First things first: wildfires.

We had permits for a 4-day/3-night trip to stay at Silesia Camp, Copper Lake, and Boundary Camp. Unfortunately, we were only able to stay at Silesia for one night due to a wildlife starting a few miles away (now called the Bear Creek Fire). As of yesterday, NPS closed the Copper Ridge trail to the lookout and lake.

Summary:

The 8.5 mile hike from the TH to Silesia Camp is beautiful! After Boundary Camp, the trail narrows at times and can be a bit bushy, but nothing crazy. The bugs, however, were AWFUL - I have never been assaulted so viscously by biting flies in my life. They stick to you, fill your ears and nose and are determined little devils. I changed into long pants mid-trail and we rarely stopped for a break, and when we did we could only bear a few seconds at a time.

Overall, the trail is a lot of up and downs. In fact, when we thought we were close to Silesia Camp we realized we still had a few hills to climb. The closest water source is Egg Lake (about 1 mile round trip and 450 elevation), so a bit of a trek. Despite that, I'm happy we stayed at Silesia, the mountain views are stunning.

Wildfire:

We noticed a plume in the distance around 7pm on Thursday. We were up high but the smoke filled the valley by 9pm. By 10pm the smoke made the surrounding peaks hard to see but we could only faintly smell it. To be safe, we packed our bags before bed and set alarms throughout the night to check on conditions, just in case we needed to make a quick exit. By morning, the smoke settled into the valley and we could tell that Copper Ridge was sadly a no-go and we turned back.

Still a great trip and between the wildfire and biting flies it was some classic Type 2 fun!

Enjoyed a three day two night backpacking trip with three adults and four youth, youngest was age 12. We made Hannegan Camp as our base camp, with excursions to Hannegan Peak, and also Egg Lake on the Copper Ridge Trail.

There are a number of great trail reports just before mine, so I’ll give a few of my tid-bits.

-BUGS!  Come prepared! Bug spray didn’t seem to help. The black flies bite and so do the horse flys. And they are plentiful and annoying. Some of us came prepared with long sleeves and pants, as well as a mosquito head net. I would recommend all three. We passed a number of groups hiking out earlier than they had planned due to the bugs.

-Smoke. We didn’t really have to deal with smoke while we were there, except for the last night, Thursday 7/29. The winds changed and blew smoke our way over night. But by the morning the smoke was gone and the skies were clear, (at Hannegan Camp.)

-Water. There are some good sources of water on the trail as you hike, but a few things to note. On the Hannegan Pass trail, the first good water source is two miles in. There is a beautiful creek at Hannegan Camp. No water on Hannegan Peak. Just before Boundary camp there is a great water source. After Boundary Camp, going up Copper Ridge, there are only a couple good sources of water. Once you’ve reached the ridge, no water until Egg lake.

-Trails. The trails are super dry and dusty. Hannegan camp was the same.  These trails are rocky as well. Combined with the dust, means they’re a slick in steep places  The Copper Ridge trail is pretty narrow in sections.

-Wildflowers and berries. There are still plenty of beautiful flowers to be seen. Some are past their prime, but there are still a wonderful variety to enjoy. There are salmon berries near the beginning of the trail. While hiking through the forest on the Copper Ridge trail the blue huckleberries were still green.

-Wildlife. Other than the bugs, we didn’t see much. No bears. No deer. Heard a few birds. A mouse/small rodent visited camp while we were away since one of our campers did a poor job securing his food.

-Snow. No snow on the trails we were on. There is a snow patch just before Egg Lake, but it’s not covering the trail.

-Sun Exposure. Bring your sunscreen and handkerchief. A lot of the trail to Hannegan Camp, Peak, and Copper Ridge is exposed.

-Elevation. We ascended and then descended a lot.  Bring your hiking poles! Plan on elevation.

-Hannegan Peak did not disappoint. We arrived just before sunset. Spectacular! And the views!!!

-Egg Lake. This alpine snow fed lake was a fun and cold retreat on a hot summer day. It’ll take your breath away just jumping in, but you wont regret it!  Watch out for the swimming little black beetles, they bite!  Also note, to get to Egg Lake from the Copper Ridge trail on must descend 300 feet in 1/3 of a mile. (And then ascend that to get out.)

