Copper Ridge Loop — Sunday, Jul. 30, 2017

Backpacked: 7/28/17-7/30/17

Miles hiked: 20.4 miles

Camped: 2 nights at Egg Lake, Day hiked to Copper Mountain Fire Lookout

We hiked out Friday morning from Hannegan Trail head to Egg Lake, it took us about 7.5 hrs, we hiked slow and had a 45 min lunch break. We brought ice axes and gaiters, and it was not necessary. There is a few snow fields we had to cross, but none of them were too terrible. Hiking back today though (Sunday 7/30), the small snow field going over Hell's Gorge was sketchy because it's melting out fast, making a snow bridge. I accidentally punched through it with my pole but caught myself from falling. So be careful! From Hell's Gorge to Silesia Camp, there's a few snow patches, but the trail is easy to spot to the right. Egg Lake is completely melted but there are still snow fields here and there around it. The campsites are snow free. 

Saturday we hiked from Egg Lake to Copper Mountain Lookout. We did use our microspikes for a small section of this, but it's doable without them. It wasn't as hard as it looked. It's about 1.7-2 miles from Silesia/Egg Lake to the lookout. Took us less than 2 hrs to go from Egg to Lookout. It was such a clear day, we could see into Canada! 

We ran into 3 trail runners running the entire loop. We also ran into a guy who had come in from the other direction of the loop. So Copper Ridge Loop is completely doable right now with minimal gear! The guy who came from the other direction did say he got lost for an hour when he crossed the river but eventually found his way. 

The flies are terrible at the trailhead! I would literally stop for 30 sec for a drink of water and look down, and there'd be about 25 flies on my leggings and t-shirt. The mosquitos were hungry at Egg Lake too. We brought bug nets for our hats and they were helpful. 

Snow is melting out fast!