Results 1 to 5 of 5
  1. #1
    New Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    St. Louis, MO
    Hammock
    DIY with integrated bugnet
    Tarp
    DIY Silpoly
    Insulation
    DIY TQ and UQ
    Suspension
    DIY Straps/Slings
    Posts
    4

    North Cascades - Copper Ridge Loop and Whatcom Pass - August 2018

    North Cascades Copper Ridge Loop and Whatcom Pass Trip Report

    Dates: August 26th to September 1st
    6 Days and 5 nights total, 5 days and 4 nights in the park.
    Mileage: ~ 45 total miles. I managed to clock 58 total miles with side excursions

    Route: Hannegan Trailhead clockwise through Copper Ridge Loop with an out and back to Whatcom Pass. Used the cable car when moving from Whatcom to US Cabin but could have easily forded the river there. We debated trying to get into the park on day 1 but with logistics it didn’t work. In the end probably a good idea to have a more relaxed start since several of us had new gear and were not used to hiking together.

    Campsites
    Day 1: Douglas Fir (outside the park) – Nice state run campground. The spot we had was right by the river and was secluded from other sites.
    Day 2: Silesia – Gorgeous camp high on the ridge. Water was down at Egg Lake which was a bit of a hike down and back up. Otherwise it was a perfect spot with great views.
    Day 3: Indian Creek – Forested camp site. Not much of a view, but the trees themselves were beautiful.
    Day 4: Whatcom Pass – Was windy in the evening but settled down. One of the sites there has a great view (sadly not the one we were at)
    Day 5: US Cabin – Expected a crowd but there was only one other group when we were there. Lots of room to spread out, close to the river.

    Weather: Smoke was minimal, Monday was perfectly clear and we could see quite a ways. Mt Baker was somewhat clouded over but I guess it could have been smoke. Tuesday there was some haze, and it was cloudy the last few days. Rained some on day 3 but nothing major. Temps were forecasted to be highs of 50-60’s and lows in 40’s. Those seemed about right based on feel.

    Trail conditions: Well signed and easy to follow the trail. Parts were better maintained than others as far as brush and growth. Some of the trail up towards Whatcom was a little overgrown, but nothing that caused any real issue. I wore ankle socks and had a few scratches on my shins. Never felt like I needed pants or wished I had worn them. The river rossing headed to Indian Creek was not overtly easy to follow. The trail was marked with pink streamers but even with that we lost the trail for 15-20 minutes and had to regroup to get pointed in the right direction.

    Bugs: minimal mosquitos. A few here and there but nothing noteworthy. May have been due to wearing Sawyer Picardin every day but others who didn’t weren’t complaining. A few did fly in my direction and then kept moving. Also used Permethrin on clothes and hammock. Will continue to do both the Picardin and Permethrin in the future. Was minimal hassle and did seem to drive a way the few flying things I saw.

    Wildlife: None. Nothing larger than a Pika at least.

    Gear: I really wanted to drop weight since in previous years I was definitely over 40 lbs for total carried weight, and possible 45+. I went full geek and used my kitchen scale to weigh everything and entered it all into Lighterpack. I then decided what wasn’t essential and eventually replaced my super heavy synthetic sleeping back and pad with DIY quilts and got a much lighter (and smaller) pack. My goal was 15 lbs base weight, and I was actually somewhere in the 14’s at the end of the trip. Pre-trip I was right under 26 pounds with food and water. Not ultralight by any means but a long way from where I started. I was ultimately happy with everything I brought, and didn’t bring. I ended up forgetting a fleece hat but in the end was fine without it.

