Wow - what a beautiful hike! Trail is in excellent condition and, other than a few idiots who apparently haven't heard about those new-fangled things called LEASHES! and insist that we must all like their dogs as much as they do, it's a great hike. Can't wait to return in late spring when there should be a million waterfalls. This is a fairly easy hike and is definitely a must do!

9-5-3 Woke up at 5:30 a.m. in Grand Rapids, Michigan and by 7:00 p.m. had my tarp pitched five miles into the Little Beaver trail at Perry Creek. Flew into Sea-Tac airport and took the Airporter Shuttle (www.airporter.com - 360-380-8800) to Mount Vernon where we had arranged to meet a ride for hire. Drove to the Marblemount North Cascades National Park (http://www.nps.gov/noca/index.htm ) Ranger Station for the free permit. Drove to the Ross Lake Dam trailhead on highway 20. Hiked down to the lake and called on the Ross Lake Resort (http://www.rosslakeresort.com/ ) phone for the water taxi to take us to the Little Beaver trailhead ($60 per boatload). Big Beaver was closed due to forest fires. Saw two fires during the water taxi up Ross Lake to Little Beaver trailhead. One was down low in Big Beaver, and one was up on the ridge between Big Beaver and Ross Lake. Lots of smoke as well. Trail from Little Beaver trailhead to Perry Creek campground was in good shape. No smoke in Little Beaver, only the smell of smoke, but I guess that could change with the wind. 9-6-3 Headed for Twin Rocks campground. Took a side trip to Beaver Pass. There is a new bridge over Little Beaver Creek. It is a mile west of the old suspension bridge, which used to be right at Stillwell campground. So, if you are coming from the west side of the park down Little Beaver and want to stay at Stillwell, or want to go up to the pass toward Big Beaver, you have to go past the old crossing by a mile and then back track a mile on the other side of the creek. That new mile of trail is fresh and perfect. Trail up to Beaver pass is good too. Blueberries are in season. We scarfed a bunch up in Beaver Pass. Saw no smoke while we were there. One of my friends was in the lead and saw a black bear in almost the identical spot where I saw one last trip. Heading up Big Beaver, well past Stillwell, nearing Twin Rocks, you break out of the woods and get your first glimpse of the Challenger Glacier at the head of the valley. The trail there is bounded by thick brush and with a lot of scat around, so if you walk quietly, you might see a bear there too. The one I saw walked noisily out of the brush, onto the trail, stared at me for what seemed like forever, then ambled down the trail the same direction I was headed. I gave it about a half-hour head start, then continued on, but found that Twin Rocks campground was only five more minutes up the trail. The valley there is narrow with only about a mile until you have to climb Whatcom pass to get out. I was solo there with at least one bear that wasn’t afraid of humans so I was glad for my policy of cooking only in the morning. I don’t often burn, but that night I also had a rippin’ good fire that I kept stoking (no fires this year though because there’s a burn ban on due to dry weather and the forest fire). 9-7-3 Up to Whatcom Pass—trail good. We did not go to Tapto as planned due to rain. Instead we pitched camp at the Whatcom campground and hunkered down hoping for a break in the rain. We only caught a few brief glimpses of the fantastic views that can be had there. However, my hiking partners went up the trail toward Whatcom peak on the south side and got an awesome view of the Challenger Glacier in a clear layer with clouds below and above. 9-8-3 Trail down from Whatcom in great shape. Last years blow-downs are all cleared, and there were some big ones. We headed south on the Chilliwack trail, also in great shape, so we got to ride the cable car over the river. We stayed at US Cabin campground. The skies began to clear. We tried to dry out. 9-9-3 About 15 minutes SW of US Cabin is the side trail to Easy Ridge. I didn’t know about this trail before. The park does not maintain it and it’s not on their maps. Where it connects to the Chilliwack trail it heads down to the river where you have to ford and enter the brush on the other side where a cairn marks the trail. The trail is overgrown, lots of blow-downs, sometimes difficult to follow, steep, off-camber, slippery, and very much worth it. I’m not a climber so I wouldn’t call the Easy Ridge trail easy, especially compared