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yew non-technical
Joined: 12 Dec 2005 Posts: 1173 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellingham |
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yew
non-technical
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Sat Aug 11, 2007 1:34 am
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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.
"I aint jokin woman, I got to ramble...We gonna go walkin through the park every day." - Led Zeppelin
"I aint jokin woman, I got to ramble...We gonna go walkin through the park every day." - Led Zeppelin
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Don Member
Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 2013 | TRs | Pics Location: Fairwood, WA |
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Don
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Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:43 am
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Malachai Constant Member
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 16086 | TRs | Pics Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny |
Did you check out the old lookout site on the North end of the ridge? It has an interesting view also.
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Tazz Member
Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 7902 | TRs | Pics
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Tazz
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Sat Aug 11, 2007 8:58 am
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nice area! I love the columbine shot. thanks for the tr
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yew non-technical
Joined: 12 Dec 2005 Posts: 1173 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellingham |
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yew
non-technical
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Sat Aug 11, 2007 11:41 am
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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.
"I aint jokin woman, I got to ramble...We gonna go walkin through the park every day." - Led Zeppelin
"I aint jokin woman, I got to ramble...We gonna go walkin through the park every day." - Led Zeppelin
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Magellan Brutally Handsome
Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 13117 | TRs | Pics Location: Inexorable descent |
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Magellan
Brutally Handsome
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Sat Aug 11, 2007 9:27 pm
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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.
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yew non-technical
Joined: 12 Dec 2005 Posts: 1173 | TRs | Pics Location: Bellingham |
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yew
non-technical
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Sun Aug 12, 2007 10:17 am
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Magellan wrote: | 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. |
Magellan:
There was a cheap 3/4 length foam pad under me in the hammock which left my feet and head in contact with cold nylon. The 3/4 length foam pad is fine when it's warm, above 50 degrees and it's better than a Z-Rest or Ridge Rest for spreading out the hammock since it's more rigid. But when it gets below the low 40s or so, the cold nylon is uncomfortable even with longjohns under pants and fleece socks. And the down quilt doesn't quite wrap all the way around so there were drafts. I just ordered a full length Big Agnes insulated air mattress on sale from Campmor. Hopefully, this mattress will let me use the hammock down to the coldest summertime temperatures for our region.
As for uploading the pics on MSN to Flickr...um..uuhh...I don't know...Nah, I don't think so. I have dial-up Internet access so Flickr takes a long time. I only put the good pics up on Flickr. If there's one pic in particular you want to look at I can do that.
"I aint jokin woman, I got to ramble...We gonna go walkin through the park every day." - Led Zeppelin
"I aint jokin woman, I got to ramble...We gonna go walkin through the park every day." - Led Zeppelin
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Dayhike Mike Bad MFKer
Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Posts: 10958 | TRs | Pics Location: Going to Tukwila |
Nice TR Yew! Thanks!
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke
"Ignorance is natural. Stupidity takes commitment." -Solomon Short
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Joe Member
Joined: 29 Jun 2002 Posts: 819 | TRs | Pics Location: Kent |
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Joe
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Tue Aug 14, 2007 7:40 pm
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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.
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