4 day backpack loop with 2 grown-ups, a 6-year-old kiddo, and a 12-year-old dog.  Toplines: Bring a bug head net!  Mosquitos were crazy everywhere.  Lots of lovely flowers, trails in good to great shape, berries just about to ripen but still green for now.

The road is not that bad.  We saw sedans make the stream crossing OK and a Prius poking along at 15mph.  Just a public service message, though-- if you're in a sedan and have to go 15mph, please kindly pull over to let vehicles through who can go a little faster on that terrain!  With a 13 mi drive, the difference between 15 and 25 can mean lots of time. :)

Day 1: Cathedral Rock.  Our goal was to camp at Peggy's Pond.  The Cathedral trail is in great shape - nothing really to report.  No water source until you hit the first lake.  Peggy's Pond trail is challenging for the little & the old dog - bench-cut on loose gravel on a steep slope.  We got about 1/2 way down the 0.7 mi trail and decided to turn back due to concerns about getting through it and back with our motley crew.  Camped at Cathedral Rock/PCT a bit above the junction instead.  Bugs were horrendous, views were tremendous!  Water was only available in an unnamed mosquito pond which clogged our filter on the first day out...  

Day 2: Cathedral Rock to Deception Pass via PCT section J.  Really a great section of trail that pushes downhill through switchbacks, over a shady creek that has some tent pads, to a tough ford.  It was nearly knee deep and had a strong current. We switched boots to sandals and had to carry the kid and dog across.   From that it's all gradual uphill, mostly in the blazing sun, through some not-yet-ripe thimbleberry bushes that seemed thick enough to swallow us.  Camped at the site marked on GTM at an unnamed pond just short of Deception Pass- lovely area with several tent pads.  One other group was at the pond.

Day 3: Deception Pass to Tuck Lake.  The Tuck Lake trail is pretty real, gaining more than 1,100 feet in 1 mile.  Much of it is very dusty and loose, some is a steep rocky bit.  It was a stretch to get our crew up this one.  Suggest bringing bandanas to protect from breathing in the dust coming down from above.  Compared to previous days (saw 3-5 ppl each day) this was a very busy trail - we saw at least 30 hikers headed for Robin Lake.  Also, we picked up lots of trash at Tuck Lake :(.  The lake was lovely and the swimming was a real relief on a hot day.  The campsites were all filled and it was clear people were getting creative.

Day 4: back to the trailhead via Tuck Lake and Hyas Lake trails.  VERY busy trail!  Lovely slow descent, with a stop to swim at Hyas Lake.  Lots of campsites at Hyas Lake along the trail make for great lunch stops. 

Just a quick report to say that it was a beautiful destination for a tough hike. The first four-ish miles were rugged and on a continuous incline. Several lakes make the scenery better. Good thing is you hike mostly in the shade. We crossed the PCT on top of the ridge at Cathedral Pass, then instead of heading down to Deep Lake, we skirted across and towards Peggy's Pond and Cathedral Rock. Sketchy go in a few spots - be careful. Day 2 headed up and around to climb towards Mt. Daniel. Made it as far as the last snow field, at the foot of Mt. Daniel, in a boulder strewn bowl, at the headwaters of a river - pretty sweet. Tons of bugs, but you know that going in. Lots of exploring to other nameless lakes and cool vistas.

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.

Beautiful hike today with a friend and his dog.  The scenery starts long before you hit the trail.  Though the road is rough it's passable and Chatter Creek is 1-1 1/2 ft. deep.  The trail has long switchbacks on an easy grade.  A few blowdowns easily crossed otherwise straight forward with a small detour trail at the back of Squaw Lake right before climbing.  Make sure you go back down to the trail instead of continuing up.  The latter section climbs a little more steeply while occasionally crossing meadows dotted with tarns until you finally crest a small ridge and are face to face with Cathedral Rock, but don't stop yet!  If you've come this far go to the PCT junction and go left 0.3 to reach the Peggy's Pond Trail junction.  The rocks surrounding this ridge provides amazing views of Mount Hinman and Mt. Daniel.

Backpacked to Squaw Lake with my girlfriend where we camped for two nights, and day hiked to Cathedral pass and along the PCT on our day in between. All in all very beautiful and relatively quiet. 

ROAD CONDITIONS: As previously mentioned, the last 12 miles of the drive is an extremely bumpy dirt road with many potholes and a stream crossing. We were able to make the drive and stream crossing in my low-clearance, very stiff Hyundai compact by going very slowly (took about 80 minutes), so I would say it is doable in most all vehicles but be forewarned it can be a painfully long drive if you don't have a high-clearance vehicle with good suspension.

BUGS: Mosquitoes were very bad along the trail and at the lake. I would recommend wearing long pants/sleeves and possibly even a head net if you are sensitive to bites.