With such great weather in the forecast, we decided on a 3 day trip to Copper Ridge. When we arrived at the Glacier R.S. at 8:15AM, both campsites were already taken for Silesia, so we reserved a site at Egg Lake. Silesia has the best views, but Egg Lake is the only water source in the area. It is a very small lake, complete with a pair of coots.
Even though we had been up the Hannegan trail 2 months ago, the Fall colors made it enjoyable. From Hannegan Pass it is another 4.5 miles to Egg Lake. After setting up camp, we climbed back up to Silesia for afternoon photos.
Day 2 was for exploring Copper Ridge as much as possible. What a beautiful area! We wished we had brought a panoramic camera. To the North is Copper Mt., N.E. is Redoubt and Bear Mt., S.E. is Whatcom Peak, Mt. Challenger, the Picketts, and to the S.W. are Icy Peak, Ruth Mt., and Mt. Shuksan.
After a snack at the lookout (which is closed for the season) we dropped down 1,000ft to pretty Copper Lake. About .25 miles north of the lake the trail crosses a nice stream with a small waterfall. Just beyond this stream we headed off trail N-NW, climbing through three terraced basins on good rock and a few steep heather slopes. We were heading for the ridge which runs to Copper Mt. We reached the ridge crest at 6600ft., and picked up the faint boot tread which runs this ridge from near the lookout all the way to the summit of Copper Mt. We continued north on the ridge to the top of HP 6855. We were now at our designated turn around time, so followed the ridge route back to the lookout, and returned to camp. It took only 3 hours to return to Egg Lake, so in retrospect we should have continued to the summit of Copper. Oh well....next time.
The hike out today was uneventful, except we did not want to leave Copper Ridge. We passed 4 groups of backpackers on their way in.
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