Copper Ridge/Chilliwack River Trail, North Cascades - Part 1

It's that time of year again! And after a two-year hiatus, Ashley, Andrew, Tom and I were hitting the trail for a backcountry backpacking adventure. This time we selected the 55km Copper Ridge/Chilliwack River trail in the North Cascades National Park in Washington State.

Unlike our previous backpacking adventures, the North Cascades National Park does not allow you to reserve backpacking permits in advance-- they are issued on a first-come-first-serve basis within 24 hours of your start day. I personally found this concept very stressful. What if you arrive for a permit, and none are available?

Our plan was to drive to Kamloops on Saturday, drive to Abbotsford on Sunday morning, and on Sunday afternoon, cross the border to secure ourselves a hiking permit for Monday morning. After all, there can't be THAT many hikers like ourselves, starting a hike on Monday morning, right? However, we did not anticipate the 45+ minute wait at the border (the border crossing sign said 20 minutes, dammit!), and as the minutes ticked away, we realized we were not going to make it to the ranger station before it closed for the day. So we headed back to the hotel and called the ranger station. Andrew and Ashley got through just before closing and were told our preferred campsites were not going to work-- all the campsites on the ridge were full for the first night, but we could probably hike our route in reverse order, if we arrived at opening on Monday morning.

Day 1 - Hannegan Trailhead to Copper Creek Campsite (12.1km)

Photo Credit

Photo Credit 

After a painfully early rise and shine, we arrived at the ranger stations at around 8:15am. There were two groups ahead of us in line already, but we managed to secure three campsites for the night four days, three nights of hiking. Our third day of hiking was not ideal-- almost 19km of hiking, and over 4000ft of elevation gain. The more ideal campsite (which would have put us at 13km of hiking) was full, so we had to tack on an extra 6km. But nevertheless, we were happy to have our hiking permit in hand. We were on our way.

We hiked the loop in a counterclockwise direction, starting in the Chilliwack River Valley, then working our way up to Copper Ridge. The elevation profile above shows the trail hiked in the opposite (clockwise) direction to the way we travelled. But it still gives you a good idea of the kind of terrain we were hiking.

Team Greig ready to go!

As we left the parking lot, we were bright-eyed and enthusiastic, and most of all, clean. And yes, as I strapped on my backpack after the two-year backpacking hiatus, and a felt the full weight of the extra 25-30lbs I was strapping on, I found myself wondering, "Am I crazy?! I'm going to hike 55km with all this extra weight!?" But it's amazing, after the first few kilometers, your body adapts, and you don't really feel the weight anymore.

Our first day of hiking was relatively easy. We ascended a gentle incline for the first 6.4km (4 miles), and slowly made our way out of the valley vegetation into a more alpine-like elevation. There was still snow on the peaks around us, but there were plenty of flowers in bloom and small waterfalls to keep us interested.

When we reached the peak of our first ascent, Hannegan Pass, we began the relatively steep descent towards Boundary Camp. Boundary Camp sits on the edge of Mt. Baker Snoqualmie National Forest and the North Cascades National Park.

Entering North Cascades National Park.

Trail deviates into the Chilliwack River Valley.

From this point, we descended another 4.5km (2.5miles) into the Chilliwack River Valley, before we reached our first stopping point on the trip, Copper Creek Campsite. Copper Creek was the busiest campsite we encountered during our trip-- even so, there was only a group of six and another couple in addition to our group of four. We called it an early night. I coughed and hacked through most of the night (did I mention I was sick for this entire trip?). Needless to say, no one was rested come morning.

Day 2 - Copper Creek Campsite to Indian Creek Campsite (11.4km)

Tom and I ready to start Day 2.

Day 2 was our easiest day of hiking. We had the shortest distance to cover, only 11.4km, and it was essentially all flat along the river valley.  Easily could have equated to boring, but there were plenty of attractions to keep us interested along the way. We encountered our first point of interest about 5km into our hike-- a cable car to cross the Chilliwack River!

In all honesty, we probably could have forded the river without any problems. The cable car is really meant for earlier in the season when the river is high from runoff. But seriously, how many times in your life do you get to cross a river in a cable car? The choice was easy, even if unecessary.

Ashley climbing up to the cable car platform.

