Good of amount of parking left at the trailhead when I arrived around 10 AM and as well when I returned later in the afternoon. One of the benefits of hiking mid-week, if you can. Trail had people on it. But I had many sections of solitude to not feel crowded. I was glad to see people of all ages on trail connecting with nature and getting exercise.

Beautiful day hike up to Hannegan Pass. Awesome views of the valley cliffs from the start with the music of Ruth Creek playing in the background. Wonderful job of the crews who maintain this trail. Vegetation cut back nicely. The route to the Pass, although, is almost all sun exposed and gets warm. The vegetation as well seems to slow down any breeze. Try to hike in the morning going up. Be sure to bring bug spray. The deer flies were fierce!

The Pass was a great place to rest up and see some more outstanding views before climbing to Hannegan Peak. Trail was in pretty good shape to the Peak. Some section have loose rock to pay attention to, side-steeping and poles help, as well as being steep. But the reward of the amazing views is well worth the climb. It was my first time to the Peak, and I was really impressed by the views of Mt. Shuksan, Mt. Baker, the glaciers, Copper Ridge...

Please get out and enjoy this gem of a hike, if you can.

- 1-night backpacking trip
- Camped at Hannegan camp
- Added a day hike up Hannegan Peak
- Didn’t have a permit, used America the Beautiful Pass
- Mosquito nets: necessary
- No toilet at camp, and wag bags are required
- Water source at camp

Don’t tell Hannegan, but we resorted to this route after realizing Yellow Aster Butte might be too crowded. I’m so glad we did, though.

We arrived at the trailhead at 9am, and we were able to find a spot along the road. When you arrive, there’s a trashcan and a sign to the left for the trail. If you go further down the trail, you’ll find the bathroom. The hike in was pretty moderate with good stretches of shade. The last half mile before Hannegan Camp was hot, steep and hard. We arrived around noon, and there were plenty of spots open. We considered hiking to Boundary Camp but were warned that you need a permit, so we stayed at Hannegan. The flies welcomed us, and we were glad to have mosquito head nets. I was jealous of the person wearing a mosquito shirt, too.

After eating some lunch, we set up camp and then hiked up Hannegan Peak. Along the way we spotted more campsites along the trail. Good to know for next time.

The higher we climbed, the more breezy and less buggy it got. The trail to Hannegan peak switchbacks for most of it and is moderate. Then the last bit gets steep, but it’s manageable (and I’m saying this as someone on the lower end of the hiking ambition spectrum). The climb was definitely worth it for the views of all the peaks, including Mt. Baker and Shuksan. I was amazed by all the gravel that had been laid down. How did they haul all that up there?

Overall, this was a great trip!

Three of us in our 70s did this hike in 7 1/2 hours, car to car. WTA has assigned 10.4 miles to it but Green Trails Map #14, Mt. Shuksan, has three legs totaling 11.4. Our e-devices and our bodies agree with the 11.4. We hike every week and are fit but this was still a very difficult hike for me. The last 1.1 mile does indeed gain 1100'. There isn't much to see from the pass so plan on the peak. The bugs were an annoyance but the views from the top are incredible. DO NOT PASS UP THIS HIKE because of the bugs! A group of young people were overnighting on top and I'm sure the sunset and sunrise were spectacular. It was a hot day and what was shady in the morning was sunny in the afternoon. We'll likely do it again next summer.

Even after living in Seattle, WA, for two years, I forget that there are other access points into the North Cascades National Park that are not off Highway 20. In July 2024, I took my first trip to the western side via Hannegan Pass and had my eyes opened to a brilliant and beautiful section of the park.

A buddy and I set out backpacking to Egg Lake along the Copper Ridge Trail. I was not entirely sure what to expect, but I knew it should be full of expansive views. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see as much as we wanted as a storm rolled in, and we cut our trip short a day. That said, on our nine-mile trek in, we had A+ level views and could see just how stunning this section of the park was.

We ended up doing just an overnighter because rain/low clouds came in, and we would have been trapped in our tents all day. So sadly, no photos from the lookout, which really bummed us out. 

