Mileage: 10.4 miles RT
Elevation Gain/High: 3100/6200ft
Map: Green Trails Mount Shuksan No. 14
Favorite Eats After Hike: North Fork Brewery, Chair 9, Boundary Bay, Fiamma Burger, La Fiamma Wood Fire Pizza, or just Pack A Cooler. You can learn more about these places in my Must Hike Must Eat Eating Out Guide.
Find out current conditions and as always, practice Leave No Trace. Pretty please.
Hike Details:
Hannegan Pass and Peak are reached by a stunning valley trail up along Ruth Creek and below Nooksack Ridge near Mount Baker. Mount Sefrit, Ruth Mountain dominate the skyline. The trail is also a part of the Pacific Northwest National Trail. And under safe conditions and road accessibility, it makes for a lovely winter snowshoe. Know that spring and early summer can mean snowbridges over avalanche chutes and expertise is essential.
My Hikes:
5/14/2016
The road to Hannegan Pass and Peak is a pretty drive, save the potholes on the first part of road and the last. There is a good size washout about a mile from the trailhead but it’s passable. We carried snowshoes but never used them, starting out about 9:30am.
The first part of the trail is the decommissioned road. There is a significant slide with a bootpath through it and nice mud pit on the other side of it. Looks like sand was put down on both sides of it but it’s still a mess. As the trail meanders through the valley, there is an evolving series of snow patches and snow bridges. One was pretty sketchy and took us a little while to decide the best way to go.
We ended up going up a ways, then down then back up and down again. A few other patches of snow in the next chutes had holes forming and water running underneath. With the warm weather they will all probably take turns being sketchy.
There are a few other debris slides before reaching the junction signed for camping and the snow was solid from there up. We put our spikes on at this point to be safe and headed up towards Hannegan Pass and Peak about 12:30pm. We followed what should have been the trail for a bit but then some of us headed straight up towards the peak and some of us kept with the trail pretty well and went right to the pass first, then went left meeting them at a viewpoint before we continued the steep climb towards the peak.
Arriving at about 5700ft where it was simply too steep and folks were sliding, we pulled over on a brushy rock cropping and had lunch watching some backcountry skiers on the landscape across from us.
We headed back down at 2:15, the snow was slushy and we glissaded in parts closer to the pass.
There were several other groups out but most looked like they were content with turning around before the campsites junction. We were back to our cars at 4:45pm, muddy and tired but pleased with another great hike to Hannegan Pass!
12/15/2015
We decided to head up to see how far we could get on the trail today. Avalanche conditions were at moderate, so we would go until it didn’t feel safe.
The road was snow covered by mile 3 and we parked our cars between mile 4 and 5 due to slides over the road. There were several downed trees that had been cleared to the side, but even without the slides there was not a lot of room. The outhouse at the TH was open but no TP. 🙂
We started out with spikes on from the car but the snow was deep enough in the first mile on the trail to switch to snowshoes. It was not heavily traveled so some spots were a bit narrow. The valley was amazingly white as we meandered on this relatively flat section. The clouds looked to lighten and we thought we saw a few specks of blue. This alternated with a few snow flurries as the weather couldn’t make up it’s mind what to do.
We started up the switchbacks towards the pass and got through a few before the first chute and then decided it was time to turn back (about 4 miles from the cars). After stopping to have lunch, we enjoyed the scenery once again on our return.
Directions: Head east on SR 542 about 46 miles to 13 miles past Glacier Public Service Center. Just before the third crossing of the Nooksack River Bridge, turn left on road No. 32. At 1.3 miles, take the left fork (Ruth Creek Road) and continue 5.4 miles to the end of the road at Hannegan Campground. A Northwest Forest Pass is needed.
For more hikes on SR 542, Mt. Baker Highway, click HERE.
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