    Shelter: DIY Hammock – integrated bugnet with peak shelf and ridge line organizer, both of which were super helpful. I threw all my clothes into the peak shelf at night and they were accessible in the morning.
    Suspension: DIY 12+ foot straps from Dutch’s spider web 2.0 with a marlin spike hitch and standard whoopie slings. I was worried about large trees and it paid off a few times here to have the longer straps. The straps did seem to bunch up easily and may not have been as protective as heavier duty ones that stayed flat.
    Tarp: Warbonnet minifly/Kitsap Cowboy clone with slightly larger doors. I added snaps to the doors at the ends as well as just off the ridgeline and it seemed to work well to keep them closed up. I used two sections of 18" 0.5 no-see-um netting as modified snake skins to roll up the areas near the tie outs which worked well. I wanted to save weight and keep it minimalist.
    Top quilt: DIY (10ish degree – 3-3.5” of loft). I made an octagonal foot plug that snaps in with Kam Snaps and it worked. A slight draft at times but I shifted my feet and it resolved. I slept naked every night and never got cold. I realize I could wear clothes and bring less of a quilt but I enjoyed this setup. I also know from home that I can sleep well under lots of down and not sweat too much.
    Underquilt: DIY – I went round and round with this and ended up cutting it to roughly fit the shape of my body and used Kam Snaps to attach it. It isn’t perfect, but I have slept in it down to freezing and stayed warm. I tried at one point to sew it on and failed miserably so I ripped it back off and went back to the snaps. I may try again to make an integrated hammock and underquilt a-la Sheltowee or Bonefire. I just feel like the standard underquilt wastes a lot of material and really looks like it isn’t ideal for a good diagonal lay.

    Hammock Suitability: No issues. Trees everywhere. Even Whatcom pass had many options. Some of the trees were big. I was glad I had 12 foot straps in that they opened up more options, but there were places you could hang without them. Tapto lakes may have been an issue but I didn’t get all the way down to water level to see what was there (I had hoped to explore that area more but wasn’t able to due to time)

    Clothes:
    Worn: Brooks Cascadia 7’ running shorts, OR Astroman S/S shirt, Darn Tough ultra-light wool socks. The shorts and shirt were not bomb proof and each got a minor snag or two from thorn bushes or whatever but nothing major. I felt great in them down to 50 degrees or so during the day. I did get a little chilly if I stopped to wait for very long, but it was perfect while moving. Thin socks worked well. I switched to my sleep pair (never slept in them) for the last day out and it was a nice treat.

    Shoes: NB Minimus 10v1 – awesome. I read way too many forum posts on trail shoes but decided to go with them and had no regrets. Another guy on the trip brought them as camp shoes and was surprised that they were my main hiking shoe. I had done a lot of barefoot training at home (exercise videos, effective for me on many levels) and my feet felt strong. I did feel a few sharp and pointy rocks but nothing that ever slowed me down. I got my feet wet and kept going. It was humid enough that the shoes didn’t always dry out overnight but I still escaped without blisters, or even any hot spots really. A friend wasn’t so lucky ad he concluded that he would take his shoes off in the future to ford.

    Carried: Arc Teryx Alpha SL rain shell, smartwool leggings, Arc Teryx Rho AR fleece, Buff, which I used as a head covering since I forgot my OR fleece hat. It actually worked fairly well. Debated heavier leggings but no regrets down to about 40 degrees. Colder than that and I would likely take my Patagonia fleece legs.

    Pack: ULA Circuit – Loved it. May have gotten by with the Ohm but this let me be lazy. I was coming from an Arc Teryx Bora 95 so I was a little hesitant to go too small. Even at the end of the trip with most food gone I was able to lock it all down and it never felt too big. Similarly, at the beginning of the trip I had a bit more room and could have made a canister work. I highly recommend ULA in general. Held up well, worked perfectly for me.

    Water: Smart water bottle – took a 1.5 liter bottle and never felt like I needed more space. Worked fine. I did draw cup, liter and oz measurements with a sharpie , Sawyer mini with 64oz bag. Lots of opportunities to filter along the way and I realize I can travel fairly light on water and be OK. Others in the group drank more and carried more. I have never liked a bladder and figured I could fill the sawyer squeeze bag if I needed to carry more and filter on the go. I did do that in camp some.

