Hannegan Pass and Peak — Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007

North Cascades > Mount Baker Area

After getting the Park pass at Glacier, Maria and I headed for the Hannegan trail on our way to Easy Ridge for 4 days. We thought the 14 miles and 5000+ in was too much for the first day with full packs, so we camped on Hannegan Peak night 1 (sweet spot right on the top w/ nearby water/snow). 2nd day we continued beyond the pass, down and past camps, into the park and down more still, to a sidetrail right shortly to the Chilliwack River. After perhaps a calf-deep ford of said river we found the Easy Ridge lookout trail, no longer maintained. It was brushy at first, but we had our clippers and made quite a dent, as well as other trail improvements. Just at the ridge crest we saw 2 bears at close range. Made it to the greatest camp just at sunset. Day 3 we lounged, enjoying the awesome views. Took a short side trip further up the ridge towards Mt. Challenger- Wow! Noticed a small lake toward Mineral Mountain maybe 500' below. Debated splitting the trip out over the 2 remaining days but couldn't bring ourselves to leave this beautiful place. Day 4, 7 hours and 4 bee stings later we were back at the car. Whew!