[yew]

Easy Ridge is in the northwest side of North Cascades National Park and is best accessed from the Hannegan Pass trailhead, off the Mt Baker Highway (SR 542) east of Glacier. I took about 2.5 days to do the 29 miles to and fro Easy Ridge with a sidetrip up to Hannegan Peak. First stop was at the Glacier Info Center for a backcountry permit. The hike up to Hannegan Pass was in partly cloudy, but dry weather. Sidetripped up to Hannegan Peak through meadows with wildflowers

Mt Baker Wilderness, Mt Baker Snoqualmie National Forest

and saw a few ptarmigan on the side of the trail below the summit.

North Cascades National Park

A thick, gray wet cloud bumped into the summit and brought in wind and showers. Out came the new GoLite umbrella. It worked well. Even though I'm a shameless fairweather hiker, I wish I would've had one of these over the years when the weather didn't turn out as forecasted. I descended down out of the rain, back down to the pass then down into the deep, wild forests of the upper Chilliwack. Crossed a small creek with tadpoles (?) that look like leaches

Just below but still above Copper Creek, I was seduced by the rumble of a waterfall below the trail so bushwhacked down steep, hard-packed duff clogged with downed wood. I couldn't say "NO" to exploring that.

waterfall on upper Chilliwack River

Pushed on to camp at US Cabin Camp where I got to try out another new piece of gear: Hennessy Backpacker A-sym Ultralight.

The hammock was pretty comfortable. I slept in until 9 am! When I pulled down the food bag from a tree I discovered some rootin’ tootin’ varmint crawled out on a limb and rappelled down to my food bag to nibble through multiple layers of nylon and plastic and got into my dried mangos and craisins. When I went to put on a hiking shoe I touched a slug which slimed the heel cup of the insole. The alcohol stove dried off the insole pretty good. The turnoff to Easy Ridge is marked with a small cairn which is easy to spot if the Park Service "resource" crew (camped at US Cabin the night before) doesn't knock it over(Cough, cough). The ford over the Chilliwack was easy, knee deep at most and not painfully cold

The path up to Easy Ridge is more like a climber’s boot track than an old trail. The brush (mostly huckleberries with tart berries) is worst down at the bottom, above the Chilliwack and Easy Creek. It's steep and it's not easy. A few blowdowns require crawling or significant detours or climbing over. Although I never lost the path, it’s not as straightforward as the Marmot/Grouse Ridge Mt Baker cross-country hike we did last week. 2 hours up to Easy Ridge from the Chilliwack and 1.75 hours down. It's about a 2800 foot gain. It seemed more than that. It was cold, cloudy and windy on Easy Ridge. 2 tents pitched up above the saddle. Made it to about 5600 feet elevation. Good views of Whatcom Pass, Red Face Mtn, Indian Mtn...

North Cascades National Park

and Mineral Mtn...

North Cascades National Park

and west to Hannegan Peak and Ruth.

North Cascades National Park

It’d be fun to continue on toward Easy Peak then traverse west to the pass at the head of Easy Creek and toward Mineral Mountain. This looks like a feasible route. Descend. The NPS trail crew bucked out the trail in between Boundary Camp and Copper Creek Camp on Thursday the 9th as evidenced by chips, scent of bar oil and tool scrapings. That's the best use of my federal tax dollars I've seen firsthand in a long time! It got cold Thursday night at Boundary Camp. I knew the hammock had to have a shortcoming and this was it. Hammocks get a wee bit nippy below 45 degrees or so. I wore all of my clothes and raincoat to bed. The thermometer said it was in the upper 30s at 6:20 am. Burrrrr! I had to wake up early to boogy out 5 miles to the car, then home, then off to work. It was pretty darn pleasant. Morning is a great time to be up and out of the sleeping bag and hiking. It’s often quiet, peaceful and tranquil and the light shines not seen by most dayhikers.

sunrise over Copper Ridge from Boundary Camp near Hannegan Pass

Wildlife is more likely to be out in morning. It seems there are more birds chirping in morning. That’s one thing bettter about backpacking over dayhiking. I’d like to be up out of the sleeping bag at sunrise and out on the trail early more often but that's easier said than done especially when it's cold. Passed a few backpackers and a dayhiker on the way out. The trailhead register showed a lot of people heading to Ruth Mtn.

[Don]

Thanks for the TR and pics! Easy Ridge is a fantastic area. But you're right, you have to pay for the right to enjoy it. It's interesting to see the area not covered in snow (I've only been up there in early season as an approach to Challenger). I had no idea the area sported that type rock. Very cool! So, you didn't make it to Easy Peak? Those are the best views! And tarns on the ridge just beyond provide an excellent camp as lays in their sleeping starring at the Southern Pickets Good stuff!

[Malachai Constant]

Did you check out the old lookout site on the North end of the ridge? It has an interesting view also.

[Tazz]

nice area! I love the columbine shot. thanks for the tr

[yew]

Don & Malachai Constant: No, I did not push on to the top of Easy Peak due to sketchy weather. It looked and felt like it was on the verge of raining. It was cold and windy for August and the Pickets were socked in by thick clouds so there was no point in ascending for better views.

[Magellan]

Thanks for the sweet TR YB. Two questions: Did you have an insulating pad underneath you as you were sleeping in the hammock? Can you reload the two pictures from MSN to flickr so I can see them bigger? The big link does not work on them.

[yew]

[Dayhike Mike]

Nice TR Yew! Thanks!

[Joe]

Thanks for the photos and trip report. I had planned to hike this on a lay over day last week, now I need to go back and finish my plans.