    Food: e-Tek stove. I thought the self igniter died after two uses but I found that it will only light with the gas set pretty low, worked perfectly after that. Evernew pot, Sea to Summit ultra-sil nano 13L bag for hanging with 2mm PMI cord – held up well, glad I didn’t go with heavier paracord.
    In the spirit of geeking out, I used an excel spreadsheet and calculated the calories for all my meals as well as weight. I ended up right about 120 cal/oz and had about 9 lbs of food for the trip. I ate every bit of it except some olive oil and a few lemon packets for water flavor (didn’t want to spoil the delicious filtered mountain spring water taste). I averaged right around 3000 cal per day. This was not a thru hike and mileage wasn’t anywhere near 20+. I ended up weighing basically the same as before I left. I never felt like I bonked and really felt pretty amazing the whole trip.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Emvious; 09-26-2018 at 13:49.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Burg54's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Location
    Seattle, WA
    Hammock
    WB XLC 1.7 DL
    Tarp
    WB Superfly
    Insulation
    HG Inc10°/Bur10°
    Suspension
    Webbing/Buckles
    Posts
    562
    Images
    3
    Sounds like an awesome trip. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.
    “The word hammockable (Meaning: two trees that are the perfect distance apart between which a hammock can be hung) is not in the dictionary, but it should be.”

  3. #3
    Senior Member BillyBob58's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Location
    Tupelo, MS
    Posts
    11,108
    Images
    489
    Beautiful! I love the Cascades. I have climbed Mt. Baker back in the late 80s, but I have never hammock camped up there except over in the Olympics. Maybe I'll do that some time though!

  4. #4
    Senior Member ofuros's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2011
    Location
    Australia...Sub-Tropical Qld, Temperate Tasmania & Tropical Thailand
    Hammock
    Madtree Tarseer
    Tarp
    DIY Cuben
    Insulation
    Warm & fluffy
    Suspension
    Slings and Rings
    Posts
    1,309
    Images
    22
    Looks good, Emvious.
    Mountain views are good for the soul....& getting to them is good for my waistline.

    https://ofuros.exposure.co/

  5. #5
    Senior Member FireInMyBones's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Piedmont, SC
    Hammock
    Bonefire™ Bridge
    Tarp
    Bonefire™ Shadow
    Insulation
    Bonefire™ UQ
    Suspension
    Bonefire™ Deluxe
    Posts
    2,795
    Images
    46
    Nice trip report. I enjoyed reading it and seeing the pictures.

    Let me know if you have any questions about insulating your hammock. I'm happy to try to answer them.

    Quote Originally Posted by Emvious View Post
    North Cascades Copper Ridge Loop and Whatcom Pass Trip Report

    Dates: August 26th to September 1st
    6 Days and 5 nights total, 5 days and 4 nights in the park.
    Mileage: ~ 45 total miles. I managed to clock 58 total miles with side excursions

    Route: Hannegan Trailhead clockwise through Copper Ridge Loop with an out and back to Whatcom Pass. Used the cable car when moving from Whatcom to US Cabin but could have easily forded the river there. We debated trying to get into the park on day 1 but with logistics it didn’t work. In the end probably a good idea to have a more relaxed start since several of us had new gear and were not used to hiking together.

    Campsites
    Day 1: Douglas Fir (outside the park) – Nice state run campground. The spot we had was right by the river and was secluded from other sites.
    Day 2: Silesia – Gorgeous camp high on the ridge. Water was down at Egg Lake which was a bit of a hike down and back up. Otherwise it was a perfect spot with great views.
    Day 3: Indian Creek – Forested camp site. Not much of a view, but the trees themselves were beautiful.
    Day 4: Whatcom Pass – Was windy in the evening but settled down. One of the sites there has a great view (sadly not the one we were at)
    Day 5: US Cabin – Expected a crowd but there was only one other group when we were there. Lots of room to spread out, close to the river.

