Mount Daniel is the highest summit on the

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

crest of

Alpine Lakes Wilderness The Alpine Lakes Wilderness is a large National Wilderness Preservation System, wilderness area spanning the Central Cascades of Washington (state), Washington state in the United States. The wilderness is located in parts of Wenatchee National ...

of the central

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is the highest point in

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

and Kittitas counties. Streams on its eastern slopes form the headwaters of the

Cle Elum River The Cle Elum River is a tributary of the Yakima River, approximately 28 miles (45 km) long in the U.S. state of Washington. A Northern Pacific Railway station at the future site of the city of Cle Elum, Washington was named Clealum after the ...

Geology

Mount Daniel's volcanic rock is composed of

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. ...

, and

rhyolite Rhyolite ( ) is the most silica-rich of volcanic rocks. It is generally glassy or fine-grained (aphanitic) in texture (geology), texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained matri ...

inflows,

breccia Breccia ( , ; ) is a rock composed of large angular broken fragments of minerals or Rock (geology), rocks cementation (geology), cemented together by a fine-grained matrix (geology), matrix. The word has its origins in the Italian language ...

, and

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

. Volcanic sandstone is interbedded. Just west of Mount Daniel is the

Mount Hinman Mount Hinman () is located on the border of Snoqualmie and Wenatchee National Forests in the U.S. state of Washington. Mount Hinman is less than west of Mount Daniel and both are within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Hinman Glacier is situated ...

pluton In geology, an igneous intrusion (or intrusive body or simply intrusion) is a body of intrusive igneous rock that forms by crystallization of magma slowly cooling below the surface of the Earth. Intrusions have a wide variety of forms and com ...

ic stock.

Peaks

From most vantages Mount Daniel appears to be a triple-crowned mass, but five summits can be identified. * West Summit () * Middle Summit () * East Peak () * West Pyramid () * Northwest Summit () These elevations are based on

Sea Level Datum of 1929 The National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929 is the official name since 1973 of the vertical datum established for vertical control surveying in the United States, United States of America by the General Adjustment of 1929. Originally known as ...

and are taken from the Mount Daniels 7.5 minute topographic map which was published in 1965. The

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

has assigned the name Mount Daniel to the east peak even though it is not the highest.

Glaciers

Mount Daniel supports several glaciers, the largest of which is Lynch Glacier on the northwest slope of the mountain. Lynch Glacier extends from to , where it melts into Pea Soup Lake, draining to the East Fork

Foss River The Foss River is a stream in the U.S. state of Washington. It has two main forks, the East Fork Foss River and the West Fork Foss River. The main stem is formed by the confluence of the two forks. The river and its forks rise near in the Alpine ...

. The West Lynch Glacier hangs from the north slope of the Northwest Peak of Mount Daniel. West Lynch Glacier was formerly connected to Lynch Glacier. On the north side of the ridge between the Middle Summit and East Peak is another glacier with the tentative name of Daniel Glacier. It is partially connected to Lynch Glacier. Daniel Glacier is losing mass and was once much larger. Several small remnants, now just perennial snow accumulations rather than living glaciers, are located east of Daniel Glacier. On the southeast side of Mount Daniel, nested against a cirque headwall, is the Hyas Creek Glacier, an isolated and small ice mass that was once much larger. It drains to Hyas Creek and Peggy's Pond. All the glaciers on Mount Daniel are thinning and becoming stagnant. West Lynch Glacier is expected to disappear in the near future.

History

The first known ascent of Mount Daniel was by The Mountaineers 1925 outing, but it is likely that surveyors had already ascended Daniel. The 1925 party climbed via Lynch Glacier.

Climbing Route

The standard route to the summit passes

Cathedral Rock Cathedral Rock is a natural sandstone butte near Sedona, Arizona, and one of the most-photographed sights in Arizona, United States. The rock formation is located in the Coconino National Forest in Yavapai County, about west of Arizona Route ...

, Peggy's Pond, and then is a scramble up to summit. Panorama of Mt Daniel and Cathedral Rock

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Daniel, Mount Cascade Range Mountains of King County, Washington Mountains of Kittitas County, Washington Mountains of Washington (state) Oligocene volcanism Volcanoes of Washington (state) Cascade Volcanoes