While this was a one-day hike, we did camp out the night before at the Hannegan trailhead. I recommend this if you can get there early enough after work on a Friday to get a spot. We did not get a true alpine start but if you plan to, this would be the way to go. Also, distance was listed at 12 RT in a couple places... but on my GPS track, the 6 mile point was only at the shoulder adjacent to Ruth, maybe that's what they meant. Either way, RT to the summit is more like 13-14 miles.
Stats: 9.75 hours, 13.3 miles, 4600' gain. (5+ hours up, 4+ hours down).
Gear: Ice Axe, Crampons, Harness, 30 m rope, Prusik, Extra webbing and carabiners, Helmet, Welted boots. (this is in addition to my standard hiking gear, and only necessary for glacier travel)
Summary: Departed TH 6 AM. We were at the pass by 8:20AM. Reached the shoulder near Ruth by 9:45AM. Roped up and put on crampons at the top of the rock ridge and ascended the snowfield. Summited ~11:10 AM. Excellent views for a summit lunch on a clear day! Began descent at 11:30. Back to the car by 3:50PM. Almost a 10 hr day, but we are not super fast and it was fairly hot out. If you are quick or more experienced, it will likely go faster.
Description:
It's a straightforward 4 miles up to Hannegan camp with excellent views up and down the u-shaped valley, including streams and waterfalls cascading down Nooksack ridge and the side of Mt. Sefrit across the way, and wildflowers lining the trail at times. Ruth and her glacier begin peaking out as you ascend. Be bear aware as I have encountered black bears 2 of the 3 times I have visited this trail, once in this section and once near Boundary camp.
Hannegan camp has a reliable water source if you need to refill. After that there are less options, especially later in the summer/fall. From the left turn at the camp it's a slightly steeper grade but nothing really difficult as the trail is in excellent condition to Hannegan pass. At the pass there are three choices: left to Hannegan Peak, straight to Boundary camp, and right toward more camping and Ruth Mountain. I've seen some folks bivy here, but there are other places closer to the destination if you have the time to make this a 2-day trip. It might be worth it for the sunrise, or to split up your distance.
The trail is fairly easy to follow up and over a small hill, and then back down through some meadows where more camp spots exist. Maybe 3-4 in total but we didn't look around much, this was just from what I could see of scattered tents. The next, I don't know for sure, maybe 1/10th of a mile is basically straight up, criss-crossing a creek bed to get to the top of a small shelf on the unnamed peak next to Ruth. It's pretty clear as the only place to ascend from that meadow, but when you first look at it from afar you don't expect THAT to be the trail. This section is tough, probably the most difficult part of the hike really, especially with a pack. I sort of scrambled it using the roots and rocks, but trekking poles may help, especially coming down. We were lucky it was dry, but I imagine any amount of mud after a rain would make this bit somewhat difficult and messy, and even worse so if snow were here. If it's that early in the season you should be prepared to use some sort of traction aid.
From the top of that bit it is a straightforward enough to hike east around the small peak and up to the ridge, then back around to the pass below Ruth. Excellent views on this section: ranges to the east and Copper Ridge, north to Hannegan peak and it's colorful rock outcropping below the summit, and west at Koma Kulshan, Nooksack tower and Shuksan through an adjacent u-shaped notch to the west of Ruth. We had clear day so this area was stunning to say the least.
From the pass next to Ruth you begin your ascent up her north-east ridge, where the trail is fairly good until you reach a rocky section for the last quarter mile or so. I am not experienced in glacier travel but I imagine earlier in the season, with good conditions and judgement, you could rope up and begin the ascent up the snow field from much lower down this ridge. On the way up we opted to hike as far up the talus/rocky ridge as we could before stepping foot on the glacier. It's slower going but the route is not too steep and easy to follow.
From there we spent about 15 min gearing up and then headed at a slight diagonal up the snow field, almost directly to the summit. Some small crevasses were visible here but easily avoided. There is a bit of a windswept feature near the top of the snowfield which we stayed right of as we ascended, and the grade gets much easier once you are above that. Going as late in the season as we did, some of the snow was actually quite thin so we had to kick some steps into the ice, but most of the footing was good.
The summit had 360 views on a clear day. We could easily see Tahoma, and I'd say it's one of the best full views of Dakobed I've had outside the wilderness in which it lives. Icy peak, Seahpo peak, Nooksack Tower and the Nooksack Circue were obviously all amazing from here. Shuksan does obscure Koma Kulshan a bit but there are plenty of good views on the way up.
We were lucky to have the summit to ourselves after passing a pair on their way down as we approached, and then another group on their way up as we left.
The way down was to follow our old boot bath, but we descended further down the snowfield to the lowest point at which we felt safe to do so. This may have saved us some time, maybe not, but either way we spent less time walking down the rocky section which we all thought was better.
It was quite hot by this time in the day and the section between Ruth's shoulder and Hannegan pass is mostly in direct sun in the afternoon. By the time we were back at the pass we had depleted our ~3 liters of water each, so we re-filled at the stream near Hannegan camp. If you plan to car-to-car it like we did, have water treatment/filtration available should you run out. You could also carry less water and stop for refill at the camp in both directions.
Overall a fun day and an excellent first glacier to learn on and gorgeous scenery!
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