Our party of two hiked up to Hannegan Camp, 300 feet below Hannegan Pass. Weather was perfect: sunny but not too warm, temps in the 70s. Parking lot mostly full at 11 am.

Summer wildflowers were out in their glory: columbine, paintbrush, and penstemon early on the trail; thistles up higher; and white marsh marigold at Hannegan Camp.

We crossed paths with people coming back from Hannegan Peak, people heading up to the peak, and a few backpackers heading in for longer trips. The camp is recently melted out and very buggy. We had our lunch under shade back down the trail. 

8 miles round trip for us. Great day to be out in the North Cascades!

Hiked Monday, 7/7. Found a Garmin inReach near trailhead. Please describe the unit and location where left and I’ll be happy to get it back to you. Sorry for the delay, but forgot about this until cleaning car after another hiking Dickerman today.                        
Cheers,                                                                      
Craig: 206-349-9115

I love getting into the mountains over the Fourth of July. So did lots of other people! About 35 cars in the parking lot when I started hike at 10 am; 59 when I came out Saturday afternoon. GREAT time to do this hike. Very minimal bugs (and this one can get really bad biting flies), a few snow patches after Hannegan Camp were easy, and the flowers are FANTASTIC right now with many things peaking and more just starting. I appreciated the cooler temps and moodiness of the clouds, too. Do note that if you're staying overnight, there's still quite a bit of snow at Hannegan Camp. And stream crossings are fine (thanks for all the trail work!!!) but they will be more full in the afternoons. I opted to fill up on water and keep going past Hannegan Camp and stayed about 2/3 of the way up Hannegan Peak, on a patch of dirt perfect for one person. There's more snow to cross on the way to the peak with fine with boots (and I always hike with trekking poles). Even some glacier lilies hanging on. There were two large groups camped at the Pass when I came down the next morning -- many folks climbing Ruth Mountain this time of year. We live in a magical place and I was so grateful to get to be in the mountains for a night. 

Decided to do a backpacking trip with a friend before it got busy on 4th of July weekend up to Hannegan Peak. The road to the trailhead is in really good shape. Very few potholes. Also, the road used to be blocked to the actual parking lot but there is now a way around the washout so you can drive all the way to the parking lot to park! 

The hike up to hannegan pass was pretty uneventful with only a couple places of snow to cross but you didn't need spikes, or poles to cross those small snow sections. Once at Hannegan camp there were only a couple sites that were snow free but it is melting really fast. Hannegan Camp is the last place to get water before you head up to Hannegan Peak. We filtered water here and I loaded up with 6.5 liters of water since we were going to be camping at Hannegan Peak. 

Once you started the climb up to Hannegan peak there were intermittent snowfields to cross. We had mountaineering boots on and used poles and it was very easy to cross. We saw other people in trail runners using poles. And people wearing trail runners with spikes. I would reccomend if you don't have spikes to make sure you have trekking poles for now. In a couple weeks I suspect it will be snow free.

There were quite a few sites at the top where you could camp that were not on snow which was nice. It is pretty exposed up there and we were lucky with clear weather and no wind. There was one spot we found right by the peak that was totally enclosed by trees, so if it was windy, you could get some shelter in there.

My favorite part was waking up at midnight to go to the bathroom and once exiting my tent being rewarded with clear skies, a gorgeous moon, and so many stars!

We hiked to Hannegan Pass and Peak today on a beautiful but hot day.  A couple things to note:

There is a lot of parking for this hike but the first parking you will come to is an overflow lot and is not very large.  Continue on for several hundred feet and you will come to the main lot which is large and has an outhouse.

There are abundant wildflowers right from the get go and all along the several mile long traverse above Ruth Creek.  Columbine, Tiger Lily, Indian Paintbrush and tons of Penstemon among others.  Flowers usually mean bugs but there really weren't any in this section, although there was a breeze which likely helped.  On a sunny day it is HOT so get an early start so as to maximize the shade and definitely think twice before starting this hike in the afternoon.  Even coming back down through this section is broiling on a sunny day.   Take lots of water whether going up or down.  

There was a Pacific NW Trail Crew working on the trail and the first half mile or so is substantially brushed out.  Thank you, trail crew!!!  Above that there are still some moderate sections of brush where you will get wet if it has recently rained or is still dewy.  

The snow patches start in the vicinity of Hannegan Pass Camp but are not a problem in accessing the pass.  However, if you are planning to camp at Hannegan Pass Camp be advised that it is still very snowy, albeit melting fast.  There is bare ground, but not much, and what is there is muddy.  Maybe there are some melted out elevated campsites out of view of the main trail, but most likely you will be camping on snow or mud.  Bugs were not a problem passing by there during daytime hours but who knows what dawn or dusk might bring or a few more days of melting.

The pass was pretty much snow free and non-buggy but upward from there, as previous trip reports have said, there are intermittent to abundant snow patches.  Traction devices are not a requirement as the snow is soft and generally not continuous.  Plus, you likely wouldn't hurl over a cliff if you fell.  But a pole or poles are definitely helpful.  From the pass to the top of Hannegan Peak we were on snow at least 50% of the time.  It is melting fast and another 10 days or so should see much of it gone.  Not much in the way of flowers yet on this section, although some areas had phlox and brilliant pink flowering heather.  There were some flies but as long as you kept moving or found a spot to sit with a breeze they were a non-event.  The views are stellar and just keep getting better the higher up you go.