Day 1: 9 Miles from Hannegan Pass to Egg Lake (5.25 hours)

Day 2: Egg Lake back to Hannegan Pass (4 hours)

Full trail report

Overnight climb of Ruth Mountain and Icy Peak, with summit bivy on Ruth.

RED TAPE: The summit of Ruth Mt lies within the North Cascades National Park and a permit is required for overnight stays. I was able to pick up a permit for the Icy Cross Country Zone the day prior to our climb in the Glacier ranger station. $10/person + $6 fee.

ROAD/TRAILHEAD: Lots of surprisingly deep potholes, but passable with care. A bit of clearance will make life easier, of course. The parking lot was surprisingly busy even at 6 a.m. on a Saturday! There was an outhouse a short way down the trail - there was TP available when we exited on Sunday. Blue bags were also available at the trailhead, as you need to pack out your poop from the alpine!

HANNEGAN PASS: This section of trail was in good shape, fairly mellow and had several easy water crossings. We topped up water at the stream near Hannegan Camp as the ranger had told us it was the last reliable water source.

RUTH MOUNTAIN: From the pass, we headed right on the trail towards Ruth Arm and Ruth Mountain. We went up and over a bump, before beginning a rough climb up a slippery, loose rock and root gully that involved some scramble moves and veggie belays. Fun!

We topped out of the gully where there was a small meltwater pool - the last liquid we'd see for a while - and began an easy traverse along a picturesque trail along Ruth Arm. The boot path eventually turned into rock-hopping, and we picked our way to the edge of the snow to get on the glacier.

There were several campsites along the Arm which would eliminate the hassle of getting a permit, but no running water or easy snow access (until closer to the glacier). 

The Ruth glacier was in good shape - we saw just one small crack near the boot path. Our journey up was uneventful, and we soon topped out on the rocky summit where we claimed the bivy sites.  

We spent the afternoon setting up camp, scoping the route to Icy and melting snow for water. Clouds rolled in and out, making for whiteouts at times, moody, dramatic PNW views at others, and a very soggy overnight bivy situation!

ICY PEAK: We left camp at around 6 a.m. and dropped down the loose, rocky boot path into the basin below. From there, we traversed over snow towards the top of what we had heard referred to as the "Death Gully". We down-scrambled the gully and didn't find it too bad, as there were solid holds in between the loose stuff. Just don't kick said loose stuff on anyone you care about!

Rumor has it that there is a bit of a boot path on the left that avoids the gully scramble though, should you prefer to do that.

Once we got to the bottom, the route became mostly a pick-your-own adventure scenario through some very time-consuming rocks and boulders, for the most part. I imagine this goes a lot faster when snow-covered! We rock-hopped slowly and painfully to the edge of the glacier to gear up.

This glacier was also in great shape with no visible cracks or crevasses anywhere near the route. We hugged the ridge to ascend before doing a rising traverse to the saddle, where we dropped some gear. There was still some snow to cross on the backside, and we headed up some scree and steep-ish snow to the base of Icy's NW summit block.

The class 3+ gully scramble went fairly smoothly - there was one cruxy section midway that was a bit slabby underfoot, but we all eventually made it through after some initial hesitation. From there it was straightforward to the top (yes, I know it's not the true/highest summit of Icy but that's ok...)! 

We ended up sharing the summit with another group of 5, so we amazingly had 10 people sitting on top of a sheer rocky peak for a while. Clouds rolled in and out, but sadly never cleared completely to give us a good view.

RAPPEL STATION: There was a rappel station set up at the top of the gully with multiple pieces of webbing and rap rings. We used a 40m rope, with all except one of us doing a full, single-rope rappel. Our most experienced climber then did a double-rope rappel so he could pull the rope. This got him just past the crux section, and he down-climbed the rest.

From there, we headed back the way we had come, trying to stay on snow longer on the descent to avoid as much rock-hopping as possible. Re-gaining all the elevation we had lost dropping down from Ruth was definitely rough on the legs, but we made it back to camp and out to the trailhead without any issue.

We did cross several running water sources from snowmelt on the return from Icy towards Ruth.

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