[olderthanIusedtobe]

I've wanted to do this for a while, finally did it this week. Timing wasn't ideal as the weather crapped out after the first couple of days. Still got some good views. Overall it was a great experience. It was definitely a challenge. 5 days out is my longest backpacking trip thus far. My feet got a bit beat up. It didn't really rain that much but I was dealing with wet brush completely soaking me most of the last 3 days. That wore on my nerves (I hate wet brush with a passion!). Had some equipment malfunctions. But I persisted and I'm glad I did. Drove out and car bivied a little bit up the Glacier Cr. Rd. Tuesday night. Got my permit first thing Wednesday morning with camps at Graybeal, Whatcom, Indian Creek and Copper Lake. Day 1 Good weather. Lots of miles (13 or 14 depending on source), but mostly downhill, wasn't too bad. Opted for the cable car crossing for the novelty of it. Graybeal was deserted, had it to myself. Had a weird experience, on my first attempt to get a line over a tree to hang my food it got hopelessly snagged. I fought with it for probably 1.5 hour, was nearly at my wits end before I finally got it unstuck. Otherwise pleasant night at camp 1. I'll add some photos later. Ruth Mountain just before Hannegan Pass.

Some type of fungus on a tree.

Somewhere between Copper Cr. and US Cabin Camp some views opened up back towards Hannegan Pass. Mineral Mountain for sure, not even sure what this was but it looked cool.

The cable car crossing over the Chilliwack (the river was low enough that fording wouldn't have been a problem, but I've never done a cable car before).

Brush Creek at Graybeal camp was nice and good views of Whatcom at the head of the valley and Easy Ridge directly above.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Day 2 If it thought the first day with hanging food was weird, that was nothing. As I was getting everything packed and was just about to shoulder my pack, suddenly there was water gushing from my drinking tube. There was a huge tear in it, it was nearly severed. I have no idea how that happened, it wasn't leaking at all the day before. I wasn't aware of doing anything that would've torn it. I tried wrapping tape around it but it was still leaking badly, pretty much soaked my clothes on my left side. I decided it was a lost cause and went without it the rest of the trip. Later on that day I found one of my pack straps (on the same side as the drinking tube) was nearly completely severed as well. I almost feel like I got sabotaged, it's just too strange that both pieces of gear got so badly damaged without me being aware of anything that happened that could've caused it. I wrapped some tape around the strap and it held together for the rest of the trip. Anyway, was up to camp 2 below Whatcom Pass quickly. Grabbed a site that a nice family of 4 was just vacating (they started at Ross Lake and were going out via Copper Ridge, I thought that was really neat). Spent the rest of the day out rambling. Went a little bit up Whatcom Arm. I could see most of the Challenger Glacier (awesome!), but the summit was hiding in clouds all day. It popped out very briefly, then was gone for good. After the Arm went up to the Taptos, got a good tour up there. I was wondering which lake I'd seen all the really cool pics from, none of them looked like the right perspective. I finally found the straggler up higher near the far end of Red Face Mountain's ridge. Funny that it's a puny shallow not very attractive lake, but it has a great vantage of Whatcom Peak and Mt. Challenger. On the way back down I decided to check out the Middle Lakes. I know I've seen plenty of TR's mentioning the Taptos but I don't think I've heard anything about the Middles. Do not skip those if you are up there! They're great, maybe even better than the Taptos. This was probably the best day of the trip. Nice creek on the way up to camp with a few small falls and some flower displays.

There isn't much of a view RIGHT at Whatcom Pass, you have to go up a little one direction or the other. Shortly up Whatcom Arm you get a better view down the Little Beaver valley and up at Challenger.

And then it was over towards the Tapto Lakes. Views back to Whatcom Pk. and Challenger.

Various pics of the Tapto Lakes.

Make sure you push on to the furthest lake to the northwest if you are up there. The rest of them are fairly much grouped together, this one is an outlier.

Zoom in of hanging glacier on Whatcom.

Found this large pile of scat on the way back out. My foot for perspective.

This might sound strange, but the Taptos reminded me just a bit of the Bathtub Lakes, just with a much more dramatic backdrop. Maybe it's just me.

I figured I still had enough energy to check out the Middle Lakes and I don't know if I'll ever be out that way again, so I better do it. That was the correct choice. I highly recommend it if anyone is up there. Very nice stroll out thru meadowy benches, partly along a trail and then easy x-country, only a little bit of talus to cross. While Challenger was still partially obscured, immediately east of it was much better. Eiley-Wiley Ridge I believe, with Luna Peak peaking over the top of it. That was a fantastic view, I couldn't get enough of it.

Followed my nose to a overview of the higher Middle. Still partially iced up.

