Hannegan and Whatcom Passes are in northwestern Washington State, north and east of Mount Baker. This is a classic hike in the North Cascades, leading to some of the more desolate areas of the lower 48 and it lived up to its billing. Ours was a Labor Day weekend hike taken long ago in 1987.

We hiked the first five miles in from Hannegan Campground to Boundary Camp at Hannegan Pass on Friday evening, the last two miles or so hiked in near total darkness., having left Seattle late Friday afternoon after work and stopping in Glacier, Washington for burgers.

Saturday morning we hiked the additional eight miles to Graybeal Camp, crossing the Chilliwack River in a hand-powered cable car (basket). It would've been possible to cross the river this late in the summer with little worries, but the cable car system looked fun and it saved us a climb down to and back up from the river. We spent the next two nights at Graybeal Camp, a pleasant camp next to Brush Creek, since permits for Whatcom Camp near the pass were already taken.

It had been a dry, droughty summer and there were campfire bans even on the western side of the Cascades. This was the hike where I fired up my brand new MSR Whisperlight stove for dinner Saturday night. Still unfamiliar with its operation, I opened the valve before the priming fire had heated up the gas tube sufficiently. A 2-3 foot flame shot out, not unlike a small campfire. It was dark. We were 13 miles in from the nearest road. Within a couple of minutes a friendly park ranger popped out of the woods into our campsite, asking:

"Are you guys aware that there's a ban on campfires? You need to use a stove."

"Uh --- this is my stove."

"Ah geez, look at that. It is---isn't it? Well, o.k. Just be careful with that thing."

Sunday was spent dayhiking and scrambling around Whatcom Pass. We had the opportunity to explore near Tapto Lakes below Red Mountain, a bypassed opportunity I now regret.

On the way back down from the pass, we surprised a couple of naked coeds from Reed College sitting (..cooling? washing up?..) in the creek near the camp below Whatcom Pass. They tossed towels over themselves quickly, as we said our 'hi's' and continued on down to our camp. That night we made sure to treat our drinking water.

Monday we hiked the full 13 miles back out to our car at Hannegan Campground and drove the two and a half hours back to Seattle for pizza at Northlake Tavern.