-Parking & trail traffic. We parked about 1/3 mile away from the trailhead. Wednesday there was a LOT of trail traffic. Thursday was not too bad. And Friday was surprisingly the least for trail traffic. There was lots close parking spots available at the trailhead Friday mid-day.

Overall it was an awesome trip. The mountain views are fantastic and plentiful! Enjoy!

Did this as a loop from Hannegan Peak to Copper ridge lookout and then down to boundary camp and then back to hannegan trailhead. This TR has info if someone wants to who wants to do this as a loop from hannegan peak rather than dropping down to Chilliwack river. For the ridge walk above the copper ridge trail bushwhacking, climbing down water stream, vegetable belaying, route finding through thick forest are must have skills else I will recommend just drop down from pass and stay on regular trail. Ice axe not needed as you can go around that steep snow slope with slightly longer travel. Bear spray would also be nice to have as you will not see anyone on that ridge above copper ridge trail. See caltopo link for blue section for ridge walk.

Bugs were terrible the whole day and did not let you rest even for a moment. I have way too many bites through the clothes today.

TH  to Hannegan Peak:

Trail in good shape. Water source at hannegan camp not hannegan pass. Wildflowers galore and awesome views in all direction specially south and east. Just when you leave parking lot you are welcomed by huge valley with waterfalls and this is a long walk to pass with almost very low gain. From Pass to peak it is a steep gain but views kept on getting better.

Hannegan Peak to Copper ridge trail

There is a sheer drop off on east face of Hannegan peak and the Chilliwack river trail is 2000 feet below the peak so for this ridge walk I would highly recommend staying on the west side of the ridge while doing the ridge walk.

Getting down from peak to the north flank is a challenge in itself. There is a one section which is steep class 3 scramble with fall of 100ft or even more if you cannot catch on any rocks as next to the rock face is just loose sand. This downclimb can be easily avoided by going north-west flank towards granite peak and dropping down to scree field below that then traverse west from there. This adds mileage to your plans. Once you hit the ridge you can clearly see the booth path there going north which I followed as much I could. When it disappeared you had to look around to find it again but then it starts entering thick forest (where the east cliff of hannegan ends). The actual trail is still 500 ft or more below you.

Merging back to copper ridge trail is going to be a challenge. The satellitle images show forest which is old so there are much more trees and vegetation there than I had planned for so route finding took a long time there. You can see in satellite image there are two huge rock faces after copper ridge trail has climbed switchbacks you can see trail may be 100 feet below you there but I couldnt find a safe downclimbing spot there. I kept on going north but then started bushwhacking and trying to follow a stream bed from satellite image. The stream was dry with this was steep section. Had to do lot of vegetable belaying here to get down to real trail.

Once back on copper ridge trail I took a breath of relief. I am glad I didnt rely on the bigger stream north of it to get down. This stream which starts from same point as south fork Silesia creek must be avoided to climb down as it is very steep and slipper by just looking at it and it might be impossible to downclimb it without rope or partner. Also I would not recommend any of this with a heavy pack. I had a running vest which made getting through those bushes and trees easier.

Copper ridge trail to lookout:

Trail in good condition overall. There are section of snowfields but they are easy to cross as snow is slushy and they are mostly flat. Met few people who were going to camp at Egg lake and had finishing rods with them. Didn't know egg lake had fish. Views from Silesia campground are great and keeps on getting better.

The last section to lookout is steep and gains almost 1000 feet in a mile. There is some weak melting snow water at the bottom which will dry in few days. From the point I merged till the lowest point below lookout it is almost at same elevation but you gain/drop almost 800 feet or even more going up and down on the ridge. At lookout views are awesome in each direction Mt Baker becomes visible again. Challenger and other peaks nearby still has a lot of snow. The real showstopper is Ruth from this angle along with the Sukshan ridge looks like a huuuge crater.

The hannegan ridge to copper ridge also had too much up and down so you do not save much/gain elevation gain while doing the traverse. Lookout had ranger stationed for this weekend. After exploring the lookout area for 20 minutes and talking to other trail runners who were running the whole copper loop today I headed back. There was 10 miles to go and around 2000ft of gain and it was already 4pm.

