Beautiful hike. We really enjoyed it, easy hike with great views. Alot of fellow hikers out and about on this trail.

I Tried to escape the rain and drizzle of Seattle by going east of the mountains. Yes, it was raining at the pass, but the trail weather to Peggy’s Pond and back was rain/drizzle free! The last 12 miles of road to the trailhead are actually more like 14 miles due to your zig-zagging across the road to avoid the potholes and some huge ponds in the road. The trail was in ok shape but quite muddy from the recent rains and horses. No berries left for treats but I know they were there earlier from all the purple spots on the rocks. Fall colors are just beginning. The hike through the meadow and tarns beneath Cathedral Rock is beautiful. View of mountains from Cathedral Pass and beyond was cut off by low clouds, but a couple times I got a sneak view of Mt Daniel(?) and some remaining snow fields. I met 2 hikers on the pass who had spent 3 days backpacking, and were on the way out and really looking forward to having dry socks on again… they said it rained the entire trip. The trail to Peggy’s Pond is worth the effort .. even though as previous reports say, it has some steep parts and in one place you need to use your hands. Lunch at the Pond was wonderful..nobody there, the sun came out for 15 minutes, and peace. On the way out there were 3 overnight groups headed up. I heard gun shots across the valley..guess I should have worn bright colors? My GPS said about 10.5 miles RT and 3000’ elevation gain (includes some wandering with Peggy). Great hike out of the rain!

Intended to do the deception pass loop but but as we headed up the trail to squaw lake the backcountry ranger told us that it has been snowing and hailing at the passes. We weren't equpipped very well for snow so we decided to camp at the lake. It rained hard all the way up to the lake so the trail was very muddy and slick. By the way this is not a hike for little kids. The elevation gain will kill little ones but my 12 year old daughter blazed up with a pack on. We were the only ones camping at the lake. Saw several people bugging out from higher elevations due to bad weather. Cold overnight but woke up to a bit of sunshine and no rain. The lake was beautiful in the sunshine. Hiked up to Cathedral rock in the morning and saw Cathedral rock for about 10 minutes before the clouds rolled in and we couldn't see 10 feet. The extent of the wildlife was a couple of quail (grouse??) that ran away from us. The one plus to all the rain was that there were NO bugs. On the hike down the trail from squaw lake to the trailhead was DESTROYED due to horses. You would think that people would have more sense than taking heavy animals on a wet trail but evidently not. One more reason to keep the horses out of the backcountry in my opinion.

With 2 companions, I did a 4 day 3 night trip to Marmot Lake, Deception Lakes and Cathedral Rock. All of the trails are in excellent shape and the large pile of avalanche debris on trail 1068 to Marmot Lake had been cleared a couple of days before by a WTA youth work party. The first day we hiked in to Marmot Lake, a beautiful spot, with good campsites and a gently sloping granite shoreline, great for swimming or just hanging out. With some trepidation, we headed up to Jade Lake the next morning. Although the route goes up a steep talus filled gully, it is well marked and the rock stable. There is a route on the left side of the gully that avoids some of the talus, but we only found it on the way down. Jade Lake is spectacular and reminiscent of the Canadian Rockies. It was the the highlight of the trip. There is a campsite nearby at No Name lake, but it would be a brutal ordeal to haul a full pack up there. The next day we hiked to Deception Lakes, backtracking on trail 1068 and then heading north on the PCT. Expecting a series of lakes surrounded by meadows, we we're pretty disappointed when we got there. We had planned to spend 2 nights. We tried to hike up Surprise Mountain, but the trail quickly disappeared once we left the shore of the lake. Don't be fooled by solid green lines on the Green Trails maps. Some of these trails are hardly used and hardly ever maintained. So after one night, we decided to spend our last night on the ridge near Cathedral Rock. The PCT between Deception Pass and Cathedral Rock was beautiful. We found a site along the trail at the edge of the meadow near the junction of the PCT and trail 1345. We had to walk about 5 minutes down the into the meadow to find flowing water. There are spectacular campsites on the ridge , but you would need to hike 10 minutes down trail 1345 to find water in a small lake or to the trickle of water we found in the meadow. The last morning of our trip the weather changed abruptly. It had been quite hot and sunny. Within a couple of hours the temperature dropped almost 20 degrees and the clouds rolled in. By the time we reached the trailhead that afternoon it was raining.

The recent edition of the North Cascades hike book says the trail to Squaw Lake is appropriate for kids but they would have to be hardy hikers, not beginners or wee ones. It's not a tough hike, but has some steep sections and is rocky on the way down. Once past the lake the trail has been much improved for drainage and tread since I last hiked it in the early '00s. There is still a little mud, but nothing to worry about and no snow anywhere. The main flowers were lupine, beautiful as they juxtaposed the barren face of Cathedral Rock. At the vertigo-inducing junction for Peggy's Pond, we chose to go higher and that's when you find out if you are meant to be a climber or not. We chose not and turned back after 10 minutes, satisfied with the views of Mts Hinman and Daniel and down to Deep Lake. There are bugs all along the way, but that's to be expected this time of year and the berries are not quite ripe, but soon they will be at lower elevations. A multitude of flowers are in the meadow at the trailhead.