Finally completed this trek after getting frustrated on my first two tries. I started from the Wendy Trailhead, which is north of the peak. I quickly climbed to Peak 1918 after about 4 miles. From there, I was in unfamiliar territory. This was also the point where the hike began to get more difficult. This time around, I actually looked for a trail going beyond the peak, and found it right away. I pressed forward and quickly found myself heading for higher ground toward exposed boulder cliffs. The trail mostly weaved its way through them, but some needed to be climbed over in a Class 3 fashion. The climb from Peak 1918 to the lower cliffs of Pop Top took about an hour and half, despite being only a mile. Once leaving the rocky cliffs behind, it was a quick walk over to Pop Top, where I was finally on top at long last.

I hung out on Pop Top for a few minutes where I reoriented myself with all the other nearby summits that I visited in the past year. They all looked a little bit different because of all the recent fire damage. With Big Dome being my main goal, I pressed on toward it. A use trail leaves the main walking path and winds its way to Big Dome. While not having any obstacles in my way, it was a quick ascent to the summit. I tagged it at long last! Before I was able to gloat about my most recent accomplishment, the mountain may have had the last laugh after all. While looking down toward the Mishe Mokwa Trail, which was my original route on my first visit, I could see that all the difficult brush that lined the trail was all burned away. If I had simply began my hike there in the morning, I could have taken that rather easy to moderate footpath to the base of the peak and just walked up the side with nothing blocking my path. I wouldn't even need to deal with the secret passageway on Tri Peaks or the difficult climb up the West Ridge. All of a sudden, this is now an easy peak to get to? Anyway, I choose to keep a positive spin on this. Despite the issues I had on all my visits, the difficult climb I had today will really pay dividends going forward when I hope to get to more difficult climbs.

From Big Dome, I descended the East Ridge, which drops down to the Danielson Monument. In a few tenths of a mile from there it reconnects with the Old Boney Trail. I turned left and retraced my steps back to the Wendy Trailhead. Another LPC Summit gets checked off the list.