Completed the Copper Ridge Loop in three days last weekend.  Many more details and pics on my blog post here and here, but a quick summary is below.

We went stayed at Copper Lake Friday night, U.S. Cabin Saturday night and exited on Sunday. The mileage was pretty evenly spaced, and it turned out to be a pretty good itinerary for 3-days.  However, the elevation changes are no joke.  Friday was pretty strenuous and my legs had a pretty rough time on the descent from Copper Ridge to the Chilliwack River.

Road was in pretty good shape.  We had overcast skies on the first day, which was great in all of the exposed areas.  It had burned off by the time we made it to the fire tower, and the views were incredible.  We saw one bear by Silesia camp, and another bear past Copper Lake. Sockeye salmon were running and they were really fun to watch in the river.  The ranger told us that the cable car had a wasp nest on the platform, so we opted for the horse ford rather than the cable crossing.  It was at the end of the day and we weren’t willing to battle with wasps.

It was upwards of 90F on the trip out and the last four miles from Hannegan Pass were extremely hot and rather miserable. The biting flies came out for the first time in earnest and I was overjoyed to see the car.

All in all, a stunningly beautiful loop.

Let me start by saying, I have been taking a young man hiking annually for the past three years.  He is an intelligent polite young man that is truly interested in the outdoors.  Each year, he has made improvements to his gear.  This year I selected the Copper Ridge Loop for our annual trip.  The night before we completed a pre-hike inspection to ensure we both had enough food, water, clothing and equipment.  Our packs were weighing in with everything under 30 lbs.  He and his mother went to the Ranger Station at Glacier on Sunday to obtain permits for the two places we wanted to camp.

Day one started at 0930 on Monday August 14th, the bugs were fine, the skies were partly cloudy, the temps were cooler than the week before and no smoke in the air.  The first day hike was amazing.  We were supposed to make Copper Lake the first day but that didn't happen.  So Egg Lake it was.  It turned out to be a good thing as we started our second day with a Black bear grazing on blueberries near us.  We watched him for a bit and took photo's and selected another route down from our camp. As we made our way down the other campers were also watching Mr. Black Bear from their campsites.

Day two, we had a big hike to achieve, we were going to make our proper campsite, U.S. Cabins.  Even the Ranger at the top of the ridge thought this was going to be a difficult task 15+miles.  I must admit, the long down hill hike took a big toll on me as I now have four black toenails.  Everyday, I started with three full liters of water and thankfully, I was able to replenish before we crossed the river.  There we saw the spawning salmon and the remains of a few bear eaten salmon carcasses.  The trail from this point has a lot of vegetation growing over the trail.  We did make it to U.S. Cabins for camping by 8PM.  They allow fires at this camp and there is water.

Day three was a lot of up hill and flies.  No time for resting as the flies were a nuisance.  We made the trailhead by 3PM.

I was very impressed and humbled by this trail.  It is not one you should take lightly.  If I were to do it again, I would do it in four days.  Less pressure and more time for photo's.  Not making any excuses, but it was tough for this 55yo man.  And I do a fair bit of day hikes each year and usually one or two multiple day hike each year.  This is not a well travelled trail, it has a fair bit of rocky surfaces, snow or ice fields, overgrown vegetation, river and creek crossings and bugs.  So, if this hike is on your list to do, be flexible as it does have a generous amount of elevation gains. 

Please forgive me for not posting photo's, but there are so many wonderful pictures on the web...

Overall: A very beautiful, albeit very smokey and buggy, hike! Next time, I would bring a full body net instead of long pants/sleeves due to the heat.  I would also hope for less smoke from B.C. so we could have enjoyed the views. 

• Entire hike was warm enough to leave the tent fly behind. 
• Don't forget protection from the flies (Deet doesn't deter them!)! 
• It was too smokey for us to see anything, would definitely be better without the smoke, but it was still enchanting. 
• We're already planning on doing it again next year with less smoke! 

 Day 1: Hannegan trailhead to Egg Lake-8.13 miles, 3,735 feet of elevation, ~95F. 

• The bugs are terrible from the parking lot all the way up to Hannegan Pass. Biting black flies that are more than a nuisance. Long pants, long sleeve shirt, and/or full body netting are recommended. 
• Flies are not deterred by deet. 
• Call ahead to the ranger station as they have information about when the most recent generation of black flies have hatched.  
• A lot of the way up to Hannegan Pass is exposed, do yourself a favor in the heat and start early!
• Egg Lake was fly free but there were mosquitos. Manageable with Deet. 

 Day 2: Egg Lake to Indian Creek-11 miles, ~85F

• Limited black flies on the ridge. Just pesky mosquitos. 
• Friendly ranger at the fire lookout. 
• Too smokey to see ANYTHING. 
• Lunch by Copper Lake. 
• Flies picked up again on the hike down the ridge into the forested area. 
• About 40 blowdowns on the switchbacks down the ridge. However, most are minor and can easily be stepped over. 
• Forded the river which is about 3 feet deep at it's deepest and running moderately strong. We scouted a route without packs first and used our poles for balance. 
• Trail is very overgrown after the river, but you can still see the trail.
• Keep your eyes on the river as you're walking by, we saw spawning Sockeye salmon! 
• Indian Creek Camp was fly free! Yay! Enjoyed a dip in the river and a night in a majestic forest. 

 Day 3: Indian Creek to Copper Creek-7.87 miles, 2,777 feet of elevation

• Flies got bad again about halfway through this day. 
• Many overgrown areas alternating with clearer areas. 
• Fun day with a suspension bridge and the cable car. We took a nap on the cable car platform after we crossed because it was fly free! 
• Arrived at Copper Creek at about 16:00 and had to stay in our tents until the flies subsided at about 20:00.  

 Day 4: Copper Creek to Hannegan Trailhead: 7.12 miles, ~2,600 feet of elevation, ~85F

• Left camp at 8AM and the flies were at bay until about 10AM when we were about halfway to Hannegan Pass. We put on long sleeves and long pants. 
• Bugs were bad from here all the way to the trailhead. 
• Threw all our stuff in the car and peeled out of the parking lot to the ranger station to escape the flies! 

Lucky enough to score permits for the Copper Ridge loop hike!  We originally planned four nights out to include a side-trip to Tapto Lakes.  However the smoke changed our well laid plans and we opted to hike out on the third day due to lack of views and uncertainty if the smoke would blow away.

Bugs were absolutely horrendous getting up and over Hannegan Pass.  Clouds of biting flies.  On the east side of the pass they were merely annoying.  One minor snow crossing in Hell's Gorge but no need for ice axe or spikes.  There are also small snowfields beyond Silesia Camp but we had no difficulties crossing any of these.  Bugs were annoying when the wind would stop but manageable.

Walked the length of the ridge, had a nice and cold swim in Copper Lake, and then made the very long but gradual descent to the Chilliwack River.  We forded a short but swift knee-deep section, then realized the main event was yet to come.  Don't take your sandals off just yet!  After crossing another short swift but easy section we reached the main river.  It's very still, almost no current, though about mid-thigh deep and pretty cold.  Easy to cross.  Also look for salmon in the river!

Trail to Indian Creek camp is quite overgrown but largely free of blowdown.  From there it alternates between brushy and clear until reaching the next trail junction.  A bit rough in places with a few minor blowdowns but nothing very difficult.  From there it's an easy though long walk back up to Hannegan Pass, with a fun cable-car ride along the way.

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!