Just before reaching the trailhead, while still in our vehicle, we spotted the mama bear and her cub that we had read about off in Tacquala Meadows. At least we knew we were headed the other direction. The three of us ladies set off on Tuesday afternoon with the plan of hiking from Tacquala Meadows up to Cathedral Rock (4 miles) and spending the night on the right. However, because of the lovely rain and disappearing daylight, we set camp underneath the ridge. On the way up, we spotted a large marmot(?) and he ever so kind to let us take his picture. The next morning, we set off on the PCT down towards Deception Pass (5 miles or so). There were several stream crossings; two of which were dicey and the last one was the worst!! Had it much higher we would have had to turn around. The PCT was also overgrown. I forgot my machete!! The views were phenomenal, especially with the turquoise and green Hyas Lakes below - breathtaking... We set camp at Deception Pass just a little ways down the Marmot Lake trail. Our third day out, we decided to let our bodies rest sans pack so we headed for a day hike to the beautiful Marmot Lake (7 miles round trip from Deception Pass). I have never seen so many frogs! This trail had the blow downs and snow. There was one spot where the snow covered the trail all together and one had to climb down and around it to reach the trial on the other side. Upon getting to the lake, we were the only ones there. What a treat!! It was beautiful and well worth the hike. We soaked up the sun while dipping our toes in the ice cold water. Dreamy. We ran into two WTA employeess - Erik and Tim? They were the first people we had seen in 3 days! Hello and here is our post!

Just before reaching the trailhead, while still in our vehicle, we spotted the mama bear and her cub that we had read about off in Tacquala Meadows. At least we knew we were headed the other direction. The three of us ladies set off on Tuesday afternoon with the plan of hiking from Tacquala Meadows up to Cathedral Rock (4 miles) and spending the night on the right. However, because of the lovely rain and disappearing daylight, we set camp underneath the ridge. On the way up, we spotted a large marmot(?) and he ever so kind to let us take his picture. The next morning, we set off on the PCT down towards Deception Pass (5 miles or so). There were several stream crossings; two of which were dicey and the last one was the worst!! Had it much higher we would have had to turn around. The PCT was also overgrown. I forgot my machete!! The views were phenomenal, especially with the turquoise and green Hyas Lakes below - breathtaking... We set camp at Deception Pass just a little ways down the Marmot Lake trail. Our third day out, we decided to let our bodies rest sans pack so we headed for a day hike to the beautiful Marmot Lake (7 miles round trip from Deception Pass). I have never seen so many frogs! This trail had the blow downs and snow. There was one spot where the snow covered the trail all together and one had to climb down and around it to reach the trial on the other side. Upon getting to the lake, we were the only ones there. What a treat!! It was beautiful and well worth the hike. We soaked up the sun while dipping our toes in the ice cold water. Dreamy. We ran into two WTA employeess - Erik and Tim? They were the first people we had seen in 3 days! Hello and here is our post! The fourth day, we broke camp in the rain - but luckily it stopped. We hiked out the remaining 5 miles to the trailhead. We spotted the WTA work crew working along the Hyas Lake trail. Thanks guys! The views of the little and big Hyas were again breathtaking. Alas we made it to the trailhead, but we had to get a jump.. and then we got a flat!! The hills were not ready to let us go. Overall, we had a wonderful time... I love how nature restores my soul.

I decided to go overnight up toward Cathedral Rock on the 22nd. The trail from Tucquala Meadows was very good, with no problems at all. I got up to Cathedral Pass at around 7PM, and found a place to make camp by 7:30 or so, with an amazing view out toward Mount Daniel. It was a cold and pretty windy night, and I wish I'd had a tent instead of the new hammock I was trying out. The next morning, with very little sleep, I (probably stupidly) decided to try to go up Mount Daniel on a route with no glacier travel. Becky describes the route from Peggy's Pond, which is basically just go up the ridge until you get to the top. I got about halfway up, just under Hyas Glacier on Daniel's east side, before I decided the clouds lingering on top made it fruitless to continue. There was a trail for most of the way up I went, but I lost it under some snow just before turning around. A little later in the season, it will probably be fine. The ""problems encountered"" are all for this part of the trip. The scenery was amazing in this area, espcially coming down when I actually had time & light to look at things. I suggest camping at Peggy's Pond, or even down at Squaw Lake, which looked very pleasant and warmer.

