even better in June right after the flowers start blooming). At the back end you get some pretty wicked awesome views of Cathedral Rock (which has been hiding since the parking lot) and you'll meet up with the PCT for a short while. You go up just a smidgen more and you'll come across a network of trails...they all go to the right, so just bear right and you'll be fine. Now you'll walk for another 100 yards or so coming down from Cathedral Pass and there is one more split, the left goes to Deep Lake the right goes to Peggy's Pond. Our destination was Peggy's Pond so that's the way we went, now just a warning the trail is haphazardly sketched out of a scree slope and rock, there are a few SAD sections (slip and die) but so long as you just lean into the rock and make sure of your footing you'll be fine, also there's like two spots where you can lose the trial for a second, to remedy this just look out for the cairns, they led us the right way while the couple ahead of us got stuck and had to turn around to get back to the trail. This whole time you spend basically billy-goating your way across the back end of the Rock you're treated with one of the most breathtaking views of Deep Lake and Mt. Daniel and just a valley floor you'll ever see. Finally you round it out and head about 200 yards STRAIGHT UP no switchbacks, up the hill. Right when you think you're going to die, the pond pops out and you're sitting in a high saddle with sky blue clear water and just stunning views all around. This is where my favorite part came into play. We picked out a spot to set up camp on the back end away from the shoreline tucked into this little tree cove beside the trail. After dumping my pack and helping my girlfriend with hers, I set up the tripod and camera and asked her to go stand in front of the Pond and Cathedral Rock so I could take a picture of us. What she didn't know is that I set the camera up to record, and then I proceeded to ask for her hand in marriage in which SHE SAID YES!!! After much confusion from the exhaustion and a few tears from her, she finally got it to sink in that we were now engaged and we spent our first night as an engaged couple under the stars. It was a picture perfect night, the moon was full and there weren't any clouds, the temperature was a perfect 70 degrees..It was everything and more. BEST WEEKEND OF MY LIFE! Haha....I'm pretty sure it was the best weekend of hers too, at least I hope!

Took my dad on his first backpacking trip to Cathedral Rock. Originally we planned to camp up at Peggy's Pond but the weather was not on our side this weekend so instead of going up into elevation we went down through the PCT to Deception Pass. We drove from Federal Way Saturday morning left around 7 and got to the trail-head ready to go at about 10. It didn't take us long to get up to Squaw Lake and then to where the trail intersects with the PCT. We started to head up to Peggy's Pond but then changed our minds and headed the other way. Along this part of the PCT I would say there were about 6 or 7 blow downs a few of them were a little interesting to get over. At about 1:00 the weather took a turn for the good and we even saw blue skies as we came to the creek considered the hard ford. It was great because when the sun came out we were right near the beginning of the valley and you could see rainbows through the remaining clouds. To cross the creek there are two flimsy logs you had to walk across. One seemed like it wasn't going to hold but did for all three of us. After crossing the creek there were tons of pikas talking away to one another and you could catch a glimpse of them as the crawled all over the rocks. They are very shy so as soon as you saw them and they saw you see them they were gone. Haha. There were also a ton of deer along the trail. One was actually trotting in front of us for awhile. We saw at least 8 of them along the way. We decided to make camp next to the pond right before the trail junctions. As soon as we stopped it started to rain again and did not let up until the next morning. It was a cold and very wet night. On the plus side Sunday was beautiful! The hike out was easy and it was a nice wrap up for the weekend. There were no obstacles on the way out. Great beginning backpacking trip for my dad and a real learning experience for us weather wise! More photos from our trip on the link below.

We started our hike at midnight at the end of the road that goes up the Cle Elum River. We camped at little Squaw "lake" about 2.5 miles in. We didn't stick around long enough to see how bad the bugs would get. From there we went to Peggy's Pond and spent several hours sunbathing and fishing (we caught 7 fish between 2 of us). The bugs were there but it wasn't terrible. Note that if you look hard enough, you can find very thick patches of blueberries near the trail on the ridge above Squaw Lake on your way to Peggy's Pond. We moved on past Peggy's Pond on the cross country trek to Circle Lake. If you make this hike, please note that both on the traverse to Peggy's Pond and to Circle Lake there are spots that are steep enough to kill you if you fall. This route is doable for sure, but it is not for the faint of heart. We camped our 2nd night at Circle Lake. It was very windy, and is probably that way most of the time. We did not try fishing at Circle, but spent our time scrambling up surrounding ridges and peaks. There are not many good camping sites at Circle, thankfully we were the only ones there. We descended in the morning from Circle straight down 1600 feet to Deep Lake. I would not recommend this--but it was exciting and the definition of bushwhacking. If you don't pick your route carefully, you could easily end up on the edge of impassable cliffs. The fishing at Deep Lake was quite good. The water was warm enough for a short swim as well. There are several beautiful camping sites on this lake. We made the trek on the PCT back up to the ridge and then descended the way we came.

This is a fairly long dayhike but the views of Deep Lake and Mount Daniel are totally worth it. The trailhead was almost exactly 2 hours from Bellevue(no traffic and driving at a good clip). The 12 miles of dirt road are fairly good. Several shallow potholes but nothing terribly jarring. The forested trail is well graded and gains elevation steadily up to pretty Squaw Lake at 2.5 mi. The trail is shared with horses so the steeper sections are eroded and rocky. I did my part by kicking loose rocks off the trail as I hiked. Not far beyond Squaw lake the trail traverses some nice meadows. At about 4 miles the trail intersects the PCT. Go left to shortly reach Cathedral Pass at 4.5 mi. Continue downhill toward Deep Lake 0.2 mi to the first switchback where the Peggy's Pond path takes off to the right. The trail is signed. Peggy's Pond trail is more like a goat trail. It is narrow,rocky and a bit exposed as it traverses steep slopes. The tread is a little loose in places so you have to be a bit careful. The views of Deep Lake and Mount Daniel from the Peggy's Pond trail are quite stunning. The vertical drop from Mt Daniel to Deep Lake is 3600ft! There is also a very long multi-tiered waterfall coming down Daniel to Deep Lake that is hard to see in the photo. Photos don't do it justice. It is about 1 mile to Peggy's Pond which sits right at the base of Cathedral Rock. Just north of Peggy's Pond is a beautiful meadow with views up to Mount Daniel. There are many good campsites surrounding Peggy's Pond. I think that most of campers are climbing Mt Daniel. Almost no bugs until you reach Peggy's Pond. Lots of mosquitos at the Peggy's Pond area. 11.5 mi RT. 2300 ft elevation gain plus some ups and downs.