Hannegan Pass and Peak 2013

Peggy, Rita, New Guy Bob, Mary, Doug, and Terry

What a day! Fourteen of us headed up to Hannegan Pass. Since this is a wilderness area, we were stopped by the Forest Ranger and told to honor the no-more-than-twelve group size, so we decided to split up according to who would try to make it to Hannegan Peak rather than just hiking to the pass. Getting to the pass means hiking an eight-mile round trip, and going up to the peak is more than eleven miles round trip!

Fireweed as we trudged up the valley

I've hiked up to the pass several times, but it was only in 2009 that I made it to the top of the peak. It was a hot day then, too, but today almost everybody decided to hike at least part way towards the peak. It's just over a mile from the pass to the peak, but you gain another 1,200 feet in that short mile. The views are stunning and just keep getting better, but in the hot sun the going was very slow for most of us. After we reached the pass, three or four of the fittest started up to the peak, while the rest of us took our time.

Almost to the pass in fields of wildflowers

I looked ahead to see the others as they trudged ahead of me towards the summit, which isn't even visible yet from this picture. We began to sort out into smaller groups of people who have a similar speed up to the top. I ended up hiking most of the way with Diane and Rita, while others behind us began to stop and looked for a nice place to have lunch, forfeiting going all the way to the top.

The faster hikers in front of me

We stopped often and were very grateful for the strong breeze, which increased as we climbed above the trees. The flies and other bugs were relentless; I was slathered in bug spray and covered most of my body in clothing so that they wouldn't find me too appealing. It worked most of the time, but the breeze helped the most.

Rita and Diane (and me) taking a breather

The higher we got, however, the more spectacular the view of the surrounding mountains became. Al had decided to stop earlier and not try for the peak, since he was slowing down and realized that he needed to take a rest. Of the fourteen of us, eight reached the top, but everybody made some distance beyond the pass itself.

Rita and me on the summit

By the time I reached the summit, I was lightheaded and knew I had pushed myself right to the limit. But after having a nice lunch, which was enhanced by New Guy Bob's quart of hand-picked blueberries (yum), I asked for a summit shot. Unfortunately, I was not thinking with all my cylinders, having changed the settings on my camera for the shot above, and I didn't remember to change them back again before I got this shot.

Back: Diane, Bob, me, Rita, Doug, Mike
Front: Mary and Don (a guest visiting Rita)

The eight of us spent a good while on the top, but we knew that our friends below would be waiting for us to rejoin them, so we finally turned to begin our descent to the valley. Going down was almost harder than going up, since there were so many loose rocks and you had to watch your footing the entire way. When we got to the pass, there was Al waiting for us, and we learned that the other five had decided to go on down to the trailhead. We met them there, and it turned out they waited more than an hour for us before taking off for home.

Doug on the way back down

It was an absolutely beautiful day, if a bit on the hot side, with all of us having drained our water supplies dry on the way down. (I brought two liters and drank every drop!) We stopped at Graham's store in Glacier to get ice cream and cold drinks before heading back to the Senior Center parking lot and saying goodbye after another amazing hike!
:-)