Lookout to Boundary camp

The view coming down the copper mountain is great as the trail meanders through the ridge. At lookout you can see the pass and hannegan peak and it is a long way to go from here. Did not meet a single person from here till the intersection of Chilliwack river trail. The trail is in this section is fairly good except few narrow section with steep angle. since I was running low on time couldnt go down to the egg lake or enjoy views as much I would have liked to. Once the trail leaves ridge it goes drops more than 1000 feet and I thought I had missed the junction but the junction is hard to miss. There are water sources just beyond the camp. Marmots were singing in the valley and so I had my snack there around 6:30 and it was cooler there so bugs were not an issue. After resting for a while headed up to pass.

Boundary camp to TH: 

There was still more than 5 miles to go. Bunch of switchbacks to go up to Hannegan pass. Also still lot of snowmelt coming down. You can see caves in the avalanche chutes. you can also see why the trail is so low and not bove the hannegan pass due to the east face of Hannegan peak. Trail is rocky for a while but then becomes softer. Saw a rockfall/rockslide on other side of the trail towards Ruth Arm. The wildflowers were maximum in this section that I has seen the whole day. Saw bunch of backpackers at hannegan pass didnt have time to chat with them from there on just ran the rest of the section in 80 minutes to car finishing around 9pm. Didnt need to use headlamp but it was getting dark in forest so I had it with me just in case.

A day full of type 2 fun. 12 hours car to car. 22 miles 7400ft gain/loss.

360 degree views from lookout in additional links. The 360 degree view from Hannegan peak will explain why it was hard to get to boothpath.

Caltopo link : https://caltopo.com/m/0VG4

Did a 2-night backpacking trip from Hannegan trailhead to nearly the end of Copper Ridge, with the middle day being an out-and-back day hike. We started July 21st and came out July 23rd. Before getting into the details of the hike, I wanted to first mention that I lost my personal camera somewhere along the dirt road to the trailhead. After exiting the trail on the 23rd, I set my camera on the roof of my car (classic, stupid mistake) to load my backpacking gear, and I forgot the camera there. I'm assuming the camera fell off fairly close to the parking lot, but I wasn't able to find it. It may have bounced off the road or been stolen, but if you happen to find a Nikon D3500 anywhere near Hannegan trailhead, please contact WTA and/or take it to the Forest Service ranger station in Glacier. Okay, now on to the trip report.

Day 1
The hike up to Hannegan Pass from the trailhead is a relatively pleasant grade, rising 2000ft in about 4 miles. It is very exposed, though, so make sure you protect yourself from the sun. We started hiking around 8:30am and made it to Hannegan Pass in 2 hours without incident. There is water along this section of the trail, but I wouldn't say it is abundant. Definitely carry enough water with you to make it to the Pass at least. From Hannegan Pass, we hiked a mile down to Boundary Camp (where we saw marmots AND a pika!) and hung a left up Copper Ridge. We ran into a group that mention they had seen a momma bear with cubs hanging around Boundary, so be alert and loud. If you are at all unsure if you should fill up water before starting to hike up the Ridge, just go ahead and fill up at Boundary Camp. There is almost no water between Boundary and Silesia/Egg Lake Camps, and I expect it to become even more scarce in August and September. 

The climb up to the Ridge is a solid set of switchbacks that don't really let up, but they weren't too bad going slow and steady. We were not anticipating the number and size of the hills on top of Copper Ridge, so just know that this trip will test all of your leg muscles and joints each day. We stayed at Silesia Camp, and despite the clouds, the views were absolutely incredible.

Total elevation gain: ~3500ft
Total elevation loss: ~1100ft

Day 2
We used our middle day to hike the length of the Ridge as an out-and-back to our Silesia camp. The hike from Silesia up to Copper Lookout is challenging but very doable - just don't let the distances on the maps fool you into thinking it's a quick walk. We had to cross a few patches of snow that I expect will melt out very soon. Copper Lookout provides some of the best views in the park that you can get to on a regular hiking trail. Plenty of wildflowers along the way, but many seem to have been scorched in the recent heat. There are some overly bold marmots up there with some very cute pups, and someone in my group even saw some ptarmigan. The hike down to Copper Lake is a real knee-jerker on lots of loose rock, so be careful. There is plenty of water at Copper Lake and after. Once we passed the Lake, we kept going for another 3-ish miles, which was really very easy. The trail mostly evens out and doesn't rise or fall much before it starts going down into the Chilliwack Valley, but we didn't make it that far. 

