Monday night I got home from my fastpacking trip with Cary. Mom had asked if I wanted to go backpacking in the North Cascades the following week and I said sure. So when I got home, I ate dinner and started packing. Tuesday morning Mom and I took off for Glacier, Washington to pick up a permit and start our trip. We reached the trailhead around 4:30 and hike the 4 miles up to Hannegan Pass where we spent the first night. Of course, it wasn't dark yet so we decided to pitch the tent and head up Hannegan Peak before calling it a day. When we got back to the tent at 8:30, it was pretty dark.
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| A mouse |
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| This little guy was pretty small. Mice sure are cute...until they get into your car! |
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| Paintbrush |
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| Ruth Mountain |
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| Huckleberries |
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| Ruth Mountain |
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| Evening light |
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| Lots of huckleberries this trip |
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| Climbing up Hannegan Peak |
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| Looking back toward Hannegan Pass |
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| Sunset from Hannegan Peak |
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| Mom near the top of Hannegan Peak |
Day two we left Hannegan Pass and descended toward Boundary (the boundary of North Cascades National Park). After the quick downhill, we began climbing up to Copper Ridge where we would spend most of the day. Most people camp on Copper Ridge which is what we were hoping to do, but since we got a last minute permit, we had to camp in the bottom at Bear Creek. However, we enjoyed the Copper Ridge View for most of the day and got to walk past the beautiful Egg Lake and Copper Lake.
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| Thank you brushing crew! |
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| Looking back up toward Hannegan Peak |
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| An old insulator. There is an old lookout on Copper Ridge |
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| Mom on Copper Ridge |
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| Egg Lake |
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| A little bit smoky |
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| A ptarmigan |
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| Copper Lake |
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| We filled our bottles and had a quick snack at Copper Lake |
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| The trail was washed out in this section |
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| A chipmunk |
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| mushrooms |
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| Some sort of Bolete |
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| Probably 8 inches in diameter |
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| Excellent trail leading to Bear Creek |
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| This had to be one heck of a job to cut |
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| Some brushing needed |
Thursday morning we hiked 2 miles back along the Chilliwack River from Bear Camp. After following the Chilliwack for another couple miles, we headed up toward Tapto Lakes where we would spend the third night. After leaving the Chilliwack we began the climb was up to Watcomb Pass which was steady, but never too steep. Upon reaching Watcomb Pass, we took a quick break to eat, then followed the use trail up to Tapto Lakes. There were a few people camping at Tapto lakes, so we decided to camp on a rock outcropping above the lakes. We still had a bit of time left in the day so we headed up Red Face Mountain. For those of you interested in doing the trip, we did not go up to the true summit of Red Face Mountain, but instead climbed to high point at the far end of the ridge. This looked more doable and fun, since the summit of Red Face looked like we needed to climb a big talus field then do some scrambling near the top.
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| A conk |
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| A frog |
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| Somehow this frog managed to flip himself on his back when I tried to take his picture. Not a good move when a predator approaches. |
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| A nice marsh. I was hoping to see something |
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| A tail |
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| A Bleeding Heart |
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| Lobster mushrooms |
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| A lone pine drop |
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| Climbing up toward Watcomb Pass |
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| Watcomb Pass |
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| Challenger Glacier |
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| Climbing up toward Tapto Lakes |
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| Tapto Lakes |
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| Mom with Red Face Mountain down the ridge |
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| Looks like I got the focus locked on the needles instead of the cone |
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| That's better |
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| A nest |
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| One of the Tapto Lakes |
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| Evening light |
We left Tapto Lakes early in the morning as we wanted to make it back down to Watcomb Pass so we could get water. Once we reached Watcomb Pass, we continued our descent until we found a nice spot by the creek to eat breakfast. After that we continued down to the Chilliwack River which was much quicker than the ascent. We headed up river and climbed back to Hannegan Pass. This section was relatively dull as we were in the bottom without may views. However, we did get to cross the river on a cable car which was pretty cool. After we reached Hannegan Pass we climbed toward Ruth Mountain before having dinner back at the pass.
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| Heading back down to Watcomb Pass |
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| Lots of conks on this log |
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| The cable car |
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| Speeding along across the river....actually the crossing probably took 2 or 3 minutes, it was slow. |
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| Along the Chilliwack |
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| Mom leading the climb up to Hannegan Pass |
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| Near the boundary of North Cascades National Park |
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| Back at Hannegan Pass |
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| Lots of huckleberries |
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| A fairly steep route to the ridge |
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| The wet weather approaches |
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| Mom and a rainbow |
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| A double rainbow |
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| Looking up toward Ruth Mountain |
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| Here comes the rain |
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| The rock here was all smashed to pieces yet mostly retained the shape the original larger rock |
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| I believe that's Mt. Shushkan |
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| After 25 years, the old TNF tent has lost some of its water proof qualities |
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| Fortunately the puddles didn't drip much at all....however, this is now an exclusively dry weather tent. |
The last morning we packed up quickly and headed down from Hannegan Pass back to the car. We didn't have hot breakfast since we had run out of fuel the night before. Typically this isn't an issue, but we were trying to use up a few old fuel can so it can be hard to judge how much fuel is left. Obviously there was a little less fuel in there than we though. Anyhow, it was a damp but dry 4 mile descent to the car. It took us around 2 hours and soon we were on the road home.
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| The dry spot beneath our tent |
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| Ruth Mountain |
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| Low clouds in the valley |
