[wildernessed]

Location : Twisp, Wa. near the end of Twisp River Rd. Access : Twisp pass trail / North Lake TH (End of Road CG is closed) Maps : TOPO, GTM - Washington Pass Stats : 9.2 mi, 2500' r/t

Copper Pass - Copper Peak 2008

(Track from 2008)

Twisp Pass - Copper Pass to 5560

(Track off trail 2018) So it came to be that my trip plans changed and I remembered Hit the Trail wanted to go up to Copper Pass and thought well everything looks weeks ahead of time and at this point TR accounts and our recent trips / recons showed many areas surprisingly melted out so I figured why not give it a go at least we can backpack to 5000' near the CG by the River setup a camp and go from there, then I remembered my accounts of the trip we did 10 years ago describing the hike under "nice forest canopy with minimal understory", with a deep narrowing drainage, and I wasn't real sure what to expect from the lack of sun and weather exposure. I all most considered going to a more open Little Bridge Creek basin, but didn't so Hit the Trail and I found ourselves on the Twisp Pass trail around 0900 hr. the wildflowers were out, the trail looked brushed back, and obstacle free all the way to the Copper Pass jct. where we took a quick break and continued heading West on good trail. Somewhere around 4400' snow began in the recesses of the drainage, on the trail at 4600', and consistently covering the trail shortly thereafter by the time we hit the 5000' flat area the terrain was under a mixed bag of snow, the creek was flowing high and over all the flat terrain. Green Trails map shows a creek crossing at the flat area that was not my recollection however we weren't sure it was under snow and I think we trended on the North side of the creek further up it didn't matter though it was all under snow so follow the drainage near the creek and cross where possible. We did ford the river once and managed to cross several other streams trying to head upward and westward but from the start there were very large trees and brush mixed in the snow undermining it along with ponding water on top and transitional streams below so alot of postholing through snow and right / left moving around convoluted snow and tree wells at a certain point we could catch glimpses of the pass which was corniced and while I hoped the rock y upper basin would have melted out the snow was just increasing with no open flat areas for a camp so it was around 1400 and we turned around too much effort for the trip which could be done easily later in the year. I think we did it late Fall in 2008. We came all the way back to the Twisp Pass / Copper pass trail jct and camped in a semi flat area on the South side of the river which had a fire ring, we could of drove home but Hit had a new tent he wanted to try out so we did the fire, morning coffee, short hike out and had another visit to the Twisp Bakery. We still had some quality time in the woods

Good trail to the junction near NF Twisp River then good until snow.

Hit the Trail on the way up.

Lincoln Butte Hit the Trail and I did that a few years back.

Snow depth just kept increasing probably due to the narrow high walled valley and tree cover.

Copper Peak to the NW above somewhere.

NF Twisp River

Copper Spur HV UL 1

Undercover campsite.

Twisp Pass - Copper Pass trail to 5560_1692_edited-1

[Backpacker Joe]

Nice guys. Are the camp grounds along the river road open now? Im a big Poplar Flats fan. I want to get up there and stay in the CG and hike the lakes on both ridge sides of the road.

[HitTheTrail]

I would have to categorize this as an outing that turned into an adventure. Even if we had crossed the river at the correct place I doubt it would have made much difference. Anyway, we got out, got our ration of exercise and I got to test out my new tent. It's a little heavy but has a lot of nice features. So I consider whole thing a semi success.

Starting out

Bear tarcks

Can you see the blonde bear

Hitting snow

We should have crossed the creek below the falls but didn't realize that.

first crossing

Third crossing

AM coffee

This trip sort of set the tone for what happened next. When we got home I took my wife out for a pizza down at the Lemolo Cafe. I was about half way done when I decided to spice it up a bit with crushed red pepper, but the lid was not on tight. What a hot pizza that was.

Pizza pepper disaster

[HitTheTrail]