This was the first day we really dealt with any bugs, too. They seemed to be pretty abundant at Copper Lake and farther north, mostly little flies and mosquitoes. They weren't too bothersome, but I was wearing long pants and sleeves too.

If you are hiking from Copper Lake towards Silesia/Egg Lake Camps, make sure to fill up on water around Copper Lake. The climb up to the Lookout is tough and you may use up your water before you'd like if you're already low.

Total elevation gain: ~3000ft
Total elevation loss: ~3000ft

Day 3
Our hike out was just a reverse of our first day, but way buggier. Things were fine until we started hiking down from Hannegan Pass, which we hit mid-day when everything was warmed up. Stopping on that last section of trail, even just to let other hikers pass, meant getting swarmed by flies and mosquitos. They weren't too painful, but they were extremely annoying. I also got pretty sunburnt on my face there. 

Total elevation gain: ~1100ft
Total elevation loss: ~3500ft

Summary
Overall, this hike is really some of the best backpacking in the region. Getting a permit is very difficult, though, and conditions now are more like typical mid-August conditions rather than late July. So, for anyone reading this in 2022 or beyond, there may be more snow on the trail in late July in the coming years. Of course, if we keep getting monster heat waves, there may actually be less snow. Definitely pay attention to each summer's weather history in addition to checking trail reports. 

Went out for a two night trip hiking Copper Ridge counter clockwise on 7/15-7/17, and camped at US Cabin first, then Copper Lake. We knew this would be a hard hike given the elevation gain we would be expected to climb on the second dish, and the ranger writing the permit warned us too, but we thought it was doable.

Getting to the Hannegan Pass trailhead was easy enough and the road, even if gravel, was pretty easy to drive even in a sedan.

The trail starts off easy enough through a steady ascent to Hannegan Pass, we found the trail to be in good shape but there was a lot of bugs, interestingly they more or less disappeared once we got to the other side of the pass and entered the National Park.

From there we descended to the valley floor into the dense forest canopy, which was a very welcome shelter from the afternoon sun. There isn't too much to see except the occasional waterfall, but it's a pretty quiet trail away from most day hikers, so we found a lot of solitude hiking to US Cabin.

The campsite is pretty decent, you can get a nice view of the valley if you walk over to the Chilliwack River, and the campsites themselves are quite spacious. You won't even notice the other campers there!

The next day, we got a very early start because we know it would be a difficult day to day the least. We were looking at 14 miles of hiking up 4200' elevation. We started off the trip right away with one of the highlights of the loop, the Chilliwack River Cable Car. It was quite enjoyable and definitely not something you see hiking!

The rest of the riverside trail is rather overgrown and quiet. Since it's so overgrowth and there are numerous blowdowns, wearing long pants is a food idea in this section.

We bumped into just another group in this section. After hitting Indian Creek Camp (and a suspension bridge!), we had to ford the Chilliwack River. At the time of this writing, the water level is a little bit strong and more than knee high, so some caution is warranted. You also want to pay attention to the pink tapes in trees indicating where to go, we had to double back a few times to find the trail there.

Then came the ascent up to Copper Ridge and boy that was a knee torcher! Since we started early we took our time going up, but the trail is indeed quite steep and there's a few downed trees to navigate.

Eventually we made out way to Copper Lake and that was just a beautiful campsite. There is a food storage locker and a high tech composting toilet on-site, so it was great to see so many amenities there! There was a rather friendly deer at our campsite, but we heard from campers that a bear frequented the campground the night before, but we did not see it.

On our third and last day we broke camp early and headed to the Copper Mountain Lookout, where we met with Mashka, who is a volunteer who is staffing the lookout. She provided us with great conversation as we looked at the views of Baker and the North Cascades! It just so happened that the whole valley below us was covered with clouds, and it was really beautiful.

After that it was just a long hike back to the trailhead, and we bumped into a WTA work crew working hard building more drainage on Hannegan Pass.

Overall I loved the trip and the weather conditions were just perfect (cloudy and overcast). If I were to do it again I would add extra nights to explore Whatcom Pass or Hannegan Peak, they looked beautiful from a vantage point, and might be even better there in person!

Sidenote: Please watch where your phone is on the trail! We came across not just one but two misplaced phones on the trip (both close to the trailhead thankfully).