Mount Daniel - King Co Highpoint, Cascade Range, Washington

Better late than never. Here is a quick entry on a climb of Mount Daniel near Seattle, Washington, that I completed last July. 

My brother Troy and his wife Carmenza were gracious enough to have me and the family stay with them in their Maple Valley home for several days. We had a fantastic time visiting the beach, Olympic National Park, downtown Seattle, and Mt. Rainier National Park. Being a stone's throw from the Cascades, I wasn't going to blow an opportunity to summit one of the many mighty peaks near Seattle. After some research, 7960-foot Mount Daniel checked all the boxes: close to Maple Valley, challenging--but doable in one day, ropes and glacier gear not required (this time of year anyway), and judging from the pictures I'd seen, incredibly scenic!

After a 5 am start, I was at the trail head adjacent to the Cle Elum River and jogging up the trail by 7.

View from the bridge over the Cle Elum River.

Mount Daniel is the crown jewel of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, and living up to its name, there are a lot of lakes--perhaps too many to name. This is a small unnamed lake southeast of  Cathedral Rock. That's Granite Mountain in the distance.

Passing Cathedral Rock en route to Mount Daniel.

Upper Spinola Creek where it spills out of Circle Lake (out of view). The high peak is unnamed, but located just west of Circle Lake.

First view of Peggy's Lake with Mount Daniel's East Ridge in the background. Peggy's Lake is commonly used as a base camp for climbers electing to climb Mount Daniel in 2 days.

Peggy's Lake below Cathedral Rock.

You climb a short segment of the infamous PCT on the way to Mount Daniel.

Glacial striations on Mount Daniel's southeast ridge.

Circle Lake from Mount Daniel's southeast ridge.

View of the scramble route up the southeast ridge. Mount Daniel's true summit is behind the high point seen here which is East Peak.

Three mountaineers traverse the upper Hyas Creek Glacier below the east ridge. These guys had full-on glacier gear and were moving slow (no diss on being careful). My scramble route stayed on the ridge above. I was moving quickly and easily caught up to them at the saddle just below East Peak. They were a bit surprised to see me, and were even more surprised that I was only wearing shorts,  t-shirt, and running shoes.

Near the summit, I had nice views all the way to Mount Rainier 55 miles away.

The southeast ridge route is a little sketchy in places, but if you are careful with your footing and hand holds, it's not bad. 

Venus (closest) and Spade Lakes from near the summit of Mount Daniel.

Look closely and you may see the final route that traverses low across the left (southwest) flank of East Peak (peak closest to the camera).  The two rocky summits in the background are the Middle Summit (right) and the true Mount Daniel high point on the left. The sketchiest part of the climb is where the route cuts across a snow field that is at about a 45-degree angle. One slip here and you'd probably end up in Venus Lake some 2000 feet below. With microspikes, a was able to stick to the snow like glue and I had no issues.

View down the Lynch Glacier to a Lynch Lake from near the summit of Mount Daniel.

Enjoying the views of the Lakes Alpine Wilderness Area and Mount Rainier from the summit of Mount Daniel.

I summitted by 12:30 pm for a 4.5 hour ascent time. I was back at the trail head by 4 pm, completing the 15-mile and nearly 6000-foot climb in just under 8 hours. This was the perfect hike for my time constraints, and views were better than advertised.