9/17, Saturday. I took a bus to YA's house at 7am. NP drove to Rainy Pass in her low-clearance Suburu.
The trailhead parking is a pull out north on Hwy-20, half a mile east of Bridge Creek/PCT parking, just over State Creek.
Copper Pass trail starts in forest, fairly easy the first 0.5 mile. The next mile gets a bit rough and steep. Once it breaks out of the trees (pretty soon), it's easy again. The trail traverses a flowering slope (better come here in summer), not gaining or losing elevation. The view over Copper Creek (it's too low to see) valley is very nice, with Stiletto (7470'), Jackknife (7680'), Switchblade (7805') peaks looming above. We met with a backpacking couple coming out. They reported freezing temperature at the pass, and snow yesterday.
At the end of the valley, the headwater has a small pond (200+' lower than the trail), which we didn't go.
The meadow above the creek had turned a nice fall cover. It looked lovely.
I proposed to camp here (~6100', warmer, close to water, a lot of ripe huckleberries), hike up (~1200' up) to the saddle above Blue Lake in the afternoon, and climb Copper tomorrow.
NP wants to camp higher for better view, at least she agreed not to camp at the pass.
It's her hike, so we continued up.
Filled water at the creek by the trail. The creek was not running much.
The trail is more steep. Zigzag up. The view back towards the Copper Creek valley is nice.
We found a nice camping area ~200' below the pass. Good view, but no water.
After pitching our tents, we walked up to the pass with empty packs.
At the pass, saw a couple of larch trees already turned golden.
We turned right (SW), going towards Switchblade.
Climbed one small peak, and then another. Switchblade looks a bit sketchy, a loose section in the middle.
We didn't climb there to have a good look.
Dropped down to a high plateau, full of larches.
Here, according to NP, who came from Stiletto Lake before indicates that it's possible to loop back to TH.
She said that Stiletto Lake is lovely.
We scrambled over a long rock pile, but too late to go see the lake. NP is pretty slow.
On the way back, we filled water in the shallow creek before going up to the pass.
I couldn't find my phone. Headed back to the rock pile to look for it.
That wasted at least half an hour, and got a bit sweaty.
NP and YA were waiting for me, now in puffy jacket. Sun was setting, and it was getting cold quickly.
Back at camp ~7pm. Cooked in dark. Very cold! Found my phone! Good star.
9/18, Sunday
Drizzle when we got up. Delayed our departure.
We climbed Copper Bench. It's fairly easy. Class 1-2. Maybe one section of class 3 at the beginning.
YA is a good climber. She stayed with NP, who is not good on class-3.
I reached the summit ~8:30am (despite of many pauses to wait for my team).
The view of Washington Pass is un-surpassable.
Found 3 geo markers here!
Clouds were dissipating, however, slowly.
We stayed on the summit for ~2 hours, waiting for the clouds to dissipate.
Much better view with the clear sky. NP knows many of these peaks and routes.
Back at the camp for lunch. Packed up, and hiked out. We stopped at the meadow above the headwater of Copper Creek to pick huckleberries.
When getting out of NP's car, my house keys fell onto the seat. I had to call her to get the keys back. That took some time. All is well in the end.