    Weather: Smoke was minimal, Monday was perfectly clear and we could see quite a ways. Mt Baker was somewhat clouded over but I guess it could have been smoke. Tuesday there was some haze, and it was cloudy the last few days. Rained some on day 3 but nothing major. Temps were forecasted to be highs of 50-60’s and lows in 40’s. Those seemed about right based on feel.

    Trail conditions: Well signed and easy to follow the trail. Parts were better maintained than others as far as brush and growth. Some of the trail up towards Whatcom was a little overgrown, but nothing that caused any real issue. I wore ankle socks and had a few scratches on my shins. Never felt like I needed pants or wished I had worn them. The river rossing headed to Indian Creek was not overtly easy to follow. The trail was marked with pink streamers but even with that we lost the trail for 15-20 minutes and had to regroup to get pointed in the right direction.

    Bugs: minimal mosquitos. A few here and there but nothing noteworthy. May have been due to wearing Sawyer Picardin every day but others who didn’t weren’t complaining. A few did fly in my direction and then kept moving. Also used Permethrin on clothes and hammock. Will continue to do both the Picardin and Permethrin in the future. Was minimal hassle and did seem to drive a way the few flying things I saw.

    Wildlife: None. Nothing larger than a Pika at least.

    Gear: I really wanted to drop weight since in previous years I was definitely over 40 lbs for total carried weight, and possible 45+. I went full geek and used my kitchen scale to weigh everything and entered it all into Lighterpack. I then decided what wasn’t essential and eventually replaced my super heavy synthetic sleeping back and pad with DIY quilts and got a much lighter (and smaller) pack. My goal was 15 lbs base weight, and I was actually somewhere in the 14’s at the end of the trip. Pre-trip I was right under 26 pounds with food and water. Not ultralight by any means but a long way from where I started. I was ultimately happy with everything I brought, and didn’t bring. I ended up forgetting a fleece hat but in the end was fine without it.

    Shelter: DIY Hammock – integrated bugnet with peak shelf and ridge line organizer, both of which were super helpful. I threw all my clothes into the peak shelf at night and they were accessible in the morning.
    Suspension: DIY 12+ foot straps from Dutch’s spider web 2.0 with a marlin spike hitch and standard whoopie slings. I was worried about large trees and it paid off a few times here to have the longer straps. The straps did seem to bunch up easily and may not have been as protective as heavier duty ones that stayed flat.
    Tarp: Warbonnet minifly/Kitsap Cowboy clone with slightly larger doors. I added snaps to the doors at the ends as well as just off the ridgeline and it seemed to work well to keep them closed up. I used two sections of 18" 0.5 no-see-um netting as modified snake skins to roll up the areas near the tie outs which worked well. I wanted to save weight and keep it minimalist.
    Top quilt: DIY (10ish degree – 3-3.5” of loft). I made an octagonal foot plug that snaps in with Kam Snaps and it worked. A slight draft at times but I shifted my feet and it resolved. I slept naked every night and never got cold. I realize I could wear clothes and bring less of a quilt but I enjoyed this setup. I also know from home that I can sleep well under lots of down and not sweat too much.
    Underquilt: DIY – I went round and round with this and ended up cutting it to roughly fit the shape of my body and used Kam Snaps to attach it. It isn’t perfect, but I have slept in it down to freezing and stayed warm. I tried at one point to sew it on and failed miserably so I ripped it back off and went back to the snaps. I may try again to make an integrated hammock and underquilt a-la Sheltowee or Bonefire. I just feel like the standard underquilt wastes a lot of material and really looks like it isn’t ideal for a good diagonal lay.

    Hammock Suitability: No issues. Trees everywhere. Even Whatcom pass had many options. Some of the trees were big. I was glad I had 12 foot straps in that they opened up more options, but there were places you could hang without them. Tapto lakes may have been an issue but I didn’t get all the way down to water level to see what was there (I had hoped to explore that area more but wasn’t able to due to time)

    Clothes:
    Worn: Brooks Cascadia 7’ running shorts, OR Astroman S/S shirt, Darn Tough ultra-light wool socks. The shorts and shirt were not bomb proof and each got a minor snag or two from thorn bushes or whatever but nothing major. I felt great in them down to 50 degrees or so during the day. I did get a little chilly if I stopped to wait for very long, but it was perfect while moving. Thin socks worked well. I switched to my sleep pair (never slept in them) for the last day out and it was a nice treat.

