Hiked up to the lookout. Next to no snow left on the trail. Saw an interesting bear. Hump, low back and ears like a grizzly but snout like a black bear. 

My son and I hiked in from Hannegan Pass trailhead to Egg Lake on day 1. The route was snow-free until the very end. There are a few snow patches on the way down to Egg Lake from Silesia Camp. Nothing serious but it would be a long slide if you slipped. We were happy to have trekking poles while crossing. We dayhiked to Copper Mountain lookout and a little ways past on day two. Again almost entirely snow free and the trail was in pretty good shape. We signed the guest book at the lookout and appeared to be only about the 7th group to sign it this year. We hiked back out via Hannegan pass on the third day and saw several marmots along the way. It got pretty cold overnight and rained almost the whole night and last day we were there.

We were told by another group who were doing the whole loop and had come from the valley via US Cabin Camp that the trail along the river had downed trees throughout and was generally overgrown.

Getting there: road in good condition. Some potholes but nothing concerning. Last few miles are very narrow. We were fine in a sedan

Route: Clockwise copper ridge loop: TH > Egg Lake > Indian Creek > TH

Tl;dr: recommend hiking poles, gps, spikes (optional but nice peace of mind to have). Trail not cleared out for about 10 miles.

TH to Selisia camp is in good condition. Selisia to fire lookout has some large snow fields. We were happy we had micro spikes, poles, and gps. When it gets foggy it’s easy to lose the trail.

We camped at egg lake and didn’t have a problem getting there, but passed groups who hadn’t been able to find it and turned around. You won’t be able to see the lake from trail initially. You need to head down the snowfield into the valley and up the next hill to see it.

Copper lake to Whatcom pass intersection is extremely overgrown and hasn’t been cleared out yet. We got soaked pushing through the brush. Be prepared to climb over blowdown.

At bottom of switch backs before chiliwack River you hit dried up creek bed. we got lost. Look for cairns to the right. Pass them, climb over large downed tree to your left and look for more cairns to find trail again.

2 river fords. Follow the pink tape for best place to cross. Nothing above mid-calf.

3rd river crossing can be forded or you can take cable car. Cable car is really difficult to pull. Fits 2 people plus 2 packs so gets really heavy. If the car is on the opposite side, you’ll also have to pull it to you initially. Consider just fording the river instead.

Came across a bear on the section of trail between cable car and US cabin. We gave him/her some space and made noise and it moved back into the trees after a minute or two.

On the way out about 2 miles from TH, we passed another hiker who said he had just seen a bear.

My friends and I had a great time in this trail because of the difficulty of the trail. The first day was incredibly foggy and the trail was buried under snow. The second day included an impressive amount of rain and 2 creek crossings that we had to walk through, and a trail that did not exist at times. We had a great time trail finding sliding down the snow, and overall becoming a mess. The fire in the chilluak valley was great and warmed.ua up after our wet day. Bring enough spare socks to deal with the weather and it will be a good time. I highly recommend the copper lake campsite as it is beautiful

Ran copper ridge loop, counter clockwise. Saw a cinnamon colored bear on the trail in front of us, he/she lumbered along, then disappeared in the woods. Was very slow going at times, after hannagen pass as some trails very overgrown and with clusters of fallen trees to climb over under, then finding trail again... Once past the river valley trails, going up the ridge was nice, not overgrown, much fewer downed trees. At higher elevations there were snow fields to cross, some super sketchy (we used traction devices and poles, still scary though), as we could tell we were the first ones this season to travel in the counter clockwise direction. After we passed the lookout, there was one set of human tracks that had gone up and back down, so we had less route finding, but still plenty due to snow. More bear scat and tracks than I've ever seen on trails anywhere!!