Lakes of All Colors

Mt. Daniel, the undisputed centerpiece of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, has long been a favorite of mine for off trail exploration. I have done the Alpine Lakes Crest Traverse multiple times, as well as a linkup with the Paddy-Go-Easy High Route. Last spring, I had a “Danielmaxxing” day skiing four big lines on the mountain in perfect corn. But I still had yet to do the full Daniel circumnavigation, exploring the lakes on the south side of the mountain.

I recruited Chris, who usually sticks to the trails, to try some off trail high routing and join me on a circumnavigation. Fires raged to our south and north, but strong westerly winds promised clear skies in our area.

We decided to go counter clockwise to get the longer approach out of the way early. It was a good thing we did, because dealing with the mess of blowdowns around Hyas Lake would have been annoying at the end of a long day. In places, the trail was completely destroyed!

There weren’t many blowdowns past Deception pass, but the trail was rocky and overgrown, making for slow running. After a few weeks of high routing, biking, and hiding inside from the smoke, my running legs were feeling terribly out of shape.

From Marmot Lake, it’s really just a well worn use trail to Jade Lake. All the ups and downs had me feeling rough while Chris jogged uphill ahead of me. I knew that once I made it to Jade Lake, I’d start feeling more motivated.

Jade Lake is one of the most insta-famous lakes in all of Washington, but it was surprisingly not very crowded. The approach hike is formidable, and the recent smoke likely scared some people away.

Indeed, once we started hiking up past boulders and streams towards Dip Top Gap, I started to feel better, at least mentally. This climb is really beautiful, the lake, and expanding views towards Glacier Peak.

There is not much left of the Dip Top Glacier – maybe 200 vertical feet. We were able to avoid the blue ice and stay on snow. When I was here four years ago in September, I was still able to navigate the ice without any traction. It depends on your comfort level.

It was cloudy, cold, and breezy when we arrived at Dip Top Gap. The clouds actually made for nice lighting so I didn’t have to shoot straight into the sun. It was cool to look at the Lynch Glacier, which I skied just two months earlier – the best corn run of my life(x2)!

The Daniel Hinman massif used to have impressive glaciation for sub 8000 ft peaks. Its recession has been equally impressive. The mile long Foss Glacier on Hinman is completely gone. Even the Lynch Glacier, which once filled the entire cirque of Pea Soup Lake, looks thin and haggard now. The Lynch will likely be the last glacier to go in the central Alpine Lakes Wilderness – only the Ice Cliff Glacier tucked away on the north side of Mt. Stuart might last longer in the entire wilderness area. I’d reckon that 80-90% of the Little Ice Age glacial area in this massif is now gone. It really is a post-glacial landscape.

For the Paddy Go Daniel High Route, we took a disgusting traverse left around the lake. This time, we headed right to the outlet with Pea Soup Lake, staying just above the glacial moraine on nice rocks. This was a really beautiful section.

I have only ever ascended next to the Pea Soup Lake outlet on the Alpine Lakes Crest Traverse. This time, we descended the polished granite slabs and boulders. I love this section because of the scale of the Foss valley and the remoteness. Chris said it was his favorite part of the entire route.

Near the bottom, we cut left and started up towards the Hinman and Daniel saddle. This valley is extremely recently post glacial – actually, there still are a few hunks of ice remaining! They were buried in so much rock and dirt that we only realized it when we found an ice cave.

We passed an extremely silty post-glacial lake, which may turn into a beautiful Jade Lake with more time. On the final ascent to the saddle, we found more remnant ice, covered in dirt and rocks that squished like mud under our feet. The last bit to the pass was nasty loose dirt, so we were glad to be going up.

At the saddle, we could see the Three Queens Fire just 10 miles away. The next section is more tedious boulder hopping, on rocks that should be solid but still occasionally move.

Although this section is supposedly a bit schwacky, we were able to completely avoid brush by descending to 5300 ft. I imagine it would be more challenging to spot your way through the vegetation going the other way. Then we had a short but steep climb through some cliffs and trees up to the saddle above Venus Lake. This section also might be a little more challenging to figure out top down.

Venus Lake is a spectacularly blue lake set in a deep cirque on the south side of Daniel. The water was cold, but warm enough for a quick dip.

While the north side of Daniel is a (beautiful) post glacial wasteland, the south side is vibrant, with blueberry meadows, granite bathtubs, and sparkling lakes.

There were a few moves of class 3 on our way up to the saddle next to the Citadel. The final slope was annoyingly loose volcanic rock. Downhills and flats felt ok, but uphills felt unusually exhausting, like I was at high elevation. This one was the worst.

The north side of the Citadel is a return to loose post glacial dirt and rocks, but it fortunately isn’t very steep. For the first time all day, we could also see the Little Giant Fire.

There was a decent trail from Circle Lake up to the Mt. Daniel’s climber trail and then down to Peggy’s Pond. Chris was still somehow running the uphills.

Once we got on good trail past Cathedral Rock, my legs worked surprisingly well. Despite how tired I felt, this was the first time during all my trips here that I had the energy to run the downhills! So I guess I wasn’t that tired… and nearly all the blowdowns from the spring had been cleared – thanks!

I rarely go back to the same zone twice in a few months, but that just goes to show how much I love Mt. Daniel and the heart of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. This one mountains has so much to offer – lakes, views, meadows, and ski lines. After so many trips to its summit, I really enjoyed circling the mountain and admiring it from all sides.

Notes:

• Our route was 24 miles and 8300 ft gain. It took us 10.5 hours. It felt more rugged than the stats would suggest.
• The off trail terrain is never hard, but consistently moderate. There is a ton of boulder hopping in the 8 or so miles of off trail in the middle.
• I think this route would be faster in earlier summer going clockwise so you have longer north facing snow descents. However, during late season like this, I think our direction made sense because we ascended the steepest / loosest slopes.
• We brought no traction or helmets and never felt the need. If there was more snow coverage then I think traction would be good.