Our group, which I'll call Hikers6, includes three kids and three adults. We've done four backpacks together in previous years, and this was our first three-nighter. We took the loop hike described in Dan Nelson's book, ""Best of the Pacific Crest Trail"". The trail takes you up to the Cathedral Rock ridge, over to Deception Pass, and down to Hyas Lake. The meadows under Cathedral Rock are truly beautiful, and the view over to Mt. Stuart almost surreal. We stayed on the ridge two nights and took a day to see Peggy's Pond. We'd heard and read mixed reports of the trail and weren't sure about taking the kids on it, but the tricky parts were short and we took them slow and gave the kids lots of instructions. Perhaps all those visits to the urban climbing facilities paid off. Peggy's Pond is a little chunk of heaven. The kids enjoyed finding and naming many frogs. Hikers need to take care of this place by using fewer side trails in the fragile meadows. On day three we headed north to the PCT for Deception Pass. The trail descends fairly quickly and then levels out to mostly a traverse through forest and brushy patches. The first creek crossing provided some excitement and took about a half hour, but we made it over without incident. The temperature dropped noticeably as we passed through the small, old growth forest, and the plump blueberries and huckleberries were a real treat for all of us. After emerging from the forest we discovered what my trail description didn't point out, which is that you have to regain about 500 feet to reach Deception Pass. In the midafternoon heat this took some doing, and the extra time we spent on this leg of the trail set us back. We were aiming to reach Hyas Lake by 3:00 or 4:00 so we'd have time for good swim, but we ended up at the first camp we could find at Little Hyas at 6:00. On day four we completed our adventure at 'big' Hyas for lunch and a swim. All in all this was a wonderful trip, and it offered up some good 'lessons learned' for all of us. For me the lesson was to read the map more closely. The 7-mile stretch on day three, with the unexpected 500-foot gain, was more than the kids (two of whom are 11 and the other 15) needed. But now they can say they've seen Cathedral Rock from all angles, crossed a fast-moving creek, feasted on wild blueberries, and hiked 16 miles. And what a beautiful 16 miles it was!

What a great trip! Deep forest, open rock, blue lakes, snow, scrambling - a great mountain! We started up the trail at 8am, moving at a fast pace on the level and easy trail knowing the hard stuff was still to come. After a brief break at the PCT junction, and some photos of Cathedral Rock, we arrived at Peggy's Pond in just shy of three hours. We climbed up onto a rocky ledge for lunch before heading to the summit. From here we took one of the many climbers paths onto the SE ridge. Clouds were starting to spill over and obscure the east summit and I was getting a bit disheartened. We pushed on anyway, hoping to at least tag the east summit if the weather turned. Partway up we lost the route and had to get up on the ridge by scrambling over some nasty, tiring scree. On top we found the path again. Another hiker joined us for a bit before zooming off on his own. We could now see the ridge scramble and both decided we'd rather try the snow. Previous groups had laid out some decent steps across the uppermost snowfield to just below the east peak saddle. Out came the ice axes and off we went. The snow was reasonably soft. We tread carefully, wishing we'd brought our crampons for some extra comfort. After the first stretch we hopped melted out rock islands and the used the snow to go straight up to the saddle. Off in the distance we could see our goal - it looked so far away! A brief wrong turn here and we started up towards the east summit. We quickly realized our mistake when we saw a big party returning below us. Yumi took a direct descent down the scree, while I backtracked to the saddle and followed the boot path. Now we started across the annoying traverse to the base of the other summits. This would be much more pleasant on snow. Today it was small scree with sections of very compact sand and dirt. Someone had chopped out footholds thankfully. Partway across I could hear large rockfalls. As it turned out the solo climber had gone up the east summit, realized his mistake, and downclimbed the far side, setting off several rockslides. Now we had one more scree slope to ascent. It was steep, and I was again wishing for snow, but not the summit was in sight. It again seemed so far away, but we were there before we knew it around 2:20. The other hiker came down as we arrived, leaving us to enjoy the summit ourselves. The scramble was fun and we posed for photos on the high point. The clouds were farther west, dammed up against the crest. Off towards the Teanaway the skies were totally blue. Amazing sights to all the different peaks and the beautiful blue lakes below. All too soon we had to head down. We left the top at 3 and tried our best to zip along and make up some time. When we reached the scree traverse below the east summit we could see some rockfall coming down. It stopped before we reached it, but it still made for a nerve wracking crossing. We'd already decided to take the snow route again and got in a short, but fun, glissade from the saddle to the rocks below. The sun had gone behind the ridge now and the snow was beginning to freeze again. The steps were better, the large group kicking them in better, but it was still icy. We each slipped once or twice but stopped before having to arrest. I was very happy to see rock again. This time we followed the cairns and boot path without losing it. Along the way Circle lake was glowing in the late afternoon light. I will have to visit this lake, it's so pretty. We kept pushing along, stopping for an occasional snack, and were back to Peggy's quickly. It was getting late when we made Cathedral pass so we had a snack and made our best speed down. Less than an hour later we were at the PCT junction and onto the home stretch. By now the rain had rolled in, making for slick rocks and roots, slowing us considerably. That last bit was very monotonous and we were so happy to see the car at 8pm. A twelve hour day! Stats: 15.6 miles rt 4956 ft gain 6:20 up, 5 hrs down Trip photos: http://www.pbase.com/billcat/mtdaniel/