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Trip Report

Stiletto Spur Trail, Twisp Pass via Dagger Lake, Stiletto Lake, Copper Pass via Twisp River & Copper Pass via Copper Creek — Saturday, Sep. 3, 2022

North Cascades > North Cascades Highway - Hwy 20
Blue Lake Peak from Copper Pass

We hiked a big loop starting from Bridge Creek TH to Stiletto Lake and Copper Pass. The first half of the loop (Stiletto Spur -> Twisp Pass) is a fairly uneventful hike through the valleys and forests, mostly easy hiking but a bit of brush on the Stiletto Spur trail. Stiletto Lake was gorgeous - just barely warm enough to swim, and saw some mountain goats prowling around near the lake.

The hike down from Twisp Pass down to the river is where it started to get rough - several patches of brush taller than a person that we had to push through.

The trail up to Copper Pass was even worse, making the 3 miles feel twice as long! Very thick brush making it hard to find the trail, followed by many downed trees - definitely wear pants if you attempt this! Things only got better when we got above the treeline, the views up at the pass made the schwacking worth the effort. 

The first part of the trail down from Copper Pass to Hwy 20 is really great - amazing views of the meadows and peaks nearby. However, the turnoff to connect back to the PCT is extremely unclear - there's only a small cairn marking it, and the connector trail is not very easy to see in the grass. Half our party missed it entirely continued down the Copper Pass trail directly to the highway (though they realized their mistake and hiked on the road back to the trailhead). The connector trail is very very steep and rough, more brush and blowdowns to get over, plus in places it's not easy to see. I probably would not want to hike up it given the current conditions. If you're trying to get to/from Bridge Creek, it's probably actually faster and less effort to hike along the highway than to take this trail - though of course you have to deal with cars passing you at 50mph.  

Working our way down the connector from Copper Pass to the PCT
One of dozens of downed trees on the trail along the Twisp River side of Copper Pass
Mountain goats at Stiletto Lake - keep your distance and try not to pee on plants!
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