Circle Lake, Aug 18th to Aug 20th

Not long after I found out about Tuck and Robin Lakes in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, I learned about Circle, Venus and Spade lakes. These three, especially Venus, are considered the most remote lakes in the wilderness. The original plan was to do a loop and add some exploration but we quickly found out that things were not that easy. Multiple sources showed different routes but we didn’t know which one would be the easier or better one so in the end, we only made Circle Lake plus some exploration around it. That certainly leaves space to go again and explore the rest, but that will come at another time.

Day 1: Tucquala Meadows to Circle Lake

Rather than drive and hike the same day, we drove to the trailhead the night before and cowboy camped at the trailhead (just got our pads and sleeping bags out and set on the floor next to a tree). We woke up early Friday morning and got breakfast as we pack and changed. We had a crisp morning with a forecast promising warm temperatures for the afternoon with clouds coming in. The first part of the hike, up to Peggys Pond, was already known to me as I had done it on the way down when I did the Tuck and Robin lakes loop. So, after crossing the Cle Elum River we started on a series of switchbacks ascending to Squaw Lake. With a bit over 1400’ of elevation gain, the start of our day got our heart pumping quickly. Towards the ridge, we started noticing an abundance of huckleberries and blueberries along the trail so when we got to the lake, we dropped our packs to rest a bit and it these delicious offerings. The lake looked placid and beautiful as I remembered but looking east, we noticed heavy clouds moving in from Granite Mountains across the valley. 

After the short break, we continued on a less steep trail towards Cathedral Rock which suddenly appears from within the trees. When we got there, the sky above us was already a mix of violet and gray. Not menacing with rain but certainly overcast. We went around the saddle leaving the Granite Mountains views and changing them for the Deep Lake below us and the craggy mountains around it including Mt Daniel and The Citadel. We got to the junction with the Deep Lake trail which is on the PCT and left that behind on our path to Peggys Pond. That section traverses the west slope of Cathedral Rock passing by some pretty steep spots. One in particular makes you literally hug a rock so you can continue and not fall several hundred feet down towards Deep Lake. Aside from the ups and downs, we had an almost clear view towards The Citadel and a good idea where our destination was. What was not visible and would slow us then was several ravines and small creeks. Finally, we reached the small detour that climbs steeply to Peggys Pond which sits in a close cirque behind Cathedral Rock. We took another break for lunch and studied the map trying to choose the path to Circle Lake. 

After continuing thought, we took a short walk around the lake and up and over a small ridge that gives access to a small run off from MT Daniel and some spectacular views (actually the spot where I took one of the best pictures I have taken). When we got back to our lunch spot, I spotted a little lake to the west with a small trail going to it. My thought was tit would give us a good starting point for our traverse towards Circle Lake. At first it looked like it would be easy but that didn’t last long enough. Soon after we started, we were navigating off trail and I knew we had to gain some elevation. As we did that and traveled west, we started finding obstacles in the form of small ravines and creeks we had to negotiate. Some of them required us to scramble straight up will others to take our packs off to swing them to the other side. Needless to say, it was a slow and arduous process. At several points, we thought we had found a foot path only to lose it after several steps and realize it was just another animal track. In one spot, we had to cross a creek that had a steep drop of and a huge boulder blocking the progress.

The only choices were to hug the rock and traverse below it or, once again, scramble up and swing our packs to the other side. At some point, after we had climbed considerably, we saw the final valley that seemed would take us to our destination and a path traversing it. Contrary to the other paths we had seen, this one did look like a trail so we aimed for it and certainly enough, it was a trail straight to the ridge on the east side of Circle Lake. Finally, after several hours of bushwhacking we got to a view point over the lake. By then it was already midafternoon but the sky had turned into a deep gray. It still didn’t look like rain but wind was howling. From that point we could also see a couple of tents on a small clearing on the south end of the lake. When we got there, we met a small family group that had been camping there for a week and was leaving the following day. We told them about our intent to continue to Venus and they said it didn’t seem like a good idea given the time and how the sky looked. Since I was still thinking about the loop I knew that staying there meant rethinking our itinerary or changing the trip altogether. After a short talk we decided to look for a camp spot and stay the night there. Along the eastern ridge we found several flat spots suitable for setting up a tent but the wind was howling by then so we had to be careful to pick a sheltered space. After several backs and forwards, we finally got a space with views of the lake so we set up camp and called it a day.

