Hannegan Pass and Peak — Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024

***I lost my bear spray somewhere along the trail.  Please reach out if anyone happens to find it.***

For hikers with dogs, as of 8/7, there is still enough water crossing the trail for your dog to stay pretty hydrated.  Many are mere trickles, but accumulate in the little pools to give them natural water bowls.  The exception is past Hannegan Camp there isn't much -- a stagnant pool on the way up to the peak and a little snow melt at the top, but that snow may not be around much longer so don't count on it.  Though my dog drank out of streams up to the camps, I carried an extra liter of water for her and she drank much of it once we were on the trail to the peak.  In fact, even though the temps were only in the low 70's, it felt super hot.

Since this is such an exposed trail, I wouldn't bring a dog unless you get a good early start or it's a cloudy, cool day.  My bad for sleeping in.  My dog drank a lot of water on the way up (and I put treats in her bowl to make her drink more), she loves to sunbathe to the point it worries me and I bring her in, she regularly trail runs with me, and she is bred to herd cattle in the blistering Australian Outback, and even she got overheated and tired on the last push to the peak. I had to stop in the shade for about 30 minutes to let her cool down. 

Another dog owner, whose dog was pretty much attached to her feet, as mine is, said she was yelled at by some other hikers for having a dog off leash -- as a reminder, the rule is "dogs on leash or voice control equal to a leash." It says this right on the sign at the trailhead. We were following the rules. I have had less well-behaved dogs in my life that I leashed on trails, but this one is so chill, well-trained (she will sit and watch a deer 10 feet in front of her if I tell her to leave it) and attached to my side, that she is better behaved in the backcountry than some people's kids I see out there. . . and some adults, too, actually.  And, yes, I bag and haul her poop out with me.  So please, folks, don't scold unless you know the rules or see a dog specifically doing something that needs owner management. If people are just happily hiking along with a dog at their heels, on a trail where that is allowed, yelling at them is pretty crappy.  

(Why not just leash them, you may ask?  What's so hard about that?  I have to use hiking poles, so the only way to leash my dog it to attach the leash to my waist strap.  This is actually dangerous -- try boulder hopping or stream crossing attached to someone with a six-foot rope and see how precarious it feels.  I can use a reel leash for this - and did when I had to - but even that had me constantly spinning around to get out of being tied up every time my dog wanted to stop and sniff something.  I generally try to stay off of leash-required trails, outside of easy urban trails where I don't need my poles.)

The Hannegan trail is a seasonal favorite of mine.  Amazing mid-July flora -- abundant and incredible variety!  Last year I took so many pictures documenting all the plant life that I ran out of time to make it to the peak.  And I love it in the late season, too, when the vine maples turn vibrant red. Even better if there's an early snow dusting the hills for contrast.  And no matter what time of the year, you don't have to get far from the parking lot to get awe-inspiring views across the valley of the Shangri-La-like waterfalls ribboning down the cliffs.  But this is the first time I've done the hike in mid-August. . . and I think it will be my last, mostly due to the heat + bug equation. 

Generally, I'm pretty tolerant of bugs, and they were manageable if you keep moving.  But even stopping for a quick lunch at the pass, I was stomping my feet the whole time like a horse in a field.  Way worse was at the creek by the camps -- the biting files there were so relentless, I ran out of there as soon as I had soaked my sun hoody in the cold water. Originally, I had considered doing an overnight, but I'm so glad I felt too lazy to carry a full pack!  The only place where one could sit in relative peace was at the top of the peak.  Still a day well-spent and I'm happy I went, but in the future, I'll slate this one for a month earlier or later.