    Shoes: NB Minimus 10v1 – awesome. I read way too many forum posts on trail shoes but decided to go with them and had no regrets. Another guy on the trip brought them as camp shoes and was surprised that they were my main hiking shoe. I had done a lot of barefoot training at home (exercise videos, effective for me on many levels) and my feet felt strong. I did feel a few sharp and pointy rocks but nothing that ever slowed me down. I got my feet wet and kept going. It was humid enough that the shoes didn’t always dry out overnight but I still escaped without blisters, or even any hot spots really. A friend wasn’t so lucky ad he concluded that he would take his shoes off in the future to ford.

    Carried: Arc Teryx Alpha SL rain shell, smartwool leggings, Arc Teryx Rho AR fleece, Buff, which I used as a head covering since I forgot my OR fleece hat. It actually worked fairly well. Debated heavier leggings but no regrets down to about 40 degrees. Colder than that and I would likely take my Patagonia fleece legs.

    Pack: ULA Circuit – Loved it. May have gotten by with the Ohm but this let me be lazy. I was coming from an Arc Teryx Bora 95 so I was a little hesitant to go too small. Even at the end of the trip with most food gone I was able to lock it all down and it never felt too big. Similarly, at the beginning of the trip I had a bit more room and could have made a canister work. I highly recommend ULA in general. Held up well, worked perfectly for me.

    Water: Smart water bottle – took a 1.5 liter bottle and never felt like I needed more space. Worked fine. I did draw cup, liter and oz measurements with a sharpie , Sawyer mini with 64oz bag. Lots of opportunities to filter along the way and I realize I can travel fairly light on water and be OK. Others in the group drank more and carried more. I have never liked a bladder and figured I could fill the sawyer squeeze bag if I needed to carry more and filter on the go. I did do that in camp some.

    Food: e-Tek stove. I thought the self igniter died after two uses but I found that it will only light with the gas set pretty low, worked perfectly after that. Evernew pot, Sea to Summit ultra-sil nano 13L bag for hanging with 2mm PMI cord – held up well, glad I didn’t go with heavier paracord.
    In the spirit of geeking out, I used an excel spreadsheet and calculated the calories for all my meals as well as weight. I ended up right about 120 cal/oz and had about 9 lbs of food for the trip. I ate every bit of it except some olive oil and a few lemon packets for water flavor (didn’t want to spoil the delicious filtered mountain spring water taste). I averaged right around 3000 cal per day. This was not a thru hike and mileage wasn’t anywhere near 20+. I ended up weighing basically the same as before I left. I never felt like I bonked and really felt pretty amazing the whole trip.
    -Jeremy "Brother Bones"
    Quote Originally Posted by FLRider View Post
    ...he's a mountain goat crossed with a marathoner.

  • + New Posts
  • Similar Threads

    1. North Cascades PCT 9 day backpack
      By HangingintheNorthWest in forum Trip Reports
      Replies: 3
      Last Post: 01-21-2018, 15:11
    2. CO > Four Pass Loop/Midway Pass > August
      By mcallaghan in forum West
      Replies: 0
      Last Post: 07-25-2016, 10:52
    3. Maroon Bells 4 Pass Loop, CO - August 22-25
      By WaffleBox in forum Trip Reports
      Replies: 29
      Last Post: 01-20-2016, 16:45
    4. Replies: 19
      Last Post: 08-05-2010, 13:30
    5. 5 days hanging in along the Chelan Ridge (North Cascades)
      By Seracer in forum Trek Light Gear
      Replies: 4
      Last Post: 09-23-2008, 08:37

    Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •