The theme of the trip was you have to go up to go down, just to go back up again, and multiply this times 20 or so.
I started our trip with a visit on Wednesday to the ranger station to pick up a permit. I got there at 6am, and there were 12 parties ahead of me. At 7am, one ranger gave the entire group the LNT talk so they wouldn’t have to give it to each person while they are issuing permits. By 8:15, I had my permit and was heading home.
Side note - the rangers have had a rough summer. It is not their fault if you don’t get your desired campsite. You bitching at them for 20 minutes does nothing but hold up the line and make you look like an asshole. Rant over.
Thursday morning we dropped our pups off at doggy camp, and headed to the Hannegan Pass trailhead. With the large washout directly before the parking lot, there is a new smaller parking area, and cars parked down the side of the road. There were roughly 30 cars or so when we got there. The trail up to Hannegan Pass went by fairly quickly. Knowing that most of the trail was fairly dry, we loaded up on water just before the pass. After going over the pass, you pretty much lose all of the elevation that you just gained, which was slightly depressing. You then slowly work your way back up to Copper Ridge. The views start opening up again, and you really don’t even notice the constant uphill. After Hannegan Pass, the next water source is Egg Lake, which looks to be about a mile off the main trail. We kept rolling through, and worked our way up the Copper Mountain Lookout Tower. It was manned by the ranger who had given us the LNT talk the day before. We chatted with him for a little while, and then pushed on to Copper Mountain Lake. The lake is gorgeous! There were two other parties camped there for the night, but we only saw them when we passed by looking for a site. Total mileage was 12.34 with 4,324ft of gain, and 2,179ft of loss. The entire trail this day was in excellent condition.
Knowing we had a long day ahead of us, we woke somewhat early, and were back on the trail by 6:30. 20 mins after leaving camp, we saw our first black bear of the trip! He was just sitting in the meadow, munching on berries. We stopped and watched him for awhile, before continuing on. Thirty minutes later, a second black bear ran across the trail directly in front of us, and barreled into the trees. Shortly afterward, we started the LONG descent down. At this point, I was so glad we went the way we did, because going up that way seemed like it would be miserable. There were 9 or 10 trees down in this area, and all but one were easy to get over. The one that wasn’t was just awkward with an overnight pack, and made me feel like a beached whale for a hot second.
We eventually forded the Chilliwack (it was just below my knees), and made our way to Indian Creek camp for a break. Once we got to Indian Creek, we realized the spawning salmon weren’t that far up, so we ran back down the the ford and watched them for 30-45 mins. After filling up with water, we got back on the trail. This part felt like a true slog. The forest is beautiful, but it quickly became pretty monotonous. We hit the junction, and headed up towards Whatcom Pass. The trail got pretty brushy in spots, but you can tell that a lot of work has been done. The camp at Graybeal looks like it is being redone. If you need water, fill up just before Graybeal. The river has changed course by the camp, and water isn’t the easiest to get to. There are several places to fill up on the way to Whatcom Pass after the camp as well. From Graybeal to Whatcom Pass it’s straight up, but the trail is in excellent condition, and the majority of it is shaded.
Once we hit Whatcom Pass, we took a quick break and chatted with some folks we met the day before. It was getting late, so we threw our packs on and headed up the climbers trail to Tapto Lakes. The mile or so of the trail is rough. There are places you will have to use your hands to grab roots to pull yourself up, especially if you have a larger pack. It’s rocky and rooty, and tough on tired legs. As soon as we got to the lakes, we dropped our packs on the first flat, non-vegated spot, set up camp, ate dinner, and passed out. Total mileage was 19 miles, with 3,900ft of gain, and 4,000ft of loss.
For our third day and night, we planned to take it easy and stay around Tapto Lakes again. We played around the basin, checked out Middle Lakes, and climbed some ridges. We swam, ate blueberries, and saw two more bears!
Sunday morning, we woke up with frost on our tent. It was tough getting out of the sleeping bag, but it was going to be another long day. We packed up and headed out. The first 6 or 7 miles to the junction were repetitive, so I just zoned out and we cruised down quickly. After the junction, we started going uphill slightly again. We took the cable car crossing just to see what it was about. We laughed when we saw how low the river was, but it was fun. After the cable car, it’s uphill all of the way to Hannegan Pass. The forest was pretty, but I zoned out again. The four miles down from Hannegan Pass to the trailhead were the longest ever. My knees hated me. We made it to the car about 10 mins before the rain started. Mileage for the day was right at 20 miles, with 4,700ft of gain, and 4,100ft of loss.
Total mileage for the trip was right at 57 miles, with 13,700ft gain/loss. On the entire trip, we only needed bug spray on the first day. After that, they really weren't bad. There are still a lot of wildflowers blooming, and the blueberry bushes are just starting to turn red in places.
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