Hannegan Pass and Peak, Ruth Arm — Friday, Aug. 1, 2003

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

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!