Quick one night hike from Copper Glance trailhead to the top of Big Craggy and West Craggy Peaks. Smoke from the Diamond Creek Fire was an issue, depending on the winds. Remember, the Billygoat Trailhead was closed those days, but Copper Glance was still open.
Thursday, July 27, 2017 I drove to the Copper Glance Trailhead and began hiking. The air was clear, but a big pyrocumulus cloud had formed over the fire. The trail is well-used and in good shape. It is short, but pretty steep for a maintained trail. After the second creek crossing, I hiked a few hundred meters more, and turned right and headed to the upper basin below the Craggy Peaks right after a small pond that the Copper Glance trail skirts. This hiking was fairly simple, especially because I followed the guide book's advice to stay as far left as possible, up against the scree slopes, to avoid some major bushwhacking. I made camp in the upper basin south of the creek, which was fine, but discovered the next day that another 5 minutes of hiking would have brought me to a small, lovely tarn, and an excellent campsite with an established fire ring. Next time.
In the early evening the winds shifted, and smoke started blowing into the valley. It had cleared out again by morning, but as I started the walk up Big Craggy, smoke started building again. I didn't stay long at the summit because I wanted to climb West Craggy as well (another simple scramble up a gully beginning at the head of the upper basin). By the time I topped out on West Craggy, the smoke was quite notable. This was a bit of a bummer, because the views from West Craggy were incredible, and on a clear day would have been that much more so.
The hike out was rapid, and smoke levels shifted again, starting to clear out a bit as I descended.
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