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We gained the ridge that afternoon and set up camp on a level area next to a small lake, similar to the one pictured. The mosquitos were voracious that evening. Tim decided to stay at camp that next morning as he didn't have adequate footwear and wanted to relax by the lake. Chris and I wished him well and set out on our way.
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Rock spires somewhere off the beaten path. Deep Lake lies below. We followed an obvious trail that led directly to the base of Cathedral Rock. We figured that the route continued along ledges on Cathedral Rock and so we climbed up short sections of rock to a series of level benches. We traversed below some cliffs, lost the trail and spent the next couple hours negotiating tricky chutes, gullies, scree slopes and steep brush-covered slopes en route to Peggy's Pond. The actual trail traverses the slope below us and leads directly to Peggy's Pond.
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Eventually we reached Peggy's Pond w/ a high point on the long Southeast Ridge of Mt. Daniel somewhere north of Circle Lake visible behind.
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Standing below the East Peak of Mt. Daniel. Alpine meadows soon gave way to broad red algae colored snow slopes and the long slog began.
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We angled to our left towards the ridge and once on top had very scenic views of alpine lakes still melting out from the winter.
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Mount Rainier dominates the view to the southwest. The peaks in front of Mt. Rainier are Three Queens on the left and Hibox Mountain on the right. The nearer lake is Venus Lake. The farther one is Spade Lake.
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Excluding our navigational issues, we made it to the summit in good time. We were soon accompanied by two others, and together took pictures and named off the familiar peaks. Mount Stuart, Colchuk and Dragontail Peaks rise prominently behind us. The top of Cathedral Rock can just be seen above Chris' left shoulder. We stopped back at our camp site on our return and took a refreshing dip in the lake. Good times!
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