to the Copper Ridge trail, but the view at the top is incredible. We did it as a day hike, took us about four hours round-trip with about an hour of that wandering around on top taking pictures. We did not take the trail to the very end though. From where we stopped, we could see the trail wind down through a notch then up toward a scree slope, and then we could not see where it went. If you get past the scree slope and can climb to the ridge proper, it looks like you could drive a car along it right up to Whatcom peak. Lots of blueberries and huckleberries up high on the trail. After the day hike up Easy we hiked out to Boundary campground. Trail condition excellent. I don’t like Boundary very much. Most sites are on a slant, it’s a common stop for the masses hiking in through Hannegan up to Copper Ridge so I find trash there, and it’s all dirt so in the rain it’s a mud hole. 9-10-3 Rain closed in again so our day hike of Copper Ridge was canceled. I talked my buddies into hiking out that day and trying to hook up our ride out a day early. They were a bit peeved when after ten miles, we reached the highway and could not find a phone to call our arranged ride to see if she could pick us up a day early. On a long shot, we gave the message to a couple forest service workers who said they would try to call her when they finished their rounds. Our ride didn’t have a cell or even an answering machine so this was a long shot for sure. Earlier, while trying to convince them to hike out early, I told my buddies that instead of sitting in the rain for another 24 hours, we could be eating pizza, drinking beer, and sitting in a hot tub by eight o’clock that night. I was wrong, we didn’t hit the hot tub until nine. The forest service guys came through, our ride showed up, and we were drying out and pigging out at the Val-U-Inn in Bellingham that night. It’s a good thing we left early because we drove back in to see Baker the next day but were met with even more rain than the day before. By the way, the trail from Boundary out to the Hannegan trailhead is in great shape except for a couple spots where I think the creek will wash it away during the next spring melt or two. 9-11-3 The Val-U-Inn in Bellingham is highly recommended. Good price and very clean. It’s where the Airporter Shuttle bus stops so you can take the bus back down to Sea-Tac airport if you are flying out. I rented a car both times I went though because you can get one at the Bellingham airport and drop it off at Sea-Tac for cheap. I think it saves the rental guys from having to drive it down there themselves. The hotel has a van that will take you to the Bellingham airport to pick up your rental for just the cost of a nice tip for the driver.

The powers that be 'closed' the backcountry in Canada at noon on Friday -and that necessitated a last minute change of plans. So we went to Hannegan Pass which has permit free camping and leads to a number of great backpacking destinations. Sometimes these last minute adventures work out really well as you haven't built up any expectations and other times your lack of planning can come back to haunt you. There were dozens of cars in the parking lot and hordes of hikers on the trail but luckily we found plenty of sites available at Hannegan camp. It was also the only place to get water as this trail is dry and very dusty. Next we climbed up to Hannegan Peak which has a wonderful 360 panorama. Photographers should note that the highest concentration of snow & ice (Shuksan, Baker & Ruth Mt.) are to the West and much better in early morning light. Having read somewhere (can't find it now) about an alternative trail we scrambled down to a ridge and decided to follow it rather than backtrack down to the pass. We never did find that trail, or at least a consistent one but the way was obvious as long as you stayed above the treeline. This ridge is higher that the trail and the views may have been better although the appeal of the North Cascades lies in the sheer vastness of the wilderness and not in any specific sight. We stopped breifly at a small unamed lake and then rejoined the trail somewhere near Silesia. Exhausted by our off trail ramble we immediately headed back to camp. Afternoon haze and bad lighting had left us with the lowest miles to photo ration of the year however the next morning was crystal clear and we decided to go to Artist's Point to finish off the roll. A quick ramble on Table Mountain provided all the inspiration we needed and more.

