Trail Running the Stiletto-Copper Pass Loop

DATEs HIKED: 10/12/24

TOTAL MILEAGE: 14 MILES

TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN: 4,800’

Alex and I had planned for our summer/fall hiking season to end with our Ice Lakes backpacking trip the first weekend of October. We thought it would be the perfect way to wrap up the season with a larch-yellow bow. Then we saw the forecast for the second weekend of October and knew we had to squeeze in just one more trip. The forecast was downright summer-like with clear skies and highs in the 60s. Alex needed to leave for a work trip on Sunday so we couldn’t go on another backpacking trip, but we could get out on a day hike or trail run on Saturday.

One of the main criteria for our trip was to avoid the crowds that flock to places like Maple Pass and Lake Ingalls, so we looked for a more challenging route and ended up choosing the Stiletto Lookout-Stiletto Lake-Copper Pass Loop. It’s 14 miles with nearly 5,000’ of gain, and about half of the route is cross-country, requiring some tricky route-finding. We hoped those stats would keep most of the crowds at bay.

We also had the benefit of having already completed this route in October 2021. On that trip we wanted to backpack to Stiletto Lake, but there were no permits available so we opted to empty our backpacks of all their camping gear and complete the route as a day hike instead. It had been overcast and dreary that day so returning this year felt like the perfect opportunity to go back in ideal conditions. Plus, after our fun trail run on the High Divide Loop, we wanted to squeeze another trail run in before the end of the season and this route felt good for that.

We started the trip from the Bridge Creek Trailhead just off Highway 20 (the area can also be accessed from Twisp), which is just one mile away from Rainy Pass, the starting point for Maple Pass, Black Peak and Wing and Lewis Lakes, and Easy Pass. We knew these trails would be busy and wanted to avoid road traffic so we left Seattle at 4:30AM.

When we turned onto Route 530 in Arlington at 5:30AM and saw a line of red lights twinkling ahead of us (and more cars coming from behind us), I knew we had somehow already hit Highway 20 traffic. It looked like it was gearing up to be one of the busiest days of the year. And wow, was it ever.

We passed Rainy Pass just after 7AM and already there was a line of parked cars on both sides of the highway stretching for over half a mile in either direction. We continued driving and secured one of the last parking spaces at Bridge Creek Trailhead.

At 7:30AM we started our watches and hit the trail. The first few miles were cruisy so we started running from the get go and I was immediately reminded of why I had so much fun on the High Divide Loop. Running through the forest was genuinely fun, especially at the ever-so-gradual downhill we got to enjoy.

But, the running was short lived. After two miles the easy part was already over. We turned onto the Stiletto Lookout Trail and began a 3 mile, 3,000’ ascent toward the lookout and we most definitely did not run this section.

As we climbed, the view of the mountains peeking through the trees was a welcome distraction. The larches were clearly in their peak. Like peak peak. They might have been the most yellow I’ve ever seen them. They were so yellow they actually appeared orange. They made the larches we saw at Ice Lakes look downright green in comparison.

The view from Stiletto Lookout

After 2.5 hours we took the final few steps to the Stiletto Lookout and enjoyed a quick break to refuel and take in the view. This had been one of my favorite views from our first trip and it was even more beautiful this time around. In 2021 it had been so overcast that many of the surrounding peaks were shrouded in clouds. I didn’t even realize how many peaks could be seen from the lookout on a clear day.

All around us the mountainsides were carpeted in yellow and green, a collision of colors. We could also see Black Peak from the lookout and I knew that less than a mile away there was likely a conga line of people. But we had only seen one other person so far and we were relishing the solitude.

From the lookout we made our way toward the lake. We ran when we could, but as we constantly lost the faint trail and needed to stop to reorient ourselves, we did not make very quick progress. Our pace was slowed even further by how often we stopped to take photos and videos, because once we dropped down into the valley from the lookout we were in and among the larches. They were everywhere!

About an hour after we left the lookout, we made it to the shore of a perfectly flat Stiletto Lake. The water was so calm and so still that it appeared as if someone had placed a giant mirror under Jackknife Peak and Switchblade Peak (someone had fun with those names). We took another quick break here, enjoying the views and chatting with a few campers who had spent the night. Someday we’ll snag those permits to camp there!

After the lake came the section that Alex had been dreading the most: a half mile long boulder field. We all have our backcountry nemeses and Alex’s is boulder fields (mine is icy, exposed side-hilling). Luckily, in the three years since our first time on this boulder field, we’ve both had quite a bit more experience on rocky terrain and we were able to pick our way across the boulders in about half an hour.

Then we were once again in a fall wonderland. We hiked through stands of larches that were carpeted in red berry vines. This section was my favorite the second time around. The trees and foliage were all backlit and appeared to be glowing vibrant yellows, oranges, and reds from within. Further past the trees, we made our way uphill on wide open slopes to the final high point of the day.

After 4.5 hours we topped out at 7,100’ feet on a ridge just above Copper Pass. We had stunning 360 degree views of the North and Central Cascades. We could see Copper Pass just a few hundred vertical feet below us, an intersecting of trails from the north and south.

This brought us to the part of the day I dreaded the most: the scramble off the ridge. The first time we did this, I began to get panicked at this section. The trail meanders off the ridge line and disappears abruptly off a cliff with no apparent way down. I paced the cliff, looking around, trying to find the secret passage that first trip. I had been so nervous that we wouldn’t find it and we would be faced with turning around hiking back out the way we came, which would have meant many hours hiking in the dark. But, then I found the route. It was hidden and tough to see, dropping down through some ledges in the trees to the south (or lookers right). Once we found it, the route was relatively easy.

This time, with that knowledge already in hand, we made it off the ridge in a breeze and I was left wondering why I had been so nervous the first time. This was yet another example of more experience leading to growth and comfort in the backcountry!

From Copper Pass we were back on a real trail, well more or less—it was still narrow but we could finally switch from hiking back to running. Cruising through the red and gold fields under bluebird skies on this stretch of trail was a rush. The first mile and a half from Copper Pass whizzed by as I let gravity pull me downhill.

Unfortunately, with about three miles left, Alex’s knee that had been annoying him all morning started to give him real pain, especially while running. So we reverted back to walking for the remainder of the trail.

Even though we were walking, the rest of the miles miles flew by and we were back in the parking lot just after 2PM, about 6.5hours after we had started. We were shocked to find that, not only was the Bridge Creek Trailhead completely full, but cars were parked along the road on both sides, stretching toward Rainy Pass. It appeared that people parked a mile away from Rainy Pass just to hike the Maple Loop Trail!

When we got in the car and started driving, Alex recorded a timelapse. The line of cars had grown since the morning. For one mile, spreading from both directions of Rainy Pass, there were cars parked along both sides of the road, sometimes well over the line, sometimes parked perpendicular, completely in the foliage. I have never seen so many cars at the pass before, I truly did not even think that was possible.

It appears that weekend may have been the last hurrah of fall before winter starts to wrest control of the elements, and I am ready for it. I’m ready for snow and skiing. I’m also ready for a little bit of a lull for the next couple of months between seasons. This was a super packed and super fulfilling summer and fall, but it’s been months since I’ve had a weekend where I just did nothing and I’m looking forward to some rest.

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