Ashley and I hauling the cable car from the opposing river bank.

Tom hauling us across in the cable car.

  

Ashley and Andrew realizing they left Ashley's hiking poles on the platform.

Hauling the cable car was an exhausting task, even though I left most of the heavy-duty work to Tom and Andrew. But Andrew was especially exhausted when he had to go back across to pick up their forgotten hiking poles.

We crossed over several tributaries to the Chilliwack River, and I was repeatedly impressed by the trail infrastructure along the way. We didn't even have to pay for our backpacking permit-- the only thing we paid to enjoy the trail was $5/day for parking.

 

Me crossing the World's Most Wobbly Suspension Bridge.

After only 4.5 hours of hiking, we found ourselves at our Day 2 destination, the Indian Creek campsite. There were only two other couples at this campsite, and the campsites were situated with enough distance that you barely knew anyone else was there. 

Temporary Home Sweet Home.

Ashley and Andrew cooking dinner.

We set up camp and enjoyed some lunch by the creek, and then spent some time relaxing, reading, and washing up in the ice-cold water. We also encountered a father and son as we were eating lunch who had travelled from the nearby US Cabin campsite-- only to discover that their tent had either fallen out of their pack along the trail, or they had failed to pack it when they left that morning. They were eating a quick lunch before heading back to track it down.

Day 3 and 4 to follow soon in Part 2. Stay tuned!

Third Time's the Charm - Crypt Lake

Our third attempt at hiking Crypt Lake Trail in Waterton finally happened this past weekend.

Our first attempt was in June of 2013-- it was too snowy, so we hiked to Goat Lake instead. Our second attempt was interrupted by Jeff's Jeep dying on the way to Waterton... We hiked Bertha Lake instead.

But this time... This time nothing could stop us from hiking Crypt Lake!

Our hiking group, originally five back in 2013-- myself, Tom, Ashley, Jeff and Jill had expanded to eight. Now including Jeff's girlfriend, Julie, Jill's boyfriend, Chintan, and Ashley's friend, Megan. And if I may say so, they were an excellent and enthusiastic group of hikers! We all drove up to Mountain View outside of Waterton National Park on Friday night after work to spend the night at Ashley's parent's cabin-- some of us meeting for the first time on our arrival.

Saturday morning started with a trip to the Waterton townsite to buy tickets on the water shuttle to Crypt Landing-- the trailhead for the hike. For a whopping $21/person (return-trip) the shuttle takes you for a 15 minute ride across the lake. Normally there are a 9:00am and 10:00am shuttle. On this particular day there ended up being 3-4 for boats, because they hike was so popular!

Waterton Lake in the morning.

The Crypt Lake trail is about 18km round trip, with 2300ft of elevation gain. Along the way, there were stunning vistas, waterfalls aplenty, and brightly coloured wildflowers sprouting along the paths. The trail was not overly challenging-- properly somewhere between moderate-strenuous. Strenuous only because of the overall length of the trail. The trail itself was a relatively gentle grade-- at least compared with some of the other hikes we've done!


Initially, about 120 people disembark from the boat at the same time. As a result, the first few kilometers on the trail you felt like an ant in a never-ending line of hikers. But eventually the groups pulled apart according to their skill level, and we continued up the trail on our own.

Wildflowers below a waterfall.

Emerging from the treeline.

The highlight of the hike really came near the end midway point of the hike, where you climb up a steel ladder, squeeze through a tunnel in the mountain, and come out the other end holding on to cables secured into the rock face.

Tunnel entrance via steel ladder.

Julie climbing up the steel ladder.

Hiking group at the mouth of the tunnel.

Jill and I holding on to cables in the rock face.

When we emerge out the other side of the tunnel and cables, it was just a short jaunt to our final destination-- Crypt Lake!

Crypt Lake Marker.

We joined the other hundreds of hikers relaxing on the shores of Crypt Lake for a laid back lunch. Several parties had brought small dogs with them, so we watched a small dachshund wiggling around nervously, and a spaniel obsessive compulsively chasing a stick thrown out in the lake by anyone he could convince to throw the stick.

Crypt Lake.

After lunch we all headed down to a large chunk of ice on the shore of the lake. There was a shelf of ice below that water that give the ice a strange glowing blue colour-- much like you'd imagine an iceberg to look like. Of course, a snowball fight ensued, before we headed back to collect our bags and begin the trek back to the boat pick-up. As we were collecting out bags, part of the ice shelf collapsed into the water. If anyone had been standing on it when it happened (which was where Tom had been standing minutes before), they would have slid right into the water for an unwanted dip in the glacier-fed lake. Dodged a bullet on that one!

Crypt Lake shore ice.

We convinced a small girl to take a group photo for us (which she did, while remaining 100% silent, even when we thanked her profusely).

Group shot!

It's amazing how you manage to miss views, depending on the direction you're hiking in. As we descended back into the family, we were treated to another beautiful view full of blue skies and lush vegetation. With a hiking group so large, we saw absolutely no wildlife, except for a few errant squirrels.

We took an offshoot trail into Hell Roaring Canyon on our way back to the boat landing. It was a bit steeper than the regular trail, and took a little longer than the main trail, but we made it back in plenty of time to catch the boat home. 

Tom and I waiting for the boat home.

 Crypt Lake was a great hike! Well worth the year long wait, and two prior attempts!

P.S. We got a new camera. You like? Some of the group photos are from Jeff and Megan's cameras, but the rest are ours!

The Hair-Raising Adventures of Foxy Foxington

Meet Foxy Foxington. Foxy was a $12.95 impulse purchase at Chapters that has resulted in a few minutes of delightful diversion at work each day.

Handsome but hairless,  Foxy was on a quest to grow one magnificient head of hair.

First, his head needed to be soaked in water.

 Foxy Foxington

Next, in the most morbid of steps, his head needed to be covered with a plastic bag for 4-5 days. One might think that putting a plastic bag over his head would be a bad, bad idea... But the bag provided a trap for humidity to get his luscious head of hair sprouting.

  

Foxy inside his own personal sauna (aka plastic bag).

And what do you know? By the fourth day, Foxy's hair was taking root!

  

Foxy's first sprouts.

At this point, my work time diversion was rudely interrupted by the weekend. I filled up his water supply to the maximum, and hoped for the best over my two day absence. When I arrived at work on Monday morning, I was pleased to see that Foxy's hair had gone wild!

One week of Foxy's growing.

Foxy required a little bit of foxscaping. He had a few errant face and eyeball sprouts that needed to be plucked. And he also had a serious bald-spot in the middle of his head. So I filled up his water supply and let him grow.

By the next day, Foxy's bald spot was filling in, and he was ready for his first hait cut!

 Foxy's first hair cut.

And two days later...

 Foxy feeling pretty.

With the long weekend approaching, I filled up Foxy's water, and gave him a buzz cut. One of the best parts of giving Foxy a haircut is that it fills my office with the smell of fresh cut grass. For a moment, I feel like I'm outside somewhere... Instead of chained to my desk!

Foxy sporting his new buzz cut.

God, I love Foxy Foxington! He sucks down water quite quickly, so I hope he makes it through the four-day weekend!

Ptarmigan Cirque

Last weekend, Tom and I did a short hike on Sunday afternoon. We drove out to Kananaskis Country near the Highwood Pass to hike Ptarmigan Cirque. This is a family friendly hike-- about 700ft of elevation gain (mostly at the beginning), and only 4.5km round-trip.

The short hike was in effort to toughen up my blister-prone feet before our annual backpacking trip in August. That hike will span 54km over 4 days in the North Cascades National Park in Washington State.

During the first 20 minutes or so, it rained a little. But they were short showers, and we were mostly sheltered by the trees.

When we emerged from the treeline, there was an open meadow filled with wildflowers and a bubbling brook. The trail was very busy with Sunday-afternoon hikers, so we didn't have to worry too much about bears.

We were treated to blue skies for the rest of the hike, and the chattering of gophers all around us.

Tom and I hiked up a little higher to check out the cirque. A cirque is a bowl-like or ampthitheatre-like valley that is formed at the head of a valley glacier by erosion. The cirque was full of loose scree, with a bit of snow that hasn't had the opportunity to melt yet.

 

Overall the hike took about 1.5 hours. It was a nice afternoon outing to end the weekend.

I am hoping to get two more hikes in before out North Cascades hike. Hopefully one more next weekend on the August long weekend, followed by a third attempt to hike Crypt Lake in Waterton National Park the following weekend.

West Coast Weekend

I don't have a lot of holidays planned this summer, and I can hardly believe that it is already mid-July. It seems like the winter and spring flew by, and suddenly the summer is half gone already too!

My first mini-trip of the summer was to Vancouver for Tom's grandma's joint birthday party. Tom's grandma, Ethel, is turning 94 in August. Her older sister, Auntie V is turning 97. Her youngest sister, Marg, will be 82, and Uncle Walter is turning an undetermined age in September (somewhere between 82 and 94). Yes-- this family has some amazing longevity.

Auntie V, Ethel and Uncle Walter.

We celebrated their birthdays at the River Rock Casino by stuffing ours to the point of uncomfortableness at the buffet brunch. There was everything you could imagine. Omelet, corn dogs, cabbage rolls, steamed pork buns, perogies, soft serve ice cream... You name it, they had it. I feel bloated just thinking about it.

And just when we couldn't possibly imagine eating any more food... We cut the cake!

Birthday cake. Blerg.

Following the ritual birthday stuffing, Andrew, Ashley, Tom and I decided we would attempt the Grouse Grind on Grouse Mountain. The Grouse Grind is a 2.9km trail up the face of Grouse Mountain that covers approximately 2800ft of elevation gain. This is the equivalent of about 2830 stairs, and takes the average hiker between 1.5-2 hours to complete.

It was smokin' hot in Vancouver on the weekend. And as we changed out of our fancy birthday clothes in the parking lot, the asphalt felt steamy, and waves of heat could be seen coming off it. But thankfully, the trail itself was not too bad. It was under tree cover and was relatively cool-- at least compared to the soaring temperatures in the parking lot.

Grouse Grind Trail (basically, straight up).

Considering our full bellies, we made pretty good time-- arriving at the top in under an hour and a half. I couldn't believe how busy the trail was!

I also couldn't believe how unprepared some people were for the trail. Dresses, jeans, open toes shoes! I cringe to think of it!

The Greig's at the top of the Grind.

Much to my surprise, the view from the top of Grouse Mountain is beautiful! It seems silly to be surprised, but the last time I was up Grouse Mountain it was wet and rainy, and there was fog and clouds as far as the eye could see. During that first visit, I didn't even realize what a view of the city we could have had. 

View from the top of Grouse Mountain.

 Downhill travel on the Grouse Grind is prohibited, so we forked up our $10 a piece to take the gondola back to the base.

Then we headed to Tom and Andrew's cousin's house so we could stuff ourselves with chicken wings and homemade lasagna. As you can tell, the theme of this weekend was eating.

On our last day in Vancouver, Monday, we decided to enjoy the sun by heading out to Lynn Canyon for some swimming.

Having experienced the joys of squat toilets in China, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw this sign in the Lynn Canyon washroom:

No squatting on the flush toilets!

While squat toilets were bizarre for me in Asia, flush toilets are apparently equally confounding to foreign tourists visiting Canada. I guess there are so many tourists who try to use flush toilets as squat toilets (how does that even work!?), they had to post signs!

 If any of you have been to Lynn Canyon before, then you know that the water is cold. COLD. C-O-L-D.

I've never been good at swimming in cold water. My mom used to make me wear a t-shirt over my swimsuit when I was in swimming lessons because my lips would turn purple from the cold water. It probably took me 15-20 minutes to ease myself into the water in Lynn Canyon. And even then, the water was so intensely cold, it made my wrists throb and ache-- like what I imagine carpal tunnel syndrome feels like!

Boulders in Lynn Canyon.

Waders in Lynn Canyon.

Andrew, Ashley and Tom were brave enough to swim up the canyon to check out the waterfall, but I stayed behind and watched some of the cliff jumpers working up the nerve to jump into the plunge pools.

The Greig's at Lynn Canyon.

In the late afternoon, we headed to the airport so we could catch our flights home. Overall, Vancouver and Richmond treated us well.

Mount Baker.

As we left Vancouver, we had a great view of Mount Baker from the airplane. We will be hiking in the North Cascades National Park in mid-August, and I fully expect that there will be more exceptional view of Mount Baker before the summer is done.