Left or Right?

The Hike

What to do this Monday? Well, who's got time off? Jack-working, Andrew-in Alaska, Dave-busy, Big Andrew-not quite ready, Ryan-busy. Solo then...Ruth Mountain...Perfect!

As it turns out my buddy Anthony ended up being able to come, so axes and light rope in tow we headed out of bellingham about 7:00am. Rain greeted us at the trailhead so we napped for a couple hours to let things clear up, typical cascades.

Finally at about 11:30 we got going. Patchy clouds sent crazy shadows every which way over the abundant wildflowers. We spent a lot of time filming and taking pictures. It was two o'clock when we finally got to the pass. 2 thousand feet to the right, one thousand to the left...Hmm...Test tommorrow, already two, Ruth is clouded in anyway...

"Let's just go up Hannegan"
"Ok"

The higher we got the better the views became. We negotiated a couple of snow patches, none that required boots or an ice axe (thank god we brought harnesses, a rope, biners, a picket each, crampons, and an axe, but hey we had planned for a different objective). The summit view was spectacular as always, particularly highlighted this time by intresting cloudplay. Ruth never did clear up anyway.

It's just cool that you can park your car and climb Goat, Granite, Sefrit, Mammie, Ruth, Icy, Hannegan, Copper, Whatcom, Challenger, or any number of other peaks. It's always nice to have options...

-Scotty

Current July 2006 conditions

Just a hike now, no axe or boots required.