Went for a day hike to Hannegan Pass and then up Mt Ruth. Bugs were not bad at the trailhead (~10:30 a.m.) but then got bad for the first 1-2 miles. Mostly biting black flies. Other than that, it is really a nice hike along the lush green valley on this well-maintained trail. By the time we reached the pass (~noon), the bugs must have been full, because we had lunch in the shade in relative peace. Headed toward Mt Ruth up the steep, muddy climbers' trail. Yuck. Once we were past the first steep part, the trail was in great shape. We took the trail around the back (far side from Hannegan Pass) of Mt Ruth arm as suggested in Beckey's guide, but it looked like there was a trail along the front that might have avoided some of the steep climbers' trail. I don't know if it would have ended in the right place, though. If you have time to explore that option, it might be worth it. At any rate, after the steep part we rounded the edge of the ridge, traversing on the level on gravel. The trail is obvious and the hike is easy until you hit the snow field on the last ascent to the peak. There are a couple of really amazing, but dry and probably very windy, campsites out along this ridge. Then comes the snow field-- probably only about 1/4 mile long or so. Even with ice axes, I was a bit nervous about the steepness of the snow field, but the snow was mostly nice and soft and with j's reassurances I realized that in the conditions we had, it was safe. If the snow had been harder I would have liked crampons. To get to the very top after the snow is an extremely short rock scramble. It is worth the very short detour to look at the view from the other end of that rock spur, too. The view from the top was truly spectacular, stunning, amazing, etc. etc. You look right down onto the side of Mt Shuksan, where the glaciers melt onto a cool smooth, shiny, polished rock bowl accompained by the occasional sound of rockfall. Mt Baker keeps watch behind, and Glacier Peak, as well as millions of other mountains, were also visible rolling off into the distance. We also saw some mountain goats (we think) strolling around on a snowfield on a nearby ridge. It was windy up there but still warm-- the perfect day for this trip! Reluctantly we headed down. J was comfortable enough to do some standing glissades on the way down, but I only did them by accident. :) In my opinion, the hardest part of the hike was coming back down that stupid climbers' trail. Call me crazy, but I hate hiking on steep, rocky, slippery, muddy, eroding trails. Luckily there were lots of roots for me to hold on to as I 5-pointed it down! After the pass on the way out, we passed approximately 1 million backpackers on their way to the pass. Therefore, I would suggest doing this trip as a day hike, or planning to get there relatively early so you can find a nice camp site. There are lots of sites at the pass but I think some might be relatively far from water. Didn't take any breaks on the way out because of the stupid flies. Got back to the car at 5:45 and headed for a nice dinner to cap off a fantastic day on the trail!

Well, the weather reports were contradicting, so we decided to head north and push our luck. The results were neither particularly good nor particularly bad. The hike up Ruth Creek started out warm in fairly decent weather (half clouds, half sun). Hannegan Pass was reached easily in about two hours. The way up from the pass to Ruth Arm was predictably crappy, going up a steep, mucky drainage for about 500 feet where it is easy to slip and get all muddy. After that moderate snow slopes are traversed to the left (runout over cliffs!) until the trail can be picked up for the section over to Ruth Arm itself. The arm is still partially under snow. There are decent campsites at the first clump of trees, just after that (exposed), and a somewhat crappy site that we used at the last clump of trees. Except for snow, none of the sites have water. We thought about heading up Ruth in the evening as the weather was looking fairly good, but were too lazy and we would regret it the next day. So we just settled down for the evening and ate half of our giant 3lb sandwitch and went to bed at about sunset after some really nice light on the peak. The next morning was fairly cloudy but not out and out terrible. Our plan was to do the whole Ruth-Icy traverse, but were not sure of that becuase of the weather. We decided to head up Ruth (which was easy to retreat off of) and see what it looked like from up there. So that is what we did, taking us about an hour from camp to the summit. This is an easy climb up a 25-30 degree ""glacier"" with only one out of the way crevasse showing. The weather actually seemed to be getting worse, so we decided not to continue the traverse. Also, the weather reports predicted a freezing level of about 12,500 feet today. Try 7000 feet. It was quite chilly in the wind, although not all that bad I suppose. The way back to camp was uneventful as the weather predictably improved. Once we reached Hannegan, we decided to head up Hannegan Peak just because we could. That was fun. Very little snow on the way. The way down was easy blah blah blah, hamburgers are good. All in all, Ruth is a great introductory climb in a great area with fantastic views of the Northeast Face of Shuksan and all the other surrounding peaks. I would definetely recommend this climb. Go now! before the black flies really come out.