Later in the afternoon, Mark went to chat with the group at the other campsite and learned that we had missed he trail altogether. Rather than go around on the lower side as we did, the route headed east from Peggys Pond going straight up and coming back down on the other side. They mentioned that, even though it was not a trail, it was well marked and easy to navigate requiring no more than an hour to traverse, certainly much better than the 3 hours it took us. Later I took my camera and went down to the lake where I took a lot more pictures. Even with the grey skies, the scenery was breathtaking with the grey and brown hills surrounding the blue lake.

That night the wind did not stop, it only changed directions several times and at times it did wake me up only to realize my tent bending to the wind. Luckily nothing broke and I managed to stay warm and cozy until the next day

Day 2: Exploring around Circle Lake

On Saturday, we woke up to an almost clear blue sky day. Faint clouds were moving fast along the ridge line but the lake itself was clear so we were able to enjoy the sun slowly uncovering the mountains while we had breakfast. From our campsite, we noticed that the other group had already packed and left so we made the quick decision to breakout camp and move to their location which had better views and was more protected from the wind. Once we setup camp at our new spot, we grab what we needed for the day and started navigating our way towards The Citadel and trying to find the path to Venus Lake. There wasn’t particularly a trail but you could see cairns all over the place. Being all exposed it was easy to gauge the best route to take but even with that we managed to take a questionable path the we quickly corrected. As we gained elevation the views only got better as we saw Circle Lake in its basin and all the ridges around. I believe this tri is when I’ve taken the most panoramic shots. The path took us just below The Citadel where we found patches of snow. From that point we could see the notch were our path was taking us. Slowly, not because of difficulty but because of the amazing views, we made our way to a small tarn just below the pass.

We made a short stop there to take even more pictures of the contrast between the snow, blue water and brown rocks. We had just one more push to get to the pass which we took quickly and got to a knife edge ridge that opened the views to the other side. Aside from Venus Lake in the basin below, we had the towering wall of Mt Daniel with an amazing waterfall and views extending towards Mount Hinman and beyond. With those view we decided to stop there for lunch as we contemplated the path going down to Venus and realized how difficult and sketchy it was.

After a while we started our return retracing our steps but avoiding the questionable sections back to the lake. Later that day we went exploring the small waterfalls below our campsite which ended up being a lot of fun as we discovered some tight notches, caves and even a hole with a waterfall inside it. That evening we were able to have dinner while enjoying the sunset with little wind.

Day 3: Circle Lake to Tucquala Meadows

We woke up still feeling a bit skeptical about our return. Even thought we had been told about the correct route to take we didn’t know if it was going to be easy and short get to Peggy Pond so we packed early and hit the trail leaving Circle Lake behind. Certainly enough, there were cairns marking the path most of the way. We lost the trail only on one or two occasions just to regain it again shortly thereafter. We realized what a difference it was when we saw Peggys Pond below us just about half an hour after we left Circle Lake. On the way, we found a spur trail going up a canyon towards Mt Daniel that we took to check out the views. We imagined it was an approach to climb it perhaps. Then it was a quick series of switchbacks right back to Peggys Pond where we found almost all the campsites taken. That’s when we realized a lot of people were staying there for the eclipse on Monday. Around the lake we also found a deer that didn’t seem to mind us or anybody else as it roamed around at ease. 

Since we were looking at a long drive back home, we didn’t stop at Peggys Pond and continued our path retracing our steps via Cathedral Rock and down to Squaw Lake where we stop for lunch. Then it was a quick jaunt down the switchbacks were a second deer came to check us out. In the end, we didn’t complete the loop but I’m happy with that. We got some splendid views and now I know where the right path is. I’m not sure if I will attempt it again the same way though. Since I’ve pass by Peggys pond twice already, maybe next time I’ll find a different route to finally get to Venus Lake. 

You can see the rest of the pictures here

Interactive map

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