Beautiful drainage between the two lakes with some flowers.

And then the lower lake. Wow!

Got to enjoy that lovely stroll back across the benches.

Challenger was still hiding but the Glacier was getting lit up nicely.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Day 3 I was going to head back up towards the Pass again in the morning if the weather looked decent, but it didn't. Got rained on a bit and got doused by wet brush. Grr. I did see a bear just before Graybeal on the way down, that was a bonus. The suspension bridge at Indian Creek freaked me out just a little bit, that thing really gets rocking and rolling as you cross it. Non eventful afternoon/evening at camp. I went downstream just a bit to check out the crossing of the Chilliwack. There were sockeye salmon spawning by the ford, that was cool. Didn't have the camera but I figured I'd get them the next morning. I really wanted to take a quick bath in Indian Creek but it was cold and wet and I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I saw a few people near Whatcom, after that I didn't see anyone all day until a couple that was also camped at Indian Cr. Had the camera packed away most of the day. Here's the suspension bridge.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Day 4 Forded the Chilliwack first thing, then a lot of grinding uphill towards Copper Ridge. Didn't see anyone all day until after I set up camp at Copper Lake and went up to the Lookout. The same couple from the night before was at Copper Lake, I got to chat with them a little while when I got back down to camp. It was another day dealing with wet brush nearly constantly, but the sun came out for a while once I got out in the open on the ridge. There were incredible abundant berries I gorged myself on all during the day. Copper Lake is fairly pretty. I thought I would run up to the lookout while the weather was still halfway decent. I mistimed it a bit, it was totally fogged in by the time I got up there. The Ranger was out patrolling, the building was locked. I would catch him the next morning. Rained off and on (even hailed for a few moments) the rest of the afternoon and night. I'd gotten my tent dried out when I first set up camp but that didn't last long. Spawning sockeye.

Mosaic of moss and some other kind of ground cover.

When I wasn't grumping too much about the wet brush I kind of enjoyed strolling through the mossy damp woods.

Eventually got into the open with some partial clearing and views of Mineral Mtn., Whatcom Pk., Bear Mtn., Mt. Redoubt and vaious others.

Just before Copper Lake there was a nice creek crossing the trail with a cool falls above.

Copper Lk. was fairly nice.

Like I said it was foggy by the time I got up near the Lookout. Lots of marmots to watch at least.

And back down at home for the night. A lake with a peninsula is almost as good as a lake with an island.

Lots of clouds, high and low that evening.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Day 5 Woke up fairly early, got packed up and headed out. It was even foggier heading up to the Lookout than the day before. I got to hang out inside and chat with the Ranger for a while, he was friendly. After that just plugged away getting back to the trailhead. No views to be had, too bad as I know Copper Ridge is famous for that. Oh well. Saw a few people along the way, as soon as I dropped down the other side of Hannegan Pass I ran into the hordes on their way up. I had the good fortune to chat with a guy that is doing the Pacific Northwest Trail. That was really interesting hearing about the trail from him. It's not completely established yet and not many folks have done it so far (he said only 10 are registered with the PNT organization this year, as opposed to 1500 for the PCT). He did the PCT a couple years ago and was contrasting the 2 trails. Anyway good talking with him. There was a WTA crew hard at work on the trail between Hannegan Pass and the TH. It was kind of a classic day in the Northwest, cloudy, cool, rainy off and on. Not so fun to be out in but that's what makes it the NW. I was glad to be done but a great trip all in all. With side trip rambling I figure I was somewhere between 50-55 miles. More fog the last day, but I found a few nice flower patches.

[contour5]

Super nice TR. I've had the Middles on my radar for a little while now. Nice to see some more pictures. And really good ones, too. Thanks for posting. Sorry to hear about your water system. Any sharp metal on that cable car, maybe?

[Distel32]

Such a great area, thanks for all the pics; just means you'll have to go back again in clearer weather

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[cascadetraverser]

Great trip and great area; Camped at Middle a month ago and agree it is an amazing place....Looks like you got the weather and views!

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[olderthanIusedtobe]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgearjunkie.com%2FPNT&ei=h-gFVIqnDrDmiwL8roCYCA&usg=AFQjCNHwmSerQAk_DSW2H-Taa-eh9R5s1Q This is a link for the guy I met doing the PNT. The blog is not caught up. He was walking down the road for the Hannegan Pass TH towards Hwy 542. Had to go uphill to the Lake Ann TH and then take Swift Creek down to Baker Lake. I offered him a ride but he's determined to walk all the miles including roads.

[RichP]

Very nice. I can see that I need to get back out there someday and finish that loop.

[mike]

I would do it clockwise to avoid that slog up copper ridge.